Baltimore Ravens, 20 Houston Texans, 13
Give credit to two hard-hitting, exciting defenses. The Ravens had to bend to RB Arian Foster and WR Andre Johnson but they refused to break. The Texans' D was even more impressive, really keeping QB Joe Flacco in a holding pattern of 3-and-outs (11 first downs, 9 punts) to keep the Texans in the game. Time and time again though, we bow to one mitigating factor that allows a 'good' defense to call itself 'great': turnovers.
The Ravens did not make the mistakes, the Texans did. It was a well-played game and certainly announced the Texans to the league as a force to be reckoned with. Today was not their day, but as we being to leak out their farewell paragraphs into monday morning, let it be stated QB T.J Yates is not to blame. With 2 minutes, needing a TD to go to OT he slinged 16 and then 18 yards in 2 plays to Johnson and went out slinging for the victory, rather than dinking down to certain defeat. Maybe not the right decision, but admirable.
KEY PLAY: When QB T.J Yates slinged it again to WR Andre Johnson the Ravens answered with what they have so often answered with, the incredible athleticism and instincts of S Ed Reed. Reed made a leaping grab and sealed the game, as you would expect a "great" defense to do.
MVP: S Ed Reed, LB Terrell Suggs and LB Ray Lewis. You just cannot say enough about these old veterans who have played hard so long and have rarely given us a one-and-done in the playoffs. They showed they still have the instincts and the toughness to win playoff games.
New York Giants, 37 Green Bay Packers, 20
QB/MVP Aaron Rodgers recieved little help this day. 8 drops from 7 different receivers and 3 post-catch fumbles (actually 4 if Referee/SBXL Asshole Bill Leavy doesn't bizarrely refuse to grant a plainly obvious 1st quarter fumble to the Giants, even Packers fans were genuinely shocked). The Green Bay defense never met a 3rd-and-long that they didn't leave a star Giants player wide open in the middle of the field.
Give QB Eli Manning credit though too, he is playing great and the entire Giants team has that momentum they had in 2007 and that the Packers had in 2010. The Giants D-line has received a heap of praise but say the Packers catch the ball, say the Packers D stops anything at all (not even a hail mary at the end of the 2nd half? Really?) and that D-line did not produce anything close to the legendary performance that has been billed.
KEY PLAY: Really, the Giants D-line produced only one big play and it was the biggest play of all. On the first drive of the 3rd quarter, WR Greg Jennings had his guy royally scorched and DE Osi Uminyoria stripped the ball at the last possible second. This easy pitch-and-catch would have made the game 20-17, got the crowd involved and possibly made a much different game.
MVP: So we received our second day of "defense wins championships" curriculum. While the Giants D will receive across-the-board accolades for the Packers fumbling and dropping passes, the true hero of the game is QB Eli Manning who worked the field at will, even after taking some brutal hits, for 330 yards and 3 TDs (benefiting from another huge game by WR Hakeem Nicks).
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