San Francisco 49ers, 23 Carolina Panthers, 10
San Francisco continues their bid as this year's hot team in the post-season, dispatching Carolina swiftly - bullying, mocking, and pounding over a previously hot Panthers team. The Panthers pressed early and seemed to wear down late. After the game, QB Cam Newton admitted the postseason pace was a bit of a shock. Without WR Steve Smith (who aggravated his previous injury), the Panthers offense was overwhelmed by the 49er Defense.
In the 1st half, the 49ers were given three huge breaks; an awful unnecessary roughness call with a tipped ball in the air to continue the first drive, a missed 12-man in the huddle call on a touchdown before the half and a head-butt personal foul called against the Panthers but later uncalled against WR Anquan Boldin.
Coach Jim Harbaugh has built an impressive team and bad calls & temper tantrums aside (Harbaugh literally ran on the field waving and flaying his arms like a child at one point) the 49ers steamrolled the Panthers in the 2nd half. QB Colin Kaepernick took awhile to get going, but made enough plays with his arm and his legs. The backbone was another under-hyped performance from RB Frank Gore, 92 total yards in this slugfest.
KEY PLAY: 3rd down and 1 with 12 minutes left in the 4th quarter, the Panthers D was primed for a stand and a swing of momentum. Instead, RB Frank Gore burst through for a 39-yard run to the Carolina 27-yard line. In a game full of defensive stops and short yardage stands, this conversion was huge.
MVP: WR Anquan Boldin jawed with the cornerbacks and got away with multiple personal fouls that were inexplicably not called. He was also the entire passing game for San Francisco (136 of 196 total passing yards) and the difference in the game.
Denver Broncos, 24 San Diego Chargers, 17
QB Peyton Manning would never admit it, but he had to feel some relief after winning his first playoff game since the 2009 season and first with the Denver Broncos. I would imagine the Broncos, who paid a pretty penny for Manning two years ago, breathed significant a sigh of relief as well. The Broncos rolled through the Chargers. They built a nice 17-0 lead for 3 quarters, and when Chargers unlocked their potential by opening things up for QB Phillip Rivers who sliced and diced down the field cutting the lead 17-7 in the 4th, Manning and RB Knowshon Moreno led a emphatic rebuttal drive to keep the Chargers at bay, capped by Moreno's 3-yard TD run.
Although WR Keenan Allen (6 rec, 142 yards and 2 TDs) might have a long career of terrorizing the Denver Broncos ahead, it was too little too late. LB Shaun Philips and the Broncos D held the Chargers to 259 yards, a nice sign for a beleaguered unit consistently put into the 'weakness' blurb in the Broncos media breakdown.
KEY PLAY: With 3:51 remaining in the game 24-17, the Chargers hot off another Keenan Allen touchdown and with 2 timeouts, it would have fit the narrative so well if Peyton Manning had gone 3-and-out when it counted. Even after all the records and hype, they would fail to get it done when it mattered. That almost happened. After a false start, a 2 yard loss and an incomplete pass, the Broncos faced a 3rd-and-17 and the prospect of giving the ball back with 3 minutes to play. Instead, Manning re-wrote the storyline with a 21-yard sideline dart to TE Julius Thomas. The Broncos ran the ball well, Manning converted another 3rd down to Thomas with 2:12 left and the Broncos held the ball to win the game.
MVP: The offense was held under 400 yards for the first time all year, but QB Peyton Manning was 25 for 36 and two touchdowns. Truly, it should have been four, two balls hit receivers in the chest, one intercepted, one settled for a field goal. He engineered the final two drives, the TD drive to put them back up 17, and the final drive to eat the clock. Manning even gained 25 yards drawing five different Chargers into encroachment, catching them listening to the 'omaha' snap count signal.
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