New England Patriots, 27 Kansas City Chiefs, 20
The score may look close but the Chiefs were fighting an uphill battle all game. The Patriots ripped down the field on the opening drive, finishing with a Tom Brady-to-Rob Gronkowski standard issue pylon Touchdown. The Chiefs then took off 9 minutes of the 1st quarter, converting 4 straight 3rd downs to regain momentum and eventually settle for a field goal. They kept Tom Brady on the bench, most Kansas City fans were content.
As the game moved forward, it became clear that those plodding, ball-control Chiefs were the only Chiefs available. Down 21-6, they showed no urgency, Down 27-13 and needing two touchdowns with 6:29 the Chiefs huddled, audibled, and used the middle of the field to drain the clock in 17 plays to 1:18. It was inexplicable performance. The Patriots almost blew it with an arrogant 2nd-down pass that could have deflected anywhere but ended up deflecting into the unintended arms of WR Julian Edelman for a 1st down.
MVP: QB Tom Brady. I don't know how many Playoff MVPs I give Tom Brady but we cannot take what we are seeing for granted. Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw had 30 playoff wins combined, Brady's got 22 and still counting. And he's driving, yelling, screaming, spiking like some rookie fireball QB. His 302 yards, 2 TDs, and 0 INTs controlled the game. He watched from the sideline as the Chiefs killed the clock for him.
KEY PLAY: QB Alex Smith did what he good, with his legs and with his check-downs but the most successful of check downs betrayed him. It was a 19-yard dart up the side by WR Albert Wilson to the 1-yard line. The game goes radically different if Wilson gets out of bounds. The clock went from 3:00 to 2:33 on that play, the following two plays were a run, a false start and a 4-yard check down in the middle of the field. The clock down to 1:27. It was the most abysmal clock management I have ever seen.
Arizona Cardinals, 26 Green Bay Packers, 20
Nobody expected the Defensive struggle of the first half. QB Carson Palmer was not on target and RB David Johnson didn't look as explosive as his Week 15-16 prime. QB Aaron Rodgers lost WR Randall Cobb to a bruised lung and the famed 3-WR Packer sets now relied on the 4th, 6th and 7th string Packer WRs (Nelson, Cobb, Adams, Montgomry all out, it fell to WRs James Jones, Jared Abbrederis and the soon to be infamous Jeff Janis). After a nullified interception return by CB Patrick Peterson, halftime ended in a 7-6 stalemate.
The Packers showed life with a Touchdown Drive to start the 2nd half, and the Cardinals took a quarter and a half but they did respond with a deflection Touchdown to WR Michael Floyd with 3:50 remaining.
This is where things get strange.
The Packers, now down 17-13 go 4-and-out. The Cardinals get the ball and with a chance to run the clock down to 1:20 and kick the Field Goal they go for the win and Palmer misses a well-covered Larry Fitzgerald along the sideline and stops the clock. Instead of 1:20, the Cardinals kick the Field Goal at the 2:00 mark.
But The Packers offense again stalls, Rodgers is sacked from the 14 to the 4 by DE Dwight Freeney on 2nd down and eventually brings up a 4th-and-20 on their own 4. 96 yards from the game-tying TD, Rodgers rolls into his end zone and launches a Hail Mary to WR Jeff Janis at mid-field. Caught.
The Packers barely made it down the field to line up and run the next play with 21 seconds, an incomplete pass. The Cardinals bring pressuer on the next play, they knock Rodgers off his mark at midfield, running and falling backwards Aaron Rodgers launches a perfect, powerful lofting dart to Jeff Janis who comes down hard with the ball in front of CB Patrick Peterson. Tie game.
KEY PLAY: On the 2nd play of OT, the Cardinals nullified the Hail Marys. Palmer dropped back and the pocked collapsed, with an uncharcteristic spin move he found space to throw to the opposite end of the field to a wide open Larry Fitzgerald. Fitz than shifted into higher gears, crushing Green Bay's hopes with each chunk of yardage, finally being brought down at the 3. The next play, the Cardinals ran a unique jet sweep, with a shuffle pitch pass to Fitz trailing the play for the game-winning TD.
MVP: Larry Fitzgerald. 8 receptions. 176 yards. 1 TD.
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