Ranking the Season's 10 Postseason Games

Now that we have figured out the two representatives for Super Bowl 46 and I have given my recap of the Conference Championship games, we must wait two weeks to see the action unfold and crown a winner.

So, to pass the time why not give a brief recap of each of the 10 postseason games by ranking them, No. 10 being the least exciting to watch, and No. 1 being the most exciting. Here's how I have ranked them, feel free to add your opinion in the comments section:

10. AFC Divisional Round: Patriots 45, Broncos 10

Anyone and everyone outside of the New England area had become a Broncos/Tebow fan for the day as the Broncos went in to Foxboro, MA looking to stun Patriot nation. After Tebow had torn up the No. 1 pass defense in Pittsburgh the week before, it looked as if Timmy would have another solid day against one of the league's worst pass defenses. Instead, Tom Brady and his Patriot offense blew Denver out of the water before they even had a chance.

What did it make for? A record-setting day for Brady (5 first-half TD passes) and a boring second half. Although Tebow did play his heart out and it was later found out that he had been playing a majority of the second half with a bruised lung. Either way, a 35-point blowout doesn't exactly make for an exciting playoff game.

9. NFC Divisional Round: Giants 24, Falcons 2

Coming in to the game, Atlanta's signal caller Matt "Matty Ice" Ryan had been one of the league's hottest quarterbacks. But he was forced to travel to New York and take on one of the league's hottest front 7 units led by the returning Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul. The end result is a lone safety being Atlanta's only points as the offense was held scoreless.

The Falcons made history by becoming the first team in NFL history to score just two points in a playoff game. Not exactly the history they were looking to make, and Ryan has fallen to 0-3 in the playoffs with just three TDs and four interceptions.

8. AFC Wild Card Round: Texans 31, Bengals 10

This was one of the matchups I was most looking forward to in the Wild Card round, I believe. It was the first time in playoff history that two rookie quarterbacks were squaring off against each other. One of the said rookie quarterbacks (Houston's T.J. Yates) had a great day, throwing for 159 yards and a TD, while the other (Cincinnati's Andy Dalton) threw three interceptions and was sacked four times.

Houston's top five defense took the game over, basically ending the game at the end of the first half with a 29-yard INT returned for a TD by rookie J.J. Watt. They held Cincinnati scoreless in the second half on their way to a 21-point, blowout win in the franchise's first-ever playoff appearance. Cincinnati is now 1-4 in the playoffs since 1990.

7. AFC Divisional Round: Ravens 20, Texans 13

Unfortunately Yates' good fortune only lasted a week, as his inexperience in big games caught up to him against the Baltimore Ravens' top-tier defense in the Divisional round of the playoffs. Yates managed to lead the Texans' on three first half scoring drives, putting up 13 points, but they were held scoreless in the second half.

Houston's Arian Foster became the first running back to gain 100 yards on Baltimore's defense in a playoff game, but his 132 yards and one TD didn't make up for Yates' three interceptions and Jacoby Jones' fumble on a punt return. Houston's turnovers gave easy scoring chances to Joe Flacco and the Baltimore offense, making it an easy win for the Ravens despite just a seven-point victory.

6. NFC Conference Championship: Giants 20, 49ers 17 (OT)

Miscues littered this game as well, but mainly on San Francisco's part. Like I said in the previous post, WR and return man Kyle Williams, in just his second season, would love to forget this game. However, his two miscues on punt returns isn't the only thing San Fran messed up on. Eli Manning did fumble once, and they Niners were unable to take advantage and recover the ball, and they also dropped two easy INTs because of collisions between defensive backs.

Eli Manning played a tough game, but the Niners' failure to capitalize when they needed to most is probably the big storyline in this one. But the fact that Manning was able to overcome six sacks and drive the team down the field to take the lead halfway through the fourth quarter shows me his guts. Coughlin put the ball in his hands and gave him a career-high 58 attempts, and he did what he had to do to win: capitalize on turnovers and SF misfortunes.

5. NFC Wild Card Round: Saints 45, Lions 28

This is what fans love to see (not sure why, I love seeing smashmouth running games and hard-hitting defenses): shootouts between gun-slinging quarterbacks such as Drew Brees and Matthew Stafford. Passing yards were galore in this Wild Card game, and the final score of this one doesn't tell the whole story. There was plenty of controversy between the fumble that Detroit's defense had picked up and run back for a touchdown. But because the officials blew the play dead they were unable to return it. They retained possession, but had to start from where they recovered. They didn't score.

It had the potential to be a 7- or 14-point swing, but either way Detroit wasn't able to capitalize on that turnover and Brees took the game over. New Orleans' running game had actually taken over the final quarter, scoring two of NO's three fourth quarter TDs and putting the Saints ahead for good. Lots of scoring in this one, despite Detroit's tough defense. Fans love seeing 30, 40-plus games and the Lions put up a good fight with the young Matt Stafford at the helm.

4. AFC Conference Championship: Patriots 23, Ravens 20

Again, Baltimore had two shots at the end but were unable to pull ahead (Evans' dropped pass in the end zone) or tie it and send the game to overtime (Cundiff's missed 32-yard FG with 11 seconds left). Baltimore's defense made Tom Brady uncomfortable for quite a bit of the game, forcing two errant passes that turned in to turnovers. Flacco out-passed Brady, strangely enough, for 306 yards and a couple of TD passes, and put his team in position to win at the end of the game.

We can't be disappointed with the way the passing game for Baltimore went, he did look better than the previous week against Houston. But what does disappoint me was that Ray Rice was a non-factor. He was given his fair share of carries, with 21, but he ran for just 67 yards (3.2 YPC avg.) and made no impact in the passing game with one catch for 11 yards. Had he been more of a factor there's no doubt Baltimore would have had an easier time winning this one.

3. AFC Wild Card Round: Broncos 29, Steelers 23 (OT)

Denver owned the second quarter of this game, putting Pittsburgh's aging and banged up defense to shame with 20 points on their way to a 20-6 halftime lead. Pittsburgh, dealing with in-game injuries to D-lineman Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel, safety Ryan Clark missed the game as well, failed to get any pressure on Tim Tebow. The result? A career-high 316 passing yards and the game-winning touchdown toss to WR Demaryius Thomas from 80 yards out on the first play in overtime.

But this game is ranked so high up because of the gutsy play from Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He fell to 10-4 in the playoffs, but injured ankle-and all Roethlisberger went up against the odds of a miraculous comeback and led the Steelers' offense to three second-half scoring drives (17 points) as they came back and tied the game up at 23 to send it to overtime. The stunning first-play score in overtime just adds to the greatness and the ups and downs of this remarkably played game by both quarterbacks.

2. NFC Divisional Round: Giants 37, Packers 20

A 17-point victory makes top two? I know, I know, seems kinda strange. But the fact that Manning once again was able to knock off the heavily-favored 15-1 Green Bay Packers on the road in the blissful Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field against Aaron Rodgers is quite fascinating. I, of course, called this upset happening, unlike most fans and Green Bay "bandwagoners" (trust me, I know plenty of them).

I feel as though I've mentioned how much Eli has impressed me far too often on this blog, but it's true that I feel he has proved himself to be a better postseason quarterback than his older brother. The Giants put up a great effort against the Packers in this one with 17 fourth quarter points and limiting Green Bay's offense to 20 points.

1. NFC Divisional Round: 49ers 36, Saints 32

There's no question which game has been the best of the postseason. I don't think another game comes close to San Francisco's shocker over Drew Brees, who finds himself sitting at 1-2 in the playoffs since his Super Bowl victory in February of 2010. In head coach Jim Harbaugh's first year as a professional football head coach, he turned the lowly Niners in to Super Bowl contenders with a nasty defense and a draft bust-turned gun-slinger.

It was Alex Smith's first career playoff game in six seasons and he managed to out-play the four-time All Pro and Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees. In the final four minutes of play there were four lead changes. Smith rallied his troops to re-take the lead with two minutes left with a 28-yard TD run, but less than a minute left Brees threw a 66-yard TD bomb to TE Jimmy Graham and successfully converted a two-point conversion. What does Smith do? He simply orchestrates a seven-play, 85 yard TD drive in a minute and a half which is capped with a 14-yard strike to his TE Vernon Davis.

This one had it all. Lots of points, lots of yards, big plays and excitement. I was literally jumping up and down at the end when Smith hit Davis in the end zone with :09 to play, and I'm not even a fan of either team. An emotional Davis/coach Harbaugh interaction on the sideline after the play was the icing on the cake.

Photo credit

Matt Ryan: Chris Trotman/Getty Images

Darren Sproles: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

Von Miller: Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

Vernon Davis: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Eli Manning Among the Elite Now?

For years Peyton Manning's little brother Eli has been battling doubters and critics alike. Is he an elite quarterback? Can he lead his team to a Super Bowl victory? Does he have the intangibles to consistently put up Peyton-like numbers year-in and year-out?

Those were the questions being asked, even after he won three consecutive road playoff games and upset the undefeated New England Patriots for a Super Bowl title in the 2007-08 season.

Instead of holding him to his own standard, NFL fans, followers and experts have held Eli to his older brother's standards. If he does not throw 4,000 yards, 40 TDs and lead the Giants to a 13-3 regular season we call him a failure and keep him out of the "elite" status.

Before this season started he was asked whether or not he should be seen as among the elite quarterbacks such as his brother, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees. He initially declined and said he does not belong on that list.

But he later told ESPN 1050's Michael Kay "..I consider myself in that class and Tom Brady is a great quarterback, he's a great player and what you've seen with him is he's gotten better every year and he started off winning championships and I think he's a better player than what he was, in all honesty, when he was winning those championships.


"It's funny, you say well he won championships, but the team won them. But I think now he's grown up and gotten better every year and that's what I'm trying to do. I kind of hope these next seven years of my quarterback days are my best."

Fast forward to this past weekend I think it's safe to say Eli is well on his way to joining those quarterbacks after de-throning the defending Super Bowl champions, who were 15-1 in the regular season, and doing so on the road at the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.

This was, of course, not the only time he has sent the Pack home packing in the NFC playoffs at Lambeau. The same event occurred in the 2007 playoffs when he battled below-0 wind chill and knocked off the Brett Favre-led Packers in the NFC Championship game. In the previous matchup Eli got additional help from New York's defense and the right leg of kicker Lawrence Tynes in overtime.

This time around? Eli seemingly put the team on his back and carried the G-Men to a 37-point romp of the MVP favorite Rodgers.

Linebacker Michael Boley and defensive end Osi Umenyiora did provide some insurance with a total of four sacks of Green Bay's Rodgers, but in the end it was Eli who took over the show by out-passing fellow Super Bowl MVP by 66 yards. Manning threw for three touchdowns and sacked just once.

With the run game averaging just 3.5 yards/carry on 27 attempts, Manning was forced to take the game over with his arm and he did not disappoint head coach Tom Coughlin, who is now 10-7 in the postseason as head coach.

Eli put up one of his best regular seasons, in terms of numbers, this past season on his way to his second career Pro Bowl selection. Although he has led the league in interceptions twice in his eight-year career, there's no doubt his play has elevated once he hits the postseason. In fact, he has thrown just eight INTs with 14 TDs in nine career postseason starts, and three of those interceptions came in his playoff debut as a second-year pro in 2004 (NYG lost 23-0 to Carolina).

On the road in the playoffs, Eli has put up a 5-1 record with his lone loss coming against Philadelphia in 2006 with a 23-20 defeat at the hands of Jeff Garcia and Brian Westbrook. This postseason Eli has been near-perfect, throwing for 607 yards, 6 TDs, 1 INT (44 for 65) and outscoring opponents 61-22.

Depending on how the rest of this postseason plays out, Eli could further distance himself with the average NFL quarterbacks and elevate into successful playoff quarterback status, and possibly even get himself a second Super Bowl MVP award at the young age of 31.

Photo credit

Manning: Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Quote credit
Published on profootballtalk.com

Bengals/Texans: Battle of the Rookie QBs

In just under an hour the 2011-12 NFL playoffs will kick-off with a very noteworthy match-up in Houston between the Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Texans.

In 10 seasons, this is the Houston Texans' first-ever playoff appearance and the Bengals are seeking its first postseason win since 1990. Something's gotta give, right? The last time a playoff game was played in Houston Joe Montana was in a Kansas City Chief uniform as he defeated the Houston Oilers 28-20 on January 16, 1994.

This match-up also features a showdown between two rookie signal callers for the first time in playoff history, pretty impressive huh?

Both Houston's T.J. Yates and Cincy's Andy Dalton have turned heads with their leadership as rookies, and according to teammates neither have shown weaknesses in allowing the atmosphere of the playoff get to them. This week during practice, anyways. Come game time could be a whole different story.

The play of the quarterbacks, in my opinion, will not be the deciding factor in this game however. Rather, it will be the running game (and defense) that makes the difference. Houston has the league's second-best rushing attack, in terms of yardage at least, and Arian Foster is certain to get a huge workload today against Cincy's 10th-ranked run defense.

Houston is top five in overall (4th), pass (3rd) and run (4th) defense and will make for a rough day for Cedric Benson (1,067 yards, 6 TDs, 3.9 Y/A in regular season) and the Bengals' 19th-ranked running game. Without an efficient running attack there will be a lot of pressure on Dalton, and I think Houston's linebacking corps, led by Brian Cushing, will be too much for the young guy.

Houston, in its first playoff game in franchise history, will get the W today and live to play another week.

Photo credit

Cushing: Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images

Week 15 Picks: Make or Break for the Playoffs

Technically the playoffs haven't started yet, but playoff football started a couple of weeks ago. Three teams have clinched spots (Green Bay, New Orleans and Houston), but the rest still have three weeks to play good football.

Lucky for us, we get to witness the 10 or 12 more teams fight for their right to play in the second season for the remaining three weeks.

Here's who I believe will win each matchup today, (and tomorrow).

Sunday December 18

Dolphins over Bills

Buffalo has taken quite the fall after starting off 2011 with a strong performance. Since starting off 5-2, the Bills have lost 6 straight and fallen to 5-8. Depressing, but maybe not quite as depressing as Miami's 0-7 start. Since then, however the 'Phins have gone 3-2.

Seahawks over Bears

Caleb Hanie isn't exactly the Jay Cutler replacement that Chicago was hoping for. In five games, Hanie has thrown just two touchdowns compared to six interceptions, 502 yards and has put up a quarterback rating of 48.6. Completing about half of his pass attempts, the Bears offense has struggled to put point up on the board (13 combined in past two games).

Texans over Panthers

Sit the starters? Psh, that's not how Houston does it. How are they going to sit their third string quarterback anyways? They may have already captured the AFC South, but that doesn't mean they are necessarily just going to fold in the regular season. It shouldn't be a problem handling the 4-9 Panthers. Let's just hope they don't lose T.J. Yates to injury, too.

Titans over Colts

At this point, I'm kind of rooting for a winless season from Indianapolis. It'd make a very interesting story, woudn't it?? I know that Peyton Manning wouldn't enjoy that too much, but at least it's something that he can't control.

Packers over Chiefs

Everyone expected last week's Green Bay matchup to be quite close, but they ended up hanging Oakland an embarrassing 46-16 loss instead. If anyone thinks this week will be any different, they have a huge surprise coming their way.

Saints over Vikings

Adrian Peterson should be back–only because he doesn't want to let his fantasy owners down though, of course. But just because AP is likely to break out with 120 yards and a pair of touchdowns doesn't mean the Vikings will upset the playoff bound Saints.

Giants over Skins

Washington is another team with a fast start who has since cooled off. In the last five weeks the Redskins have gone 1-4 while the Giants are coming off a 37-34 victory over the division-leading Dallas Cowboys (8-6 after last night's 31-15 win over Tampa Bay).

Bengals over Rams

Cincy is on a two-game losing streak, but they are fighting for their playoff hopes and must win out just to have a shot at catching New York (Jets) and Pittsburgh. At 7-6, the Bengals have struggled to beat inter-division rivals Baltimore and Pittsburgh (2-3 in AFC North). Rookie quarterback Andy Dalton has a strong future though.

Lions over Raiders

Personally I'm not completely sold on Carson Palmer's return to football. But he has time to further prove himself to me, just maybe not this season. At 7-6, the Raiders are fighting for their playoff chances as well, I just don't think they'll have much success in the final three weeks. As for Detroit, they are in great position, especially after this win today.

Browns over Cardinals

One of the games with absolutely zero playoff contention. Arizona will be without quarterback Kevin Kolb, who has proven himself as one of the biggest busts in this year's free agency period. I would like to hope that Peyton Hillis can finally have a successful day against this Cardinal defense, but we'll see.

Patriots over Broncos

I'm sold on the "winning" of Tim Tebow, just not against a team of New England's capability. Tebow has managed to pull off victories against teams because his defense has kept him in the games, but against a team of New England's level I'm just not sure they can keep up with Brady and Co. for three-plus quarters. Minnesota, without Peterson, put up 32 on Denver...can they really keep the Pats to anything less than that? I highly doubt it.

Jets over Eagles

Philly is done. New York, however, are fighting to keep their one-game lead over the second Wild Card spot. So I would like to think that they are a little more motivated to win this game over the Eagles, who have checked out of this season weeks ago. Or so it seems, at least.

Ravens over Chargers

They are 3-3 on the road, but that doesn't mean much in this instance. San Diego is 2-3 over the last five games, and at 6-7 I don't see them in the playoffs. It would take a miracle. But as for Baltimore, if they win it would put them one game closer to a division title.

Monday December 20

Niners over Steelers

Whether or not Ben Roethlisberger plays, the Steelers are doomed in this one. Obviously if he does play he wont be 100%, and if he doesn't, then Charlie Batch will be the starter and Pittsburgh is likely to struggle doing anything in the passing game. Pittsburgh (10-3) is a playoff team, but they wont be clinching anything this week.

Photo credit

Caleb Hanie: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Steven Jackson: Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images