tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Heading Into Championship Week

Except for the Patriots destruction of the Denver Broncos, divisional playoff weekend provided great entertainment for football fans. The best game without a doubt was the New Orleans-San Francisco contest which saw a coming out party for the much-mailgned Alex Smith. Smith has often been considered a first round bust. The thinking was that Smith was nothing more than a game manager, just like Trent Dilfer, and that the 49ers relied on a running game and defense. But Saturday afternoon, Smith went toe-to-toe with NFL MVP candidate Drew Brees and drove his team down the field not once but twice, the last time with 9 seconds remaining to punch the Niners ticket to the NFC Championship game. A championship game that will be played at Candlestick Park as a result of the New York Giants victory over the Green Bay Packers.

The Giants were led by their franchise quarterback, Eli Manning, who outplayed the other NFL MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers. The Giant defense pressured Rodgers and made plays when they had to and the Packer defense which has been suspect all year long could not get it done when they needed to. New York's victory was not surprising to me as they had the better defense, were on a roll and their QB and WRs were every bit as good as the Packers. On top of that, the Giant running game was firing on all cylinders as evidenced by Brandon Jacobs' touchdown at the end of the game which sealed the deal for New York.

In Baltimore, the Ravens recipe for victory remained the same as they capitalized on turnovers and their defense was able to make big plays. Give the Houston Texans credit for not backing down as they trailed 17-3 in the first quarter and it looked like it was going to be a blowout. But they made it close behind the running of Arian Foster but in the end it wasn't enough. One has to think that if Matt Schaub had not been injured that this game would have ended differently.

Saturday night, Tom Brady showed that he wasn't screwing around as he lit up the Bronco defense for 6 touchdown passes, 5 in the first half, as the Patriots rolled Denver 45-10. Tim Tebow was not a factor at all as the Patriot defense played one of its better games of the year. A defense that was just as bad as that of the Packers. In the end, the Patriots were just too much for the Broncos.

The championship games should be very interesting. Two years ago the Ravens knocked the Patriots out of the playoffs, as Ray Rice ran all over them in Foxboro. Don't think that Bill Belichik won't remind his team of that. On the NFC side, the Giants will try to avenge a loss that they suffered at the hands of the Niners during the regular season. In what has become a quarterbacks league, next Sunday it will come down to four QB's. Right now, I'd have to go with Tom Brady and Eli Manning and what a Super Bowl that would be: a rematch from 2007 that saw the Giants win the Super Bowl and end the Patriots undefeated season. Stay tuned.