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NFL Conference Championships

By David Hollinshead, Staff Writer

he conference finals proved
| to be a thrilling preview for
this weekend’s Super Bowl
matchup. Both games ended with
fans of every team holding their
breath, and ended on the legs of
kickers. The exciting weekend left
a Super Bowl rematch of the New
England Patriots against the New
York Giants.

New England Patriots 23-20
Baltimore Ravens

The road to the conference
championship had been a rather
easy one for New England. After

a weak regular season schedule,

the Patriots didn’t beat a single
team with a winning record and
still amassed a 13-3 record and
clinched the number one seed in the
playoffs. After the bye week from
the Wildcard round, the Patriots
saw themselves against the Tim
Tebow-led Denver Broncos. The
Broncos, who backed their way into
the playoffs, defeated the Pittsburgh
Steelers in overtime, despite the
Steelers being widely regarded as
the better team. The next week, the
Patriots ran all over the Broncos in a
45-10 victory.

The Baltimore Ravens had a
more difficult season, constantly
battling the Pittsburgh Steelers for
division supremacy, and eventually
came out on top with a 12-4 record
but held the tiebreaker over the
Steelers. After the bye week, the
Ravens defeated an injury-plagued
Houston Texans team 20-13. This
game would mark the first proven
NFL quarterback that the Patriots
31 ranked defense would play in
several weeks in Joe Flacco.

After missing a wide-open
Rob Gronkowski—a pro-bowl
tight end—in the first quarter, the
Patriots settled for a field goal,
giving them a 3-0 lead. Flacco
would then take advantage of the
Patriots weak pass defence, airing
a long bomb out to rookie wide
receiver Torrey Smith. The Patriots
defence would hold them to a field
goal, tying the game in the second
quarter. Later in the quarter, the
Patriots took the lead thanks to
running back BenJarvus Green-
Ellis, who ran his best in the drive
and capped it off with a seven-yard
touchdown run to give the Pats a
10-3 lead. Flacco would come right
back though. After completing
several passes, including a big
play by wide receiver Anquan
Boldin, Flacco threw a seven-yard

touchdown pass to tight end Dennis
Pitta to knot the score up. The
Patriots would kick another field
goal, and Flacco would over throw
another long bomb to Torrey Smith,
giving the Patriots a 13-10 lead at
half time.

The Flacco-Smith connection
would make up for it though. Late
in the third quarter, on the third
down, Flacco threw a screen pass to
Smith who broke a pathetic attempt
at a tackle by rookie defensive back
Sterling Moore and took it to the
house for a 17-16 Baltimore lead.
Things didn’t look promising for
New England, as kick returner
Danny Woodhead fumbled the
ensuing kick-off. The New England
defence held Baltimore to only a
field goal.

Things wouldn’t get better for
the Patriots, as Rob Gronkowski
looked to have suffered a broken
ankle after hauling in a huge first
down catch. He would later return
to the game though, as the damage
wasn’t as serious as first thought.
The Patriots were at the Ravens
one-yard line on the fourth down,
after three failed run attempts,
quarterback Tom Brady dove over
the line for the touchdown, giving
new life to Gillette Stadium and the
Patriots then lead at 23-20. From
then on, it looked like a defensive
shoot out, as Flacco threw an
interception to linebacker Brandon
Spikes who made an athletic play
on the ball, but Brady gave the ball
right back on the next play with his
second interception of the day.

On the last drive of the game,
the Patriots needed to keep Flacco
and the Ravens out of field goal
range. Flacco would attempt to
silence his critics by hitting Anquan
Boldin, who beat wide receiver
Julian Edelman (who doubles on
defense), before being knocked out
of bounds at the 25-yard line. Flacco
would attempt to go for the win,
firing a pass in the end zone for
veteran receiver Lee Evans who had
the ball swatted out of his hands
by Sterling Moore. Flacco tested
Moore again, throwing this time to
Dennis Pitta a few yards short of
the end zone, but was again broken
up by Moore. Baltimore kicker Billy
Cundiff made his way onto the
field to attempt a 32 yarder, well
within his range, but hooked it left,
sending the Patriots to their first
Super Bowl since 2007.

nal
*

New York Giants 20-17 San
Francisco 49ers

If you told most NFL experts that
the 49ers and Giants would be
playing for a chance to go to the
Super Bowl, not many would have
believed you, thinking the NFC
representative had to be either the
Green Bay Packers or the New
Orleans Saints.

The 9-7 New York Giants faced
off against the 15-1 Green Bay
Packers in the divisional round. The
Packers had the 32nd-rated defence
in the league, but still saw success
thanks to their high-octane offense,
which is perfectly fine if the offense
fires on all cylinders. The Packers
turned the ball over repeatedly and
quarterback Aaron Rodgers saw
several of his passes dropped as the
Giants took the game easily 37-20.

The 49ers had a much harder
task facing the New Orleans
Saints. The final few minutes of the
game became a spectacular shoot
out that everyone watching will
remember. Alex Smith threw a great
pass to his tight end, an emotional
Vernon Davis, to score the winning
touchdown with practically no
time left on the clock, defeating
the Saints 36-32. The 49ers looked
promising after they took a quick
7-0 lead courtesy of Vernon Davis
hauling in a 73-yard touchdown
pass from Smith.

In the second quarter,
quarterback Eli Manning would
lead his Giants down and score
ona six yard touchdown throw

 

to tight end Ben Pascoe to tie the
game up. With time running out,
Manning would find receiver Victor
Cruz four times in the same drive
to set up a Lawrence Tynes field
goal, giving the Giants a 10-7 lead
at half time. Vernon Davis hauled
in another touchdown pass from
Smith, this time from 28 yards to
give the 49ers the lead 14-10 late in
the third quarter. The fourth quarter
was the start of a bad day for punt
returner Jacquian Williams, after
seeing a punt bounce off his leg,
pretending it didn’t, and letting
New York recover the ball.

Manning then took the lead
back from the 49ers, throwing a 17-
yard touchdown pass to receiver
Mario Manningham giving the
Giants the lead 17-14. The 49ers
wouldn’t go away though, as kicker
David Akers made good on a 25-
yard field goal attempt, set up by
a great run by Kendall Hunter. For
the rest of the fourth quarter, both
defenses played astounding, not
letting either team get in field goal
range, and Eli Manning taking a
thrashing from the 49ers defensive
line.

In overtime, the 49ers held
the Giants offense once again to
force a punting situation. Jacquian
Williams fumbled that punt too,
giving the Giants the ball back.
With a 31-yard attempt, Lawrence
Tynes connected to send his team
into a rematch with the New
England Patriots.

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