Conference Championship Recap

So the NFL Conference Championships are now over and the Super Bowl is finally set, which means for the next two weeks every football analyst will be dissecting every facet of the Broncos and Seahawks until we've all talked ourselves in circles at least 15 times. For now, I will spare you all that torture by taking a look back at last weekends' Conference Championship games and see exactly how each of these two teams found themselves in the Super Bowl.

Since everyone has been gushing over Richard Sherman's post game interview after the NFC Championship game, that is as good a place as any to start. At first I was mostly shocked by what I was watching, not about his yelling or his emotion, but by how he took a quality team effort, and made it all about Sherman vs. Crabtree. I thought this was selfish and egotistical. I understand the emotion of making a huge play to send your team to the Super Bowl and I do not blame him for being upset at Crabtree after hearing about the history between the two, but come on, to go on national television and only talk about yourself and what you did without any mention of your teammates is just a selfish move. Now for the actual game.

The 49ers came out and played about as good a first half as they could have hoped for, except for settling for a field goal after the Russell Wilson fumble on the first play of the game. The defense played outstanding, as expected, and while Seattle's defense held the San Francisco passing game in check, Kaepernick did a terrific job of taking what was there and getting out of the pocket when he needed to. With a halftime score of 10-3 though, nobody in that stadium thought the game was over, nor should they have. The thing that most impressed me by the Seahawks in that game was their demeanor, especially in the second half after they really had nothing go right for them in the first half. Marshawn Lynch rushed for a total of 33 yards in the first half, Russell Wilson turned the ball over, something he very rarely does, and if not for the defense shutting out the 49ers passing game, they could have been down much more than just a touchdown. But Seattle never panicked. They stuck to their ground game, and it eventually paid off with a monster 40 yard run by Beast Mode which was really the turning point in the game.

San Francisco was able to respond with a beautiful throw and catch from Kaepernick to Boldin, but other than that the Seattle defense was absolutely dominant, forcing three second half turnovers, including an interception by Malcolm Smith in the endzone that essentially clinched the game for the Seahawks. A lot of people are blaming Kaepernick for the loss, and I cannot totally blame them considering he was responsible for two interceptions and a lost fumble. However, when you consider that a second-year player basically had to put the team on his back to go out and win a conference championship game, on the road, against a division rival, I give him a little more credit for just keeping his team in the game. The 49ers pass game was very inconsistent and any completions they did make were few and far between, which did not allow Kaepernick to get into a rhythm throwing the football. San Francisco also had absolutely no running game to speak of outside of the quarterback scrambling, which accounted for 130 of their 161 total rushing yards. The Seahawks defense was absolutely dominant, specifically in the second half and for any second-year quarterback to go into that environment and win is incredibly difficult, let alone when a trip to the Super Bowl is on the line. Kaepernick certainly did not play his best when his team needed him the most, but I will cut him a little slack considering he had to do it all himself.

In the earlier match-up of the day, the highly anticipated game between the Broncos and Patriots, Brady vs. Manning, was well, a little one-sided. After all the talk throughout the past week about the two quarterbacks going head-to-head in this game, it was slightly disappointing to see one simply dominate over the other (except for me being a Broncos fan, I couldn't get enough). Peyton Manning was absolutely amazing in the game, completing 32 of 43 passes for 400 yards and two scores. But beyond the numbers, the game plan and execution by the Denver offense was something to marvel at. The Broncos had two drives which lasted over seven minutes and spanned 80 and 93 yards respectively, both ending in touchdowns. This helped them control the ball for over 35 minutes of game time, compared to just over 24 minutes of possession for New England, keeping Tom Brady off the field, while also producing points for Denver.

On the flip side, LaGarrett Blount came into the game after rushing for at least 100 yards and one score in each of the Patriots' last three games going back to the regular season, including a 166-yard 4-touchdown day the week before against the Colts. It was a different story on Sunday though as Blount carried the ball just five times for six yards. It was not just Blount who was ineffective though, Stevan Ridley had only 17 yards on five carries, which led the team until the last Patriots possession when Shane Vareen picked up 25 yards on three ruhses, pushing his daily total to a measly 34 yards. In total, New England racked up just 64 yards on the ground, due in large part to the stoutness of the Broncos defense. If there's one thing that people who watch football know, it is that the best way to beat a team is to make them one-dimensional, and that is exactly what the Broncos did by taking away the Patriots' run game. I normally would not want the Patriots to be forced the throw the football more than necessary, but given the ball control the Denver offense had exhibited throughout the game, any incompletion by the Patriots offense was enormously detrimental to their ability to score points. The coaching staff recognized this late in the third quarter as they were down 17 points and elected to go for it on fourth and three despite being in field goal range. The play resulted in a sack by Terrence Knighton and after another long drive by the Broncos offense that resulted in points, effectively put the game out of reach. It was a full team effort by the Broncos to win this football game, highlighted by outstanding play from a defense that, despite going though plenty of ups and downs this season, seems to be hitting its stride at the perfect time, having allowed 17 points or less in each of their last four games.

So now the Super Bowl match-up is set, and while I will not bore you with in-depth analysis of the two teams right now, I do want to quickly preview the game, featuring the number one rated offense and the number one rated defense in the NFL this season. Clearly the biggest focus point of the Super Bowl will be just that, Peyton Manning's offense against Richard Sherman and the Legion of Boom. I am excited to watch this match-up for a couple reasons. First, Manning is so good pre-snap, reading a defense and making adjustments at the line, I am looking forward to seeing what Seattle does to counter-act this. Second, neither of these teams has faced an opposing offense/defense quite like what the other poses. The toughest offense Seattle has faces is New Orleans, and while Bees and Co. are formidable, they are not anything like what this Denver offense is capable of. Similarly, Denver has faced Kansas City twice this season, and won each time, but the play makers Seattle has, specifically in the secondary, are second to none in the NFL, this will truly be the unstoppable force against the immovable object.

The next aspect I will be focusing a lot on is Marshawn Lynch against the Broncos run defense. As I said earlier, the Denver defense has been playing its best football lately despite all the injuries, but their run defense has been ranked in or near the top ten all season long. Terrence Knighton and rookie defensive tackle Sylvester Williams will have a tough task trying to get into the Seattle backfield to get to Lynch before he gets going, but the linebackers and safeties will need to react quickly because there is no tougher back in the NFL to bring down than Beast Mode himself, and limiting his yards after contact will go a long way in controlling that Seattle defense and limiting play-action possibilities.

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-Lee