Who Will Prevail?

[Elephant]

I have been waffling since the Saints got beat. I really thought that offense was just too potent. All it took was a good defense to stop them.

I want to say the Patriots because Tom Brady is who he is, perhaps the best of all time. I hope Cam Cameron won't stink it up again and fail to get Ray Rice going against a terrible Patriots defense. If Tom Brady gets rattled he will make mistakes...how many? And can Baltimore's offense take time off the clock and keep Brady off the field to to keep him from getting his mojo going?

I like the 49ers. They are an all-around solid football team. The Giants are playing well, but they have not played a defense as good as the 49ers in the playoffs.

And then there is the under estimating of Tom Coughlin. This man does not get the credit he deserves like Boone said. I wonder who the Jets/Giants players would rather be playing for now?

I still think Baltimore is going to get it on track. I think after the scare last week, Cam Cameron will try to force Ray Rice down the Patriots throats. It's the only chance they have. And I think they will beat the 49ers in the Harbaugh bowl.

Ravens win their 2nd Super Bowl.

 

[GSF]

49ers vs Pats. Niners win!

 

[Boone]

Pats and G-men and the G-men prevail.

 

[Fear The Spear]

49ers vs Pats. Niners win!

This is exactly the whole scenario I WANT to happen

 

[NavyDave]

I have faith that the Pats will make it to the big game, sending the Ravens and fake former Redskins fan(s) around the area wearing Ravens jerseys scurrying home.

 

[Goaldeje]

Cannot believe Cundiff. Unreal. Can't put that loss solely on Flacco. His INT was horrible, but he did the job they pay him to do at the end.

 

[Elephant]

I am just going to keep my mouth shut! I know nothing about football!


Go get RGIII!

 

[McD5]

I thought that game was over the second the Ravens didn't go for it on fourth and a foot, in the first quarter. You are at the three yard line. You have Ray Rice. This is for the Superbowl. The Patriots put up points. Don't be pansies.

 

[Elephant]

And in this game, Harbaugh's brother decides to try a reverse in the driving cold rain after they have put the Giants on their heels with the Davis TD and a good defensive stop.

Oh and Carlos Rogers is getting abused by Victor Cruz!!!

 

[McD5]

And in this game, Harbaugh's brother decides to try a reverse in the driving cold rain after they have put the Giants on their heels with the Davis TD and a good defensive stop.

Oh and Carlos Rogers is getting abused by Victor Cruz!!!

Victor Cruz abuses everyone. He's amazing. I just wish he was on our team.

 

[McD5]

This looks like a great fourth quarter. It may come down to the final possession.

 

[Elephant]

This looks like a great fourth quarter. It may come down to the final possession.

Well, OT at least...huh?


I will say this, I like Tom Coughlin. With only 26 seconds left on 4th and 4, he plays the safe call and punts it away to force OT. That's good coaching. If it were Mike Smith in Atlanta he would have given the 49ers a short field if they had not converted...er...I mean when they didn't convert.

On the other hand, I do not like the time out called by Harbaugh after his QB got sacked with 4 seconds left in the game when the Giants have been getting all kinds of pressure on Alex Smith. Smith almost got crushed again.

 

[Goaldeje]

Somehow, I get the feeling both teams would rather have their defense out there than their offense.

 

[Goaldeje]

Annnnnddddddd Devin Thomas makes what should be the game winning ST fumble recovery.

 

[Burgundy Burner]

Farewell to the Harbaughs.

 

[GSF]

Wow too bad for the 49ers. 2 botched punt returns cost them the game.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

I just have no faith in Joe Flacco. They have a lot of talent - but Flacco? Just can't picture it. Guess we're about to find out.

Who would have thought that Joe would outplay Tom (by a wide margin), and it would be the Ravens who couldn't stop the run? Unbelievable - Flaccooo still had them in position to win, even put the game-winning TD pass right where it needed to be; Lee Evans dropped it. Turrible!

 

[Goaldeje]

Nice write up here on both games:

If you want to trace the story of this Ravens loss back to its roots, skip past Evans and Cundiff. You need to go back to the last drive of the first quarter, when a mix of subpar play and conservative decision-making satisfied the small picture while ignoring the big one. It didn't cost the Ravens the game, but it certainly hurt their chances of winning.

That drive started after the Ravens had gone three-and-out on each of their first three possessions, with Joe Flacco taking two sacks and scrambling for a minimal gain on the team's first three third downs, despite the fact that the Patriots only rushed three or four players on each play. Flacco looked like a caricature of the bumbling quarterback who had nearly cost his team the game against the Texans the previous week.

On the opening play of that fourth drive, the Ravens took a shot downfield. Flacco hit Torrey Smith for a 42-yard reception, moving the ball deep into New England territory in the process. A great play? Well, depends on how you define great. It was meaningful, sure, and it resulted in an improved situation for the Ravens, but it's hard to argue that it was actually great. Smith beat a busted coverage and carved out a huge swath of space for himself up the sideline. If Flacco had seen that Smith was open earlier and hit Smith in stride, it would have been an easy touchdown for the Ravens. Instead, Flacco's throw was late and short, and Smith had to stop and turn back before catching the ball. The pass went for 42, but Flacco left 28 additional yards and six crucial points on the field.

That came back to haunt the Ravens six plays later, when a checkdown to Anquan Boldin came up two feet short of a first down, leaving the Ravens with a fourth-and-1 on the New England 3-yard line. Baltimore, as you might remember, chose to try to convert a fourth-and-inches on the goal line against Houston last week and came up short. Whether that factored into this week's decision is unclear, but the Ravens chose to kick a field goal and tie the game at three.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7492327/bill-barnwell-breaks-afc-nfc-title-games

 

[Neophyte]

I was thinking the very same thing about that 42 yard play from Flacco to Smith when it happened. If Flacco throws that earlier it is 6 points going away. Hell, if he throws it longer on that same timing it is 6 going away. And all the while I am sitting there listening to Phil Simms praise Flacco for a "great" play. All I could think was that Simms had rolled over and was cutting Flacco some slack because he had whined to the media a week before about getting no respect for his play. Frankly, if he wants respect he has to make that play go for a TD.

 

[Lanky Livingston]

Flacco played a good game IMO (outplayed Brady for sure). That was a big miss, but he also hit Evans with a perfect outside-shoulder TD pass that Evans dropped. He was throwing precision passes all over the place! He threw the ball away on 4th down and took some bad sacks - that was pretty dumb, but his good moments outshone his bad ones, I think.