Reaction: Championship Sunday

by Coast

New England 21 San Diego 12

The Patriots are 18-0 after a 21-12 win over the Chargers. What a terrible game. How did the Colts lose to San Diego? Colts Patriots would have been so much better and Indianapolis might actually have had a chance to win. They didn't so it doesn't matter. Tom Brady was bad in this game. He threw for 209 yards 2 TDs and 3 INTs. Moss only had one catch for 18 yards. Brady is not a super hero like everyone on TV makes him out to be. He played the Bills, Jets and Dolphins 6 times this year. On top of that, he played the Browns and Bengals (awful defenses). So, in those 8 games, he faced defenses ranked 31, 31, 18, 18, 23, 23, 30 and 27. What above average player wouldn't put up huge numbers against these teams? Couple that with the four games against teams from the NFC, it is easy to see why he put up some huge numbers (I am not ripping the NFC, it is just a fact that the teams are weaker...the NFC champions trailed the Bills at the end of 3 quarters and if it wasn't for some adverse weather, who knows what would have happened? I am also not saying the Bills are better than the Giants because they are not, the point is, it was a game until Trent forgot what team he was on).

All that a team has to do is pressure Brady and play physical with his receivers and that is what the Chargers did. They have a great secondary with Jammer and Chromartie (the best defensive back in the NFL right now) and they have play makers in their front 7. Brady was also inaccurate all day. He overthrew a wide open Randy Moss by about 8 yards. He got lucky Kevin Faulk made a great catch in the fourth quarter to convert a third down, the pass was not accurate. The funny thing is, the ESPN "experts" are buying into this joke ankle injury he may or may not have and using that as an excuse as to why he was inaccurate. Give me a break. Convenient, the guy throws 3 picks and all of a sudden has an ankle injury that people use as an excuse for his poor play. Give me a break.

Another story in this game was the disappearance of Tomlinson. What a girl. His quarterback is out there with a torn ligament in his knee after having arthroscopic surgery on Monday playing his ass off while you got the franchise back sitting on the bench with his parka and helmet on with some minor injury after saying he was 90% 3 days before. That was a gutless performance by him in my opinion. This is the AFC Championship game. Was Tomlinson just intimidated and scared? Maybe he was, after all, earlier in the week he made the comment that he hoped they just didn't get blown out. That is a good attitude to have if you are the leader of your team. Let's hope we don't get blown out guys, who cares if we win. A good point was made on some talk show that Tomlinson actually left after the first drive and paid a body double to sit on the bench with his helmet on the whole game. I don't know, maybe it was too cold for him. Either way, he should be embarrassed and cost his team a chance to win.

Giants 23 Packers 20

What can I say, I ripped Eli Manning for 4 years saying he was a bust and didn't even care about football, etc. etc. Now, he has orchestrated three straight road wins in the playoffs without turning the football over once and the New York Giants are going to the Super Bowl. Yeah, I woke up Monday morning and thought I had a dream that the G men actually won the NFC Championship, but they actually did. A friend of mine made a comment after the Giants lost to the Patriots and said rematch Feb. 3. I think I laughed at him and told him to be serious. Obviously I underestimated how good the G men are or underestimated how mediocre the NFC is. I don't really know, I guess we will find out.

All that said, the Packers played a bad football game. What Brett Favre was doing on that interception in over time is beyond me. You have been in the league for how long and you making that throw? That ball needs to be put where only your guy can catch it. You cannot make the mistake and throw that ball inside the receiver and give the corner a shot at it. Awful mistake. Wow, Favre has thrown some bad interceptions in playoff games...that ball he just threw up to Dawkins in Philly comes to mind.

Where was Ryan Grant in this game? The Packers didn't even attempt to establish the run. Ryan Grant carried the ball only 13 times in a game where the temperate was below zero. Were the Packers afraid of him being tackled because it was so cold and it would hurt? The Packers were so blatantly one dimensional that they made it really easy for the Giants to defend them in the second half. The Packers offensive in the fourth quarter was atrocious.

Who else thought that RW McQuarters had money on the Packers? The dude intercepts a pass and gets touched and fumbles. Then on a punt, he gets barely touched again and fumbles again. On the fumble on the punt, I don't know who made a worse play, him for fumbling or the dude on the Packers for trying to pick up the ball and return it. What a mistake, one of many for Green Bay. Then you got Lawrence Tynes. Two missed kicks in the fourth quarter including one from 37 yards at the buzzer. He missed the second one by about 30 yards. What a choke job. At least he was bailed out by Favre who choked even worse.

Regardless, the Giants were able to get the win in the more exciting game of the day by far ruining any hopes of a story book super bowl match up between Brett Favre and Tom Brady. Yeah, I wouldn't have minded seeing this only because I thought Green Bay matched up better against New England, but I guess I am wrong about that. The Giants have the defensive ends to get pressure on Brady, but other than that, they are probably worse at every single position except maybe running back. The Patriots receivers vs. the Giants secondary could be a huge huge mis match. I don't care, I am a Giants fan for the next 2 weeks and I don't even like the Giants. They beat the Bills in the Super Bowl because they got lucky and are probably in my top 10 hated teams in the NFL. Eli, who has all of a sudden learned how to play quarterback in the NFL, needs to have the game of his life...again. Strahan needs to be in Brady's grill all day and maybe take a couple shots at his "injured" ankle. Upset of the century? Probably not, but I hope so. Go G Men.