By Brandon Simmons
Patriots Survive Blizzard to Reach Super Bowl
The New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos in a battle where both teams had to have their defensive units featured. The game was a clear sky, cold weather fest and soon turned into snowy massacre, in which the Patriots rose above in the last minute. The Denver Broncos held their own, especially considering they were being led by backup QB Jarrett Stidham, the first QB to start a conference championship game without recording a pass attempt in the regular season. The same could not be said for his opponent’s QB, Patriots QB Drake Maye, who went 10/21 for 86 yards even though his numbers suggest otherwise. Both teams traded 3 and outs to start the game then son after traded touchdowns and failed 4th down attempts to end the first half. The 2nd half was the same but the environment was even crazier, as snow fell and began to cover the entire field. These conditions cramped both offenses styles as each team struggled to move the football.
Once again, the Patriots defense carried this team to victory, as they have all postseason. The crazy art about that is that the Patriots gave up the first touchdown of the game, in addition to letting Stidham make some plays on the move. Once that stopped, this New England defense was rolling. Sure, it was something expected since Stidham was at QB and the weather was detrimental but that pass rush really showed up for this Patriots team. In the 2nd quarter, the pass rush forced the fumble that was an intentional grounding into a possession to set up a Patriots touchdown. The next defensive possession saw Barmore got a sack. Patriots Ellis and Davis each recorded tackles for loss. The offense did adjust better to the snow than Denver. In the 3rd quarter they had 6 straight runs from running back Rhomandre Stevenson to set up the field goal that gave them a 10-7 lead, a lead protected by the Patriots defense and the Broncos missed field goals the rest of the way. This game has been a perfext identity of the Patriots playoff run: ugly offensive performance with room to clean up their mistakes, thanks to the defense’s efforts.
Seahawks Outduel Rams to Punch Super Bowl Ticket
The Seattle Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Rams in a 31-27 thriller where both of the teams’ QB’s put on a show. Rams QB Matthew Stafford threw for 374 yards and 3 touchdowns, including that split between Rams wide receivers Puka Nucua and Davante Adams. Seahawks QB Sam Darnold had a similar stat line also throwing for 3 touchdowns, with those also spread equally among wide receivers Jackson Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp as well as tight end Jake Bobo.
Seattle jumped out to a 10-6 lead after the 1st quarter. However, the Rams defense made huge stops in the 2nd quarter to allow their team to take a 13-10 lead with less than 3 minutes left. That’s when Darnold threw a TD to JSN with 20 seconds left in the first half to go up 17-13. 3rd quarter, after recovering a muffed punt, Seahawks stay on the field for Darnold to throw a TD to Bobo. Their next possession, they respond to a Rams TD with another Darnold TD pass, this one to Kupp, to go up 31-20. Rams rssponded with another to make the score 31-27 but Seahawks defense carried the team in the 4th quarter.
The Seattle Seahawks owe this win to Sam Darnold. The journeyman QB has added another highlight to his revival season by making big plays to put this team in position to win. He launched a 51 yard completion to Seahawks wide receiver Rashid Taheed to set up a touchdown run by Seahawks runnimg back Kenneth Walker. Darnold also hit JSN on a similar play to set up his TD reception and completed a 3rd down conversion to Kupp that set up his TD pass. Quite simply, Darnold just needed to let his playmakers to make plays early and often as the defense became the closer.
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