Meanwhile, if those games went the other way yesterday, you would have been among the group of posters asserting quite arrogantly that it's a quarterback league and virtually nothing else matters. I can just imagine if the championship games had been Brady vs. Peyton and Rodgers vs. Ryan. We never would have heard the end of it.
So naturally you've got to expect a bit of recoil when it goes the other way, especially in such delightful fashion, with Peyton losing at home as a 9 point favorite, Rodgers destroyed on the road, Ryan coughing up a 17 point lead at home, and Brady losing by 15 at home, outscored 21-zilch in the second half.
In fact, that warrants a replay...Peyton losing at home as a 9 point favorite, Rodgers destroyed on the road, Ryan coughing up a 17 point lead at home, and Brady losing by 15 at home, outscored 21-zilch in the second half.
It's still a quarterback league. I'm not going to pretend this will be an ongoing trend. But it serves to point out that pass defense still matters. San Francisco attacks the quarterback and defends the pass. Baltimore had poor defensive stats by their standards this season but with everybody back they retained the know how. The playoffs are the only tolerable football of the season because the refs actually let them play in the secondary.
Atlanta ran the ball only 378 times this season. That warrants a dismissal. The league should have been embarrassed if the Falcons made it. Let Gonzalez cry in the corner while looking at a sheet with that 378 number emblazoned.
Kudos to the Harbaugh brothers for astutely providing some contrast. Along with Pete Carroll. Hopefully there will be others. The league has been dissolving in ignorance in recent years, with one coach after another brainstorming to throw the ball and throw the ball again, regardless of who his quarterback is.
Notice it doesn't take much, once you break the conformity. There's no way a Jim Harbaugh could have taken over a struggling team 20 or 30 years ago and advanced to the Super Bowl within two seasons. Too many brute teams in that era, ones who actually hit you.