2012 Postseason Rewind: Conference Championships

I can’t remember the last time there were two great conference championship games in the same season. Oh wait, last year of course. But seriously, it seems like most years have one fantastic game and another where one team just decided they didn’t really want to go to the Super Bowl. We’ve been treated to four terrific games the past two seasons.

This year kicked off with the 49ers and Falcons in Atlanta. Like they did in the divisional round against Seattle, the Falcons jumped to an early lead. But even before they could make the same mistake twice and switch to a prevent defense, Colin Kaepernick began leading a comeback on his own merit.

A couple terrific downfield throws opened up the box and suddenly he and Frank Gore were free to run wild. Once the read-option finally got jump started, there was nothing Atlanta could do on defense. They could either give up four- and five-yard gains on the ground, or they could collapse on it and free Kaepernick to hit Vernon Davis or Michael Crabtree for a solid gain through the air.

Atlanta managed to stay in it, but Matt Ryan was hurt on a late-4^th quarter drive and was thrown completely off his rhythm. He forced a bad pass on fourth down and couldn’t do any more than dump off a pass to Julio Jones as time expired.

In Foxboro, the Patriots were in charge most of the first half. The Ravens only managed one good drive. New England’s offense was much more effective but had to settle for a couple of field goals and a 13-7 lead at halftime.

Tom Brady was 67-0 at home when leading at halftime, so New England had to be feeling good heading into the break, despite a handful of missed opportunities.

The tides turned in the second half, however, and Joe Flacco was as accurate as he’s ever been. A few poor passes in the first half didn’t seem to bother him any and he was on point in the second half, spreading his targets pretty evenly among his receivers.

There isn’t much more I can do to demonstrate how dominant Baltimore was in the second half besides to just point out that they outscored New England 21-0 after halftime.

A year after they both lost in stunning fashion, due to dropped passes, shanked field goals and inexcusable fumbles, Jim and John Harbaugh led their teams back to the brink, and now over and into the Super Bowl.

Tomorrow I will briefly preview the Pro Bowl and Monday I will recap it. Tuesday marks the start of my Super Bowl XLVII coverage. Likely, I will start with the 49ers on Tuesday, then cover the Ravens on Wednesday and continue from there. Keep up with new posts by ‘liking’ my blog’s Facebook page and by following me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.