Divisional Playoff Afterword: Broncos vs Chargers

Fresh off career-best seasons, Peyton Manning and Knowshon Moreno
will lead Denver against the New England Patriots in the AFC title game.

Cory Puffett

For two weeks, even as eleven other teams played out the first seven games of the 2014 postseason, the spotlight was on the Denver Broncos. They were bombarded with questions about topics ranging from Peyton Manning’s 9-11 career playoff record to Denver’s divisional playoff to the Ravens just a season ago. Stories ran covering everything Peyton Manning’s abysmal career weather in outdoor, cold-weather games to Denver’s regular-season home loss to San Diego just a month ago.

The Broncos didn’t necessarily rise to the occasion in the way their fans would have liked, but they got out to a fast start did just enough to hold off a fourth quarter surge by the Chargers.

Denver followed the trend of the postseason, albeit not to the tee. All eight winning teams have gained at least 100 rushing yards. But Peyton Manning was the only winning quarterback in the divisional round to throw for at least 200 yards.

Denver’s secondary struggled throughout the game, but a great pass rush during the first half covered up their shortcomings and allowed Denver to take a comfortable 14-0 lead into the intermission.

San Diego’s was able to take advantage of a couple drops, some poor play calls, a pair of errant throws by Manning and an onside kick recovery to make a huge fourth quarter comeback. All 17 of the Chargers’ points came in the final quarter.

But Denver managed one deep drive capped off by a touchdown run by Knowshon Moreno that ultimately made the difference.

Now Denver will host the New England Patriots in next Sunday’s AFC title game. The Patriots scored 43 points on arguably a better defense than what the Denver Broncos have, but I’ll talk more about that in my preview on Thursday.

This will be the 15^th meeting between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and the fourth in the postseason. Brady leads the playoff series 2-1, but the home team has won every time so far.

Final Score:

San Diego Chargers – 17

Denver Broncos – 24

Divisional Playoff Afterword: Panthers vs 49ers

Carolina held Vernon Davis to just one reception for one yard, but it was
this touchdown at the end of the first half that shifted momentum to the 49ers.

Cory Puffett

Carolina beat itself early in the game. They seemed to get the boat back on track but San Francisco stole the moment at the end of the first half and their defense rattled Cam Newton in the game’s final 30 minutes.

On the 49ers’ opening drive, dumb penalties by Carolina on multiple third downs allowed San Francisco to get into field goal range. Cam Newton then had a pass picked off on a deflection during his first possession that led to another 49er field goal.

Newton looked good the rest of the half, completing almost all of his passes. But poor goal line execution by the Panthers’ offense left at least one touchdown off the board.

But a 12-play, 79-yard drive at the end of the second quarter, resulting in a go-ahead touchdown, shifted momentum to San Francisco and they never relinquished it.

Jim Harbaugh has now led his 49ers to three NFC Championship games in his first three years as an NFL head coach. He is 5-2 in the playoffs and 4-1 with Colin Kaepernick at quarterback.

Kaepernick threw for 196 yards and a touchdown in the game. Frank Gore took a while to get things rolling but put up 84 yards on 17 carries including a big 39-yard run on 3^rd & 1 late in the fourth quarter.

Anquan Boldin factored into the win with 8 receptions for 136 yards on 12 targets. Carolina had no answer for him and the few times they were able to take him away, Michael Crabtree found an opening to give Kaepernick another look.

The 49ers will face off with their NFC West rival in Seattle next Sunday in the conference championship game. San Francisco will be playing for a second straight Super Bowl appearance. The last team to do so was the New England Patriots nearly ten years ago when they made it to Super Bowl’s XXXVIII (38) and XXXIX (39).

Seattle has appeared in just one NFC title game, in 2005 when they defeated the Panthers to appear in Super Bowl XL against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That followed their only other 13-3 season in franchise history.

Final Score:

San Francisco 49ers – 23

Carolina Panthers – 10

Divisional Playoff Afterword: Patriots vs Colts

Stevan Ridley was not left to dry despite Blount's big day. The third-year
back out of LSU carried 14 times for 52 yards and two touchdowns in the win.

Cory Puffett

New England took an early lead on a 2-yard LeGarrette Blount touchdown run following Andrew Luck’s first interception of the game. Indy had the Patriots right where they wanted them, ahead.

That plan, not that it really was the plan, backfired. The Colts finish the season 0-4 in games following victories where they came back from deficits of ten or more points.

The rain had mostly stopped in Foxboro, but the Patriots emphasized the run on Saturday evening. Tom Brady didn’t have a particularly good game as far as his completion percentage, but he overcame a stretch of six straight completions and had a solid performance in support of his backs.

LeGarrette Blount was the main beneficiary of the Patriots’ game plan. He carried 24 times for 166 yards and four touchdowns. As a team, New England scored six rushing touchdowns on 46 carries for 234 yards.

Julian Edelman, the third player in Patriots history to catch 100 passes in a single season, continued in his role as Brady’s favorite target sans Gronk. He caught six balls for 84 yards on nine targets.

Not that the Patriots needed much help with the way their run game was working, but they got a good bit of help from their defense. Even though they got burned on a handful of plays, including two deep touchdown passes to LaVon Brazill, they also forced four interceptions in the game.

The Patriots won their third straight home divisional game after losing in 2010 to the New York Jets. Before that they hadn’t lost in the divisional playoffs at home since 1978.

Now New England awaits the conclusion of Sunday’s late game. If the Chargers can pull off a sixth straight win by knocking off the top seed in the AFC, the Patriots will host them in the AFC Championship. If the Broncos end the Chargers’ run, the Patriots will travel to Denver for next week’s conference title game.

Final Score:

Indianapolis Colts – 22

New England Patriots – 43

Divisional Playoff Afterword: Seahawks vs Saints

Seattle's defense was all over the place, and helped by the acoustics of
CenturyLink they took down the Saints and advanced to the NFC title game.

Cory Puffett

We found out what Marques Colton’s football IQ is. For the all-time receiving leader in Saints history, the final play of the Saints’ season was not his finest moment.

After catching a pass from Drew Brees along the sideline, instead of stepping out of bounds with two seconds left to give his quarterback a shot to the end zone, he turned and threw the ball up field. The illegal forward pass brought a ten-second runoff that ended the game.

The Saints’ defense deserves a lot of credit for keeping the game exciting. They had some struggles early in the game, mostly due to a shanked punt and a fumble giving Seattle short fields early in the game. But despite the heavy workload in the opening quarter, the defense kept the deficit to two possessions.

Drew Brees passed for just 34 yards in the first half, his worst total as a Saint. He turned around and had a really nice second half, albeit he needed a little luck to get 52 of his passing yards. But even that play did not lead to a score so he deserves a lot of praise for answering his defense with a solid half of football.

Seattle’s defense proved to be too much, though, and Marshawn Lynch certain had a part to play in the win. Lynch had not been running the ball very well the last few weeks but ran for a franchise-record 140 yards and two scores in Saturday’s divisional playoff matchup.

Seattle has now won its last six home playoff games and will host either San Francisco or Carolina next week. This game also officially closes Candlestick Park. If the Saints had won, a 49er victory on Sunday would mean one more game for the storied ballpark, an NFC Championship. Instead, the NFC title game will be at CenturyLink Field.

Final Score:

New Orleans Saints – 15

Seattle Seahawks – 23

2013 NFL Predictions, Divisional Round

Every week, the Football Freaks make predictions for every NFL game. Bonus games, in bold, are worth two points while all others are worth one point.

Bonus game (i.e. BOLD game) is the one that receives the most votes from the Football Freaks during each playoff round.

Day/Time	Game	CORY P.	ERIC M.	SEAN K.	SASWAT M.
Jan. 11 – 4:35p	NO at SEA (FOX)	SEA	SEA	SEA	SEA
Jan. 11 – 8:15p	IND at NE (CBS)	IND	NE	NE	NE
Jan. 12 – 1:05p	SF at CAR (FOX)	SF	SF	SF	SF
Jan. 12 – 4:40p	SD at DEN (CBS)	DEN	DEN	DEN	DEN

	CORY	ERIC	SEAN	SASWAT
Div Record	3-1	4-0	4-0	4-0
Total Record	155-108-1	168-95-1	161-102-1	174-89-1
Div Points	4	5	5	5
Current Totals	201	223	212	231

Some of our listeners are competing with us to score the most points on game predictions this season. Below are their Divisional Round totals:

	JAKE D.	EVAN A.	DANNY H.
Div Record	4-0	4-0	3-1
Total Record	160-103-1	159-104-1	160-103-1
Div Points	5	5	4
Current Totals	210	211	212

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