Monday, January 12, 2009

2009 NFL Playoffs: AFC


Chargers 24 Steelers 35


The Pittsburgh Steelers were in fine form Sunday, defeating the Chargers. Ben Roethlisberger showed no affects from a concussion suffered two weeks ago and Willie Parker ran wild going for 146 yards on 27 carries and had 2 touchdowns.


The Steelers defense, as usual, was impressive. They held the Chargers rushing attack to only 15 yards on 12 carries. Do the math, that's not a good average. The Steeler D turned the Chargers into a one dimensional offense. And everyone knows, if you can't run the football in the post-season, you can't win. Charger runningback Darren Sproles was a factor in the passing game and returning kicks, but couldn't get anything going on the ground. Would a healthy LaDainian Tomlinson have helped? Doubt it. The Steelers gameplan was to put a lockdown on the Chargers ground game, and it worked. Philip Rivers had a good game, but I can guarantee that if you only manage 15 yards of rushing offense in an NFL playoff game, you will lose.


Stat of the game: the Chargers third quarter time of possession was a meager 17 seconds. Really. I'm not an offensive coordinator, but I know that it's damn hard to score any points if you don't have the football.


Ravens 13 Titans 10


Did anyone really expect an offensive explosion in this game? This was a classic defensive showdown. As usual, games like this come down to one thing, turnovers. The Ravens held onto the ball and the Titans comitted 3 turnovers.


The Titans did get jobbed by the officials on the last drive of the game. There was a clear delay of game penalty that didn't get called. Bad play for the official that missed the call, but it wasn't the reason the Titans lost the game. Titan fan, don't blame the refs, blame the Ravens defense, blame Joe Flacco (this kid's a rookie?), and losing Chris Johnson in the first half didn't help.


Or do as Titan linebacker Keith Bulluck did, blame the offense, "You go out and play defense the way you did. At the end of the day, realistically you have two, three turnovers inside the 20, you're not supposed to win." And that's why you didn't.

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