Conference Championship Thoughts

Super Bowl LI is set.

New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons are making their second trip to the Super Bowl. Their lone previous appearance was Super Bowl XXXIII. A 34-19 loss to the Denver Broncos in John Elway's final game.

The Patriots are a frequent Super Bowl participant. This will be their league-leading ninth trip.

Both teams got to the big game by winning big in their conference championship games.

NFC Championship:
Green Bay Packers 21
Atlanta Falcons 33

AFC Championship:
Pittsburgh Steelers 17
New England Patriots 36

The large margins of victory have been a trend in this year's playoffs. 8 of the 10 playoff games were won by the home team by double digits. Here's hoping that Super Bowl LI is more like the two games that weren't blowouts.

I like this comment from USA Today's Tom Pelissero in advance of the Packers-Falcons game.
"Packers RB Christine Michael (Back) just completed a workout in front of trainers by doing a backflip, which seems like a good sign."
It was a good sign but good things were fleeting for the Packers yesterday.

With the Packers struggles on defense this season they knew that they were going to have to score on every opportunity to keep pace with the high-scoring Falcons. It looked like the Packers offense was going to keep pace with the way that they moved the ball on their first two possessions. They just couldn't finish those possessions with scores. Packers kicker Mason Crosby was dynamite in the win over the Cowboys last week. He missed a 41-yard field goal on the first possession. Fullback Aaron Ripkowski fumbled inside the Falcons five-yard line on the second possession. If the Packers had come out of those nice drives with 10 points to match the 10 that the Falcons had scored maybe this is a different game. They didn't and the Falcons took off.

It was 24-0 at the half. The Packers opened the second half with a three-and-out. A possession that took 11 seconds. Two of the three plays were drops by tight end Jared Cook. Dropped passes were a problem all game for the usually sure-handed Packer receivers. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers has been damn near perfect over the past two months. He'd been hitting small targets with stunning frequency. He was off yesterday. Passes were low. Everything had been looking so easy for him. Nothing was easy yesterday.

Everything looked easy for Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. His first half stats looked like those from a full game. 271 yards. Two touchdowns. He also added a 14-yard scamper for a score. He cruised to full game stats of 27/38 for 392 yards and four touchdowns.

Some first half comparisons:
First downs
Packers 6
Falcons 20

Yards
Packers 127
Falcons 325

Falcons receiver Julio Jones is really good.
9 catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns.

The Packers undermanned secondary was over-matched by Jones, Mohamed Sanu, Taylor Gabriel, and the passing-catching backfield duo of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman. The Falcons offense can stress a defense in so many diverse ways.

The Steelers-Patriots game was still a game when Steelers all-everything running back Le'Veon Bell left with a groin injury in the second quarter. He gave the injury a try in the third quarter but left for good after a single snap. There were some reports that he'd come into the game with the injury. No matter when it happened he wasn't the same player and the Steelers weren't the same team.

Bell on his injury:
"I couldn't be myself. I had no burst anymore."

DeAngelo Williams did a fine job, more so in the passing game, but he's no Bell. Especially the way that Bell's been playing over the last eight weeks. Few backs have ever played better.

Even with a healthy Bell the Steelers would've been in a bad way because they weren't too successful at covering the Patriots receivers. They rarely seemed to be anywhere close to Chris Hogan. The occasionally-used Hogan posted Julio Jones-like numbers. 9 catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns. Looks familiar. Julian Edelman added 8 catches for 118 yards and a touchdown.

The Super Bowl LI matchup will be dissected and bisected over the next two weeks but the one thing that I most look forward to seeing is how Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Mike Patricia approach the Falcons diverse offense. Belichick's defense typically picks the opposing offense's best player and tries to take that player out of the game. The Falcons best and most explosive offensive player is Julio Jones. I think that the Patriots will target the Falcons two-headed backfield of Freeman and Coleman instead. Those multi-skilled backs are what make this offense so difficult to defend. I see Belichick and Patricia tasking corner Malcolm Butler with following Jones wherever he goes and focusing on taking the Falcons backfield out of the game. Just a thought.

I found this little nugget of trivia interesting.
Most alumni on Conference Championship rosters (total/active)
Stanford 11/8
Alabama 7/5
LSU 6/5
Miami 6/5
Auburn 6/4

Congratulations to the Walter Payton Man of the Year Finalists.
Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals
Eli Manning, New York Giants
Greg Olsen, Carolina Panthers
There is no wrong choice for this prestigious award as all of the nominees are doing tremendous things in their community. Still, it would've been nice to see Minnesota Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway move to the finalist stage. He's been so active doing big things outside of the game since he arrived in Minneapolis in 2006 and 2016 might've been his last season.

Pro Bowl next week!