The Championship Games

 

One of my favorite sports days of the year did not let me down as the AFC and NFC Championship Games produced a lot of drama in determining the upcoming Super Bowl matchup indicated in the photo above.

New England 10 - Denver 7

This one started out to be a very MEH kind of a game.  Denver, playing with a backup QB Jared Stidham, scored early and took a 7-0 lead.  New England's QB Drake Maye played not so well, but The Patriots recovered a fumble inside the Broncos 15 yard line and were able to tie the game 7-7 at the half.  Oh, and each team suffered failed field goal attempts during the first half.

The Pats took the opening second half kick-off and drove over 80 yards and consumed close to eight minutes of game time that led to a field goal and a 10-7 lead.  As that drive was unfolding, though, a curious thing happened. A day that started sunny and clear turned into a blizzard-y snow game.

My friend Vic says that the snow ruined what should have been a good game.  I say that the snow turned what had been a plodding affair into a fascinating game both visually and strategically.  I especially enjoyed hearing Tony Romo on the telecast stressing how the conditions were so varied depending on which direction of the field you were going.  After New England was able to kick a FG at the end of that opening second half drive to take a 10-7 lead, Romo  made a point of mentioning that conditions were such that he didn't think that either team would be able to score for the rest of the game, and he turned out to be correct.

Seattle 31 - LA Rams 27

Whatever the Pats-Broncos game lacked in excitement, this one more than made up for it.  Lots of scoring, spectacular scoring plays, great quarterback play from Sam Arnold and Matthew Stafford, and gift touchdowns for each team (a muffed punt by LA that resulted in a Seahawks TD; an unsportsmanlike conduct on a knucklehead Seattle DB on a fourth down play that gave the Rams a first down, which Stafford immediately converted into a long TD pass against the same knucklehead DB).  It also featured plays by WR's Puka Nacua, Cooper Kupp, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba that were utterly amazing to watch.

Just one terrific football game, to go along with two other terrific games between these two teams during the regular season.  If the NFL doesn't match these two against each other for the Thursday Night opening game next year, they're crazy.

Oh, and speaking of drama, I mentioned in my post yesterday that back on December 8, I made a $2.50 sucker bet parlay bet that both New England and Seattle would win their respective Conference Championships.  As neither game was in the bag until the final gun sounded, that wager certainly added a bit of spice for me as the games unfolded.  It turned out to be well worth it:

Shortly after the NFC game ended last night, FanDuel posted a line of Seattle -4.5 points with an O/U of 46.5 points for the Super Bowl.  Lots of time to reflect and slice and dice all aspects of the coming game, but based on what I saw yesterday, Seattle certainly deserves the role of favorite in this one.