The New York Jets talked a lot of trash this past week leading up to their playoff match up against the New England Patriots. On Sunday afternoon the Jets backed up all of that trash talk by beating the Patriots 28 – 21. Mark Sanchez played mistake free football, and the Jets defense looked like they returned to form. The Jets trash talking got to the New England Patriots, and they sunk to the Jets level. The Patriots were trash talking and taking cheap shots during the game which is uncharacteristic of them, and in the end they were just beaten by the Jets. The Jets have to head back to Pittsburgh, and try to pull of another win over the Steelers at Heinz Field.
The Chicago Bears took out the Seattle Seahawks 35 – 24 in a game that was never in doubt after the first quarter. The Bears out classed the Seahawks with their defensive and offensive output, and although the Seahawks made the game respectable later it was never really a close game. Jay Cutler avoided a few mistakes and played a good game overall, but he will have little margin for error next week when the Packer come to Chicago. The ironic thing about the game with the Packers next week is that it will be their 182nd meeting, but the first time they will meet to decide the NFC Championship.
The Pittsburgh Steelers win another thriller over the Baltimore Ravens after falling behind 21 – 7 off of two turnovers. The Ravens were inept offensively the entire game, and Joe Flacco once again made bad decisions and bad plays that kept the Steelers in the game and eventually helped the Steelers take the lead for good. But Flacco isn’t the only one to blame, T.J. Houshmanzadeh and Anquan Boldin both dropped crucial passes during the course of the game as well. Joe Flacco seems like he is not able to get over the hump against the steelers, and Ben Roethelisberger has now beaten the Ravens seven straight times. The Jets are the only thing that stand in the way of Big Ben and another trip to the Super Bowl.
The Green Bay Packers demolished the Atlanta Falcons 48 – 21 in Atlanta, the game surprised a lot of people because of how badly Atlanta lost at home. The truth is the Falcons won by the skin of their teeth all season, and had very few games where they put their opponents away. The truth is the Falcons had a very delicate game plan that Green Bay shattered by creating turnovers, the Falcons ball control offense does not work that well when they are behind. Aaron Rodgers played lights out and picked the Falcons defense apart having probably his best game of the season. Green Bay is playing excellent football on defense and offense as they head into their matchup with the Chicago Bears, these teams split the season series against each other.
Auburn’s Cam Newton and Nick Fairley both declared themselves eligible for the NFL Draft. This will leave the Auburn Tigers with several big holes to fill, and the fact that NCAA sanctions may still come at some point Auburn could be headed for a few rough years. Newton is considered to be a late first or early second round pick, and is largely considered a work in progress rather than a polished product that is ready to play right away. Fairley on the other hand may be the #1 pick in the entire draft because of Stanfords Andrew Luck deciding to stay in school, the Panthers can make him a very rich man.
