Post by spiderfan on Jan 24, 2021 21:59:26 GMT -8
As John Madden once said "Championship Sunday is the best Sunday for football fans" and with that being the case it is time for me Spiderfan the official NFL Analyst of Sports Coast to Coast to deliver my thoughts on all that transpired in this special Conference Championship Game Edition of Web of Football. Let us begin!
The Old Guard in Buccaneers vs Packers
Before the season started everyone was wondering: Will Tom Brady take the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl? Will Belichick and the Patriots win without Brady? Well, we now the answer to both questions. The latter? The answer is no. The earlier? As I've said all season long: Tom Brady has still got it. How did the NFC title game go down?
Well, the game started out with the Buccaneers having the ball and they capitalized scoring a TD after multiple beautiful passes by Buccaneers QB Tom Brady to Buccaneers WR Mike Evans. The Bucs would go up 7-0. After each team punted, the Packers would respond with a TD after multiple insanely fantastic passes by Packers QB Aaron Rodgers, the first being a 28 yard gain on 3rd and long from the end zone to Packers WR Allen Lazard and the second was a 50 yard bomb for the TD to Packers WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling. The game would then be 7-7. The tie would not last long because after multiple drops Bucs WR Chris Godwin would come up with a fabulous catch for a massive gain which would set the Buccaneers up in the redzone.
The very next play Buccaneers RB Leonard Fournette would score a TD on an impressive run and give the Bucs the lead back 14-7. The Packers would then respond with a solid drive which was ruined after multiple missed throws by Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and would end in a FG. This would be important later. Score now 14-10. After a Bucs punt and with plenty of time, it looked the like the Packers would actually go into half either down a little or would be up on the scoreboard. Neither of those would happen. Why?
First, Rodgers would throw an interception on what was a missed defensive holding call. The Packers defense then forced a 4th down and a punt which should have meant that the INT while not good, didn't ultimately change the momentum of the game that much... except the Bucs called a timeout and Brady wanted to go for it and go for it they did. Tom Brady would then throw his best pass of the season WAY down field for a home run ball to Bucs WR Scotty Miller for a TD. The score was 21-10 at half and the momentum was all in favor of the Bucs. This would be important not long after. Why?
Because on the Packers first possession of the 2nd half Bucs S Jordan Whitehead forced a fumble off of Packers RB Aaron Jones which not only set up the Bucs in the red zone but also led to Aaron Jones missing the rest of the game for the Packers. The Buccaneers would then score on the very next play on a Brady TD pass to Bucs TE Cameron Brate. The score was 28-10 and the game looked like the early season blowout between the Bucs and Packers all over again. I say looked like, because Aaron Rodgers was clearly angry and motivated and did not want a repeat (which is exactly what happened in the last years NFC title game against the 49ers) and thus the Packers went right down the field and scored a TD. 28-17. The Packers attempt at a rally would then be helped by a Tom Brady overthrow which resulted in an INT for the Packers. The Packers would then go right down the field and score a TD again and go for two to make the game a 3 point game. The two point conversion would be dropped by Packers WR Equanimeous St. Brown. This would be important later. Score 28-23.
After the Packers TD, Tom Brady would throw 2 more ugly interceptions one of which was in the red zone. The Packers offense would go 3 and out both times after the Brady INTs. This would be important later.
The Buccaneers would then finally have a drive that didn't end in an interception and instead ended with a FG after Brady made a point of not being sacked and kicking the Bucs out of FG range on a 3rd and 8 play prior to the FG being kicked. The score would be now be 31-23 with the Packers having a chance to tie the game up on the next drive. The next drive was actually successful to start for the Packers with them getting into the red zone with a 1st and Goal at the 8 yard line needing a TD and 2 point conversion. After 2 more missed red zone throws by Rodgers, on 3rd down Rodgers would have an open running lane to gain significant yardage. He would instead throw an incomplete pass into double coverage that probably should have been intercepted. This would be important later.
Instead of going for it on 4th and Goal, the Packers kicked a FG, with Packers HC Matt LaFleur figuring that the Packers defense could get a stop and the Packers offense would get the ball with a chance to win the game outright. That figuring was wrong, with the Buccaneers chewing the rest of the clock out thanks to one of the more dumb pass interference plays you'll ever see by Packers CB Kevin King.
When you combine the missed red zone throws by Rodgers, the lack of capitalizing on interceptions, the dropped 2 point conversion, the non-run by Rodgers, and the late FG instead of TD, you have a long list of missed opportunities that either should have led to the Packers going to the Super Bowl or producing a more competitive game throughout. Instead, the Tommy Bay Buccaneers are going to be the first team ever to play the Super Bowl at home.
Congratulations to the Tommy Bay Buccaneers players, coaches, and fans for going to Super Bowl 55!
P.S. You suck Jameis Winston!
The Young Guns in Bills vs Chiefs
The last time the Bills played in an AFC Championship Game was in 1993. Their opponent that day? The Kansas City Chiefs... who the Bills blew out thanks to a Joe Montana injury. On this day 28 years later? The Chiefs blew out the Bills to send them back to the Super Bowl to defend their title against the Tommy Bay Buccaneers. How did the Chiefs do it?
Well for starters, it certainly didn't look the Chiefs would blow out the Bills. The Bills drove right down the field on their opening possession and kicked the longest FG in the playoff history of Arrowhead Stadium. Then, Chiefs WR Necole Hardman completely and utterly muffed the ensuing kick return setting up the Bills inside the 5 yard line and giving them an easy TD. This would be the last meaningful positive play for the Bills. The missed extra point off of the touchdown should have been the sign that this game would not end for the Bills. Why do I say that? Because the Chiefs would go on 38-6 run.
The Chiefs running game dominated their match up with the Bills earlier this season and led to a Bills defeat. With this in mind, the Bills decided to shut down the Chiefs run game. This would turn out to be a horrible strategy because unlike their semi-close early season match up, the Chiefs passing game was in full effect. The Bills defense had zero answers for Chiefs WR Tyreek Hill who set a Chiefs playoff franchise record with 172 receiving yards and Chiefs TE Travis Kelce who set a Chiefs playoff franchise record with 13 receptions (he also had over 100 yards receiving and 2 TDs). The Bills offense was shut down by the Chiefs defense and made Josh Allen return to his rookie form (i.e. holding on to the ball and way too long and making some not so great passes) instead of him being in his MVP candidate form.
The Bills would score some garbage time points which included them recovering an onside kick, which despite being rarer than seeing Bigfoot riding a Unicorn, unlike Bigfoot riding a Unicorn which results in an awesome T-shirt, the recovered onside kick did not result in an awesome T-shirt for the Bills, whose Super Bowl shirts will probably end up on eBay eventually as a collector's item. The final score was 38-24.
Congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs players, coaches, and fans for going to Super Bowl 55!
And with that Super Bowl 55 is going to be the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tommy Bay Buccaneers. As always I hope ya enjoyed and I will see you not only for the Super Bowl in 2 weeks, but next week I will be posting the best of 2020's Web of Football and my year end awards. Hope to see ya there! This is Spiderfan out.
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