The first game of the Divisional playoffs round featured two heavyweight teams; the San Francisco 49ers, and New Orleans Saints.
The 49ers started off the game with an electric start by scoring two touchdowns, for a total of fourteen points in the first quarter. Besides the 49 yard, pass from quarterback, Alex Smith to Vernon Davis, and a 4 yard pass to reviver Michael Crabtree, the 49ers held the Saints offense to zero points.
The “no nonsense” Saints fired back right away in the second quarter by scoring two touchdowns of their own. One pass to tight end Jimmy Graham, for 14 yards, and another to Colston for 25 yards.
The tie would eventually be broken in the third quarter by San Francisco kicker, David Akers with a 48 yard field goal.
And on to the final quarter they went with the 49ers ahead 20-14. The lead was soon threatened when Saints kicker, John Kasay made a 55 yard field goal, and brought the game within three points. In response the 49ers, made a field goal of their own, as Akers completed a 44 yard field goal.
Now with the game at a score of 23-17, the Saints got ready to attack, and did so with a 44 yard completion to Darren Sproles, that resulted in a touchdown.
Now with the Saints ahead only by one the 49ers never lost hope, as quarterback Alex Smith drove down the field, and would sprint 28 yards, for a touchdown, changing the lead yet again, to a score of 29-24. With the end of the game near and a time of 2:18 left on the clock, the 49ers went for a two point conversion but were stopped by a strong Saints defense.
With a desperate need to score and only about a minute left on the clock the Saints quarterback, Drew Brees connected with tight end Jimmy Graham for a comeback 66 yard touchdown pass, propelling the Saints to a slim score of 30-29. Then with a short pass to Sproles, the Saints got the two point conversion that the 49ers failed to complete.
With only 0:40 seconds left in the game it seemed that the Saints had the game in the bag.
But quarterback, Alex Smith would never say die as he connected with receiver Vernon Davis for 47 yards bringing them in the red zone.
Now with the clock slowly dwindling down to 0:14 seconds the 49ers should have attempted a field goal, but instead Smith found Davis again, but now it was inside the end zone, for a 49ers touchdown. The 49ers would win the game with a final score of 36-32.
Now the 49ers will advance to the NFC championship game and await the winner of the Giants/Packers game.
Smith would finish the game with 299 passing yards, and Brees would finish with an incredible 458 passing yards.
Running back Frank Gore would lead the 49ers with 13 carries for a total of 89 yards.
Chris Ivory would lead the Saints rushing game with 9 carries for small total of 28 yards. Another Saints rusher was Pierre Thomas who underperformed this game with 1 carry and only six yards on the night. The third part of this “running trifecta” is Darren Sproles, but he usually acts a receiver/return man.
The star of the game Vernon Davis put up great numbers with 7 receptions and a total of 180 yards. Another notable receiver is Marques Colston of the Saints who had 6 receptions for a total of 136 yards.
The 49ers look like an unstoppable force, but only time will tell how good the 49ers really are.
“Hard to watch”, “sickening”, “unbelievable”, are all appropriate comments that could have been made during the AFC divisional playoff game between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots.
After a unexpected overtime win against the Steelers the Denver Broncos earned the opportunity to play against another “top tier” team; the New England Patriots.
Tom Brady and the Pats have become a well oiled machine, and surely proved it during the first quarter of the game.
They scored a touchdown within the first few minutes, with a short pass to receiver Wes Welker, and then another to tight end Rob Gronkowski after a Tebow fumble recovery.
But that was only the beginning of what the Patriots were about to do to the Broncos.
The first quarter ended with a Brady interception by Tony Carter. The Broncos worked hard in the two minutes they had left and ended up deep in New England territory at the end of the first quarter.
The start of the second quarter was a 5 yard touchdown drive, by Denver running back Will McGahee.
Now only one score behind, the Broncos found some hope in quarterback Tim Tebow.
Whatever hope they saw quickly faded as New England scored three touchdowns in the second quarter. Two of them went to star tight end Rob Gronkowski, and the other was to Deion Branch. The Patriots 30th ranked defense had a stellar night as they sacked Tim Tebow countless times, and held him to 0 points the rest of the second quarter.
With a hopeless Broncos team down 35-7 at the half, Tom Brady set a new record by throwing five touchdowns in one half of preseason football.
The third quarter made things even worse for the Broncos as the Patriots refused to let up by scoring another touchdown, this one went to Aaron Hernandez for 17 yards giving Brady six touchdowns in the game and a score of 42-7.
Besides the relentless scoring the 30th ranked defense did not allow a first down, and stopped Tebow on third down six straight times.
Tebow would eventually catch a break and pushed the Broncos deep into the Patriots territory for the second time in the game, but they would be stopped on three tries, and forced to make a field goal, which they did.
Now into the final quarter of play the Broncos trailed the Pats 42-10. Even then the Patriots kept calling aggressive plays and found themselves on the ten yard line in Broncos territory. The Denver defense dug deep and stopped the powerful New England offensive in three downs and forced a field goal.
Now the Patriots were just embarrassing the Broncos with a score of 45-10, but Denver would go out fighting as Tebow found Demaryuis Thomas for a gain of 41 yards.
That completion put the Broncos in the red zone yet again but they failed to score in three tries, and it ended with Tebow scrambling about twenty yards back and throwing the ball away.
Causing a turnover on downs the Patriots found themselves with a third down situation. With the blitz coming Brady did the unexpected and punted the ball for an impressive 48 yards. During the hang time of the punt a couple shoves between opposing teams turned into a sideline skirmish with resulted with a few personal fouls.
Following the fight was the two minute warning, and then the game was over. The New England Patriots proving to be dominate over the young Denver Broncos, with a final score of 45-10.
Tom Brady would end the night with 363 yards, breaking his old postseason record of 354, which he accomplished in super bowl XXXVIII against the Carolina Panthers. With six touchdown passes and only one interception, he proved who the superior quarterback really was.
Tim Tebow would end the night with no touchdowns and a measly 136 yards.
BenJarvus Green-Ellis would acquire 13carries and 28 yards on the night. New England rushing leader Aaron Hernandez would get 5 carries for a total of 61 yards.
Bronco’s rushers include Will McGahee with 17 carries and 76 yards, and Lance Ball with 13 carries and 44 yards.
Superstar tight end Rob Gronkowski led the Pats receiving game with 10 receptions and 145 yards. He also contributed with three touchdowns.
And for the Broncos, Demaryuis Thomas had 6 receptions for a total of 93 yards.
The Patriots will go onto the AFC championship game and await the winner of the Ravens/Texans matchup.
