I watched both games on my laptop from a hotel in Comporta, Portugal, about 50 miles south of Lisbon. Heather and Sasha were asleep in the bed, so I had to sit in the bathroom for most of it. (It was a very nice large bathroom with comfortable stools and plenty of sink space, but still.) I bowed out at 1:30 am, during halftime of the Pats-Steelers game and caught the second half in the morning on Rewind.
The audio version of this post (with Scott Pianowski) can be found here.
• It's amazing the Falcons offense and Matt Ryan haven't slowed down one bit since their historic regular seasons. Ryan, who averaged 9.3 YPA, got 9.1 against the Seahawks (3 TD, zero INT) and 10.3 against the Packers (4 TD, zero INT.)
• Julio Jones exploded for 12-9-180-2, including one of the best tackle-breaking displays on a long TD since Marshawn Lynch's monstrous run against the Saints in 2011, which they show 10 times per Sunday on the Game Pass app.
• Aaron Rodgers was hurt by some drops, and the Aaron Ripkowski fumble and Mason Crosby missed FG also got the Packers in a hole, but with 6.4 YPA to Ryan's 10.3, there was a massive disparity in the effectiveness of the offenses. In fact, the Falcons defense - much improved over the season's second half - played well under the circumstances, getting reliable pressure and notching two sacks.
• The Patriots have barely had to sweat these playoffs - getting the Texans at home and then the Steelers with a road-challenged Ben Roethlisberger and Le'Veon Bell injured early in the game. But that's how it's been for them all year. Their regular-season first place schedule yielded three of the worst offenses in the league (Houston, Denver, without a viable back, and the Steelers with Roethlisberger hurt), six games against the Jets, Bills and Dolphins (one of those with Matt Moore at the helm), games against the Rams, 49ers, Browns, Bengals and Ravens. The only two passable offenses they faced were the Cardinals (who would have beaten them but for a missed FG) and the Seahawks who beat them at Foxboro.
• The Patriots offense is very good, but without Rob Gronkowski, they're not at the Falcons' level. Tom Brady put up big numbers against Pittsburgh, but it wasn't a crisp, fast-moving attack like Atlanta had. Instead, Brady had lots of time to throw and was able to spot holes in the coverage, particularly to Chris Hogan. Hogan is a nice player, but numbers from the Conference Title game notwithstanding, he's no Gronk or Jones.
• Julian Edelman isn't as shifty as Wes Welker was, but he's tougher and harder to tackle.
• DeAngelo Williams did his best when Bell went down, but he'll be 34 in April. This might be the end of the line.
• Speaking of which Ben Roethlisberger is reportedly considering retirement. I say the Steelers offer him a reduced salary to play only in home games. Then sign Tony Romo and hope he can hold up for eight road games. What could go wrong?
• While nearly every playoff game - with the exception of Cowboys-Packers - has been a blowout, the silver lining is you don't feelthe Super Bowl teams are there arbitrarily the way it felt when the Seahawks made it to the Super Bowl two years ago solely because the Packers choked. Clearly the two best teams right now are representing their respective conferences. That said, I'd love to see a Super Bowl blowout just to give the NFL another headache.
The audio version of this post (with Scott Pianowski) can be found here.