10 Observations From Saturday’s Playoff Action

There’s a lot to say about what went down in the first two games of the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs.  Here’s 10 things I noticed.

1) It’s official…Champ Bailey has lost a step.

Torrey Smith is fast.  We know that.  But wow did Champ Bailey, a sure-fire Hall of Famer, look old on those two Smith TDs.  His metrics have shown it the last couple of years, and it was crystallized Saturday.

2) John Fox played a little Marty-ball at the end of the game.

After scoring the go ahead touchdown with just over 7 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter, the Denver Broncos offense became excruciatingly conservative.  After stopping the Ravens on 4th down, they ran it 5 times on the next drive, including once on 3rd and 7 (Baltimore was out of time outs, but a first down would have iced the game).  Then, starting at the 20 with :31 remaining and 2 timeouts, they knelt away the clock. In overtime, they ran it twice on 2nd and short and twice on 3rd and 1.  They took no shots downfield in the process.  Time and time again, this kind of playcalling never works, and yet coaches continue to do it.

3) That last Manning interception never should have happened…because overtime never should have happened.

I can’t overstate how historically bad Denver’s coverage was on that wild Jacoby Jones touchdown.  There are certain situations in football where ANYTHING but one thing can happen, and holy crap they let that one thing happen.  How can a receiver get that far behind a safety and a corner in prevent defense? It boggles the mind.

4) Flacco can chuck it, and Torrey Smith can run.

We’ve seen all year the Torrey Smith can basically get open on a go route whenever he wants, it merely comes down to whether Flacco can get him the ball.  When Flacco can do that, this offense can be very dangerous.  Johnathan Joseph and Aqib Talib should be paying attention.

5) Never underestimate a cagey, veteran defense.

This is Ray Lewis’ farewell tour, and he personifies what makes a team like the Ravens a tough out.  Timely playmaking and smarts under pressure often wins out over athleticism in the playoffs. It’s almost like knowing precisely when to get your client to plea-bargain in a potential murder trial.

6) Aaron Rodgers is still amazing.

He ran around all day and still had his team in the game until the fourth quarter.  Green Bay has to shore up that offensive line at some point or they’ll waste years of discount double-check.

7) San Francisco has one of the best offensive lines I’ve ever seen.

Led by Joe Staley, this unit absolutely manhandles opposing teams at the line of scrimmage and is disciplined and executes.  The Packers looked utterly helpless on some plays.

8) Jim Harbaugh looks very right about Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick was unstoppable on zone-reads, made fantastic throws downfield, and quite simply did a bunch of things Alex Smith can’t do.  His poise after the pick-six was perhaps the most impressive things about his game. We also got to watch Alex Smith look pissed off when he succeeded.

9) Green Bay’s defense often looked confused and undisciplined.

Credit must be given to the 49ers, who called a fantastic game and executed their plan on offense almost to perfection.  But on many plays the containment was terrible and there were no adjustments made by Dom Capers as the Niners offense continued to shred his defense to the tune of 579 yards.  Shouldn’t Capers be held accountable at some point?

10) Michael Crabtree is the real deal.

After a stellar college career at Texas Tech, Crabtree was tabbed as a top 5 pick by many analysts.  He fell to number 10, and until this year was considered a bit of a disappointment.  Enter Colin Kaepernick, and Crabtree has 50 catches for 714 yards and 7 TDs in the 8 games since Kaepernick took over.  He’s made a ton of plays in big spots.  Most importantly, thousands of people will draft him too high in fantasy leagues across the country.

 

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