STEELERS 31 RAVENS 24
The Ravens had a 2-touchdown lead in this one at the half and looked to be on their way to the AFC Championship game, but three third quarter turnovers were their undoing. First it was Ray Rice coughing up a fumble at Baltimore's own 23 that would lead to a Heath Miller touchdown reception. Then a little while later, Joe Flacco's pass was picked off by Ryan Clark and returned to the Baltimore 25. That led to a game-tying Hines Ward touchdown. Baltimore's next drive ended in an aborted snap that would be recovered by Pittsburgh at Baltimore's 23. That led to a go-ahead field goal by Shaun Suisham. Baltimore would battle back to tie it in the 4th, but rookie Antonio Brown's 58 yard reception at the two minute warning would set up Rashard Mendenhall's second touchdown run of the game and Pittsburgh's defense would hold giving them the win and a trip to the AFC Title game. Baltimore's offense would total just 126 yards for the game as the Steelers had 5 sacks, 3 by James Harrison in addition to the 3 forced turnovers.
PACKERS 48 FALCONS 21
When Eric Weems returned a kickoff 102 yards in the second quarter to break a 7-7 tie, it seemed the Falcons had all of the momentum. Not the case. Aaron Rodgers and company reeled off 35 straight points en route to the biggest blowout win of the weekend. Rodgers connected on 31 of 36 passes for 366 yards and 3 touchdowns, Greg Jennings went over 100 yards receiving, Jordy Nelson caught 8 passes including a touchdown, and John Kuhn had both a rushing and a receiving touchdown as the Packers got contributions from everywhere. Matt Ryan meanwhile threw a pair of uncharacteristic inteceptions, both by Tramon Williams, one of which was returned for a touchdown as time expired in the second quarter. Williams, who had 6 picks during the regular season, now has 3 in the Packers first two playoff games. In all the Falcons would turn the ball over 4 times and never got into their game plan.
BEARS 35 SEAHAWKS 24
The clock struck midnight for the cinderella Seahawks yesterday as the Bears held serve and fended off a late Seahawks rally to clinch the right to host the NFC Championship game. Jay Cutler hit tightend Greg Olsen on a 58 yard touchdown in the first quarter, and the Bears rolled from there. Chester Taylor ran for a 1 yard touchdown run, and Jay Cutler added a pair of touchdowns with his legs to make it 28-0 late in the 3rd quarter. Matt Hasselbeck threw 3 4th quarter touchdown passes, two to Mike Williams and one to Brandon Stokley, but it wouldn't be enough. Seattle, who ran all over New Orleans in their wildcard game, was limited to just 34 yards on 12 carries in this one. Marshawn Lynch followed up his 131 yard performance last week with 4 carries for 2 yards. The Bears meanwhile tallied 176 yards on the ground and Cutler threw for another 274 as the Bears offense rolled in this one. Greg Olsen had 3 catches for 113 yards (all in the first half) and Matt Forte had 134 total yards to lead the way. Next up, a rematch against divisional foe Green Bay.
JETS 28 PATRIOTS 21
The #1 seed in both conferences is now out of the playoffs as the 14-2 Patriots fell to their divisional rival yesterday. Mentally, the Patriots just didn't seem in the game as the Patriots uncharacteristically dropped passes, missed tackles, and just didn't make the plays that made them the best team in the NFL during the regular season. Mark Sanchez threw 3 touchdown passes and the Jets defense sacked Tom Brady 5 times as the Jets outplayed New England in every facet of the game making their 45-3 loss on Monday night a few months ago a distant memory. Tom Brady threw for 299 yards but was intecepted for the first time since Week 6 against the Ravens. Brady and the Patriots have now lost 3 straight postseason games starting with their Super Bowl loss against the Giants back in 2008.
KARMA IS A FUNNY THING
Lebron James made some interesting comments on twitter last week regarding karma during the Cavaliers big loss to the Lakers. Since those remarks which he insisted weren't directed at Cleveland's team or its fans, the Heat have fallen into the bad luck of their own. Lebron James rolled his ankle in a loss against the Clippers snapping a 9-game winning streak. Then the Heat gave up a season-high 130 points in a blowout loss against the Nuggets. Then the Heat lost at Chicago on Saturday in a game that saw the Heat lose Chris Bosh to an ankle injury as well. The Heat could potentially be without both James and Wade tomorrow night when the Heat host the Atlanta Hawks. The Heat have not lost 4 in a row all season. On the flipside, Cleveland hasn't seen their luck change at all. Back to back road games at Utah and Denver saw the Cavs suffer two more blowout losses, 121-99 to the Jazz and 127-99 to the Nuggets as their losing streak extended to 13 games. The Nuggest outscored Cleveland 80-49 in the first half of their game. The Cavs had only 8 players dressed for that game and they lost point guard Mo Williams 5 minutes in to a hip flexor strain as the hits just keep on coming.
GRIFFIN EXPLODES AGAINST PACERS
After a disappointing loss to the Warriors following their big win against the Heat, the Clippers are back on their game notching back to back wins against the Lakers and Pacers giving the Clips 5 wins in their last 6 games. Blake Griffin scored a career high 47 points on 19 of 24 shooting with 14 rebounds giving him 27 straight double-doubles. Griffin's previous career high was 44 against the Knicks on November 20th. Ironically the Pacers were the last team Griffin didn't get a double-double against when he was held to 12 points and just 8 rebounds on November 18th, 2 days before his 44 point explosion. Griffin is now averaging 27.6 points and 14.4 rebounds in the month of January.
SOCCER COMING SOON
The U.S. Men's and Women's National Teams will be in action this week with the women taking on Sweden in the Four Nations Tournament on Friday and the men hosting Chile in an exhibition on Saturday. The Women will also play Canada on Sunday and China next Tuesday as part of the same tournament.
4 DOWN, 86 TO GO
Connecticut's women made it 4 in a row on Saturday with their win over Louisville. No longer the #1 team in the country, the Huskies haven't showed any ill effects after their loss to Stanford. Freshman Bria Hartley was the star in their latest win scoring a career high 24 points and pulling down 8 rebounds. Next up for the Huskies, 11th ranked North Carolina tonight.
GOLF RESULTS
Mark Wilson, whose last tournament win came in February-March of 2009 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Cancun, won the Sony Open in Hawaii this weekend. Tim Clark and Steve Marino tied for second, two strokes behind Wilson. Jonathan Byrd, last week's winner is still the leading money winner, with $1.15M through 2 tournaments, and the FedEx Cup Points Leader with 534.
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