The 3M Report: Championship Round

Matt Price Posted On January 23, 2017

Welcome to the championship round edition of the 3M report; a look back on all the magic, mayhem, and mishaps from the semi-final round of the 2016 NFL playoffs.

Let’s start with the game that broke my heart.

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Welp. At least it wasn’t the soul-crushing overtime loss that the last two seasons have ended with for Packers fans. Nope. Instead, it was the other kind of soul-crushing loss. The kind where you never even really had a chance. Maybe it was the green and gold homer in me, but I honestly thought that there was no way the Atlanta defense could shut down Aaron Rodgers with the way he has been playing in the last eight weeks. My biggest fear was that the Falcons would get out to a two score lead early and even in a shootout that early lead would be enough to narrowly defeat the Packers. Well, Atlanta didn’t get out to a two-score lead, they got out to a five-score lead, 31-0 before Green Bay finally got their first score on a Davante Adams touchdown with 9:19 to go in the third quarter.

They got close early, but after being so clutch last week in Dallas, Mason Crosby shanked a 41-yard field goal on the Packers opening drive. On the following drive, Aaron Ripkowski was stripped deep in Atlanta territory and the Falcons supposedly recovered in the end zone for a touchback. To my eyes, that play should have been a safety, or at the very least, Atlanta ball at their own one-yard line. That play and missed call (homer alert) completely shifted the momentum of the game when Atlanta immediately marched down the field for a Matt Ryan 14-yard rushing touchdown. Instead of 10-6 or 10-10, it was now 17-0 midway through the second quarter.

Atlanta didn’t sit on their lead. Julio Jones decided to dominate for the rest of the football game to the tune of nine receptions for 180 yards and two touchdowns. The Packers added two more garbage time touchdowns to Jared Cook and Jordy Nelson but the fourth quarter comeback did not happen in this game. Falcons roll 44-21 and move on to Houston.

We probably should have called this Blowout Weekend instead of Championship Weekend. The Steelers hung around for a while, but eventually the Patriots opened up an insurmountable lead and will once again be returning to the Super Bowl looking for Tom Brady’s fifth ring. Le’Veon Bell injured his left groin in the first quarter and never returned, allowing the Patriots defense to focus most of their focus to stopping Antonio Brown. They held the superstar to just 77 yards. I’d imagine his Facebook Live after this game was a much less joyous watch than after their victory over Kansas City last week. The New England rush defense played lights out as well, limiting Bell to just six carries for 20 yards before he left the game and held DeAngelo Williams mostly in check for the rest of the game. He did score a short touchdown in the second quarter but kicker Chris Boswell, who scored all 18 points for the Steelers last week in Kansas City, missed the extra point.

New England was carried by Tom Brady and their top two receivers. Chris Hogan continues to excel in the WR1 role and hooked up with his quarterback nine times for 180 yards and two touchdowns. That’s the same line as Julio Jones put up against Green Bay, folks. Hogan has truly lived up to his ‘7-11’ nickname during this playoff run. Brady’s old favorite Julian Edelman played well out of the slot, adding eight for 118 and a touchdown. LeGarrette Blount wasn’t efficient but was there to grind out the win in the fourth quarter, finishing with 47 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

There you have it, guys and gals. Your Superbowl 51 participants will be the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons. The early line right after the Patriots victory was New England -3. I’ll take the Patriots and give up the points. I hope you guys all have an epic Super Bowl weekend! I’ll be back to wrap up the 2016 NFL season and Super Bowl 51 in a couple of weeks.

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Matt Price

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Senior writer and co-host of the DLF Dynasty podcast, the longest running dynasty focused podcast on the planet

Creator and Co-host of Dynasty Game night, the fantasy football game show.

Creator and host of the Zookeeper Stories podcast.