After a NFL weekend for the ages, the conference championships are set for next weekend. Fans get an AFC rematch from last year and a NFC team gets another shot.
Falcons 30 Seahawks 28
The Atlanta Falcons and Matt Ryan finally exercise their playoff demons by defeating the hottest team in the NFC, the Seattle Seahawks in heart attack fashion. The jumped out to an early dominate lead over Seattle 20-0 at halftime. Russell Wilson finally got the offense going in the third quarter connecting with Golden Tate for a 29 yard touchdown. After the third quarter, the Seahawks went on a 21 point run to take the lead for the first time with only :31 seconds left in the game. With the weight of Atlanta on his shoulders, Matt Ryan lead a 2 play scoring drive with the help of Roddy White and Tony Gonzales capped with a 49 yard field goal from Matt Bryant.
Coach Smith said in his post game comments, "Our quarterback is a special player. They call him Matty Ice, but I feel like we've got two Matty Ices. There's Matty Ice Ryan and Matty Ice Bryant."
This Falcon win was not easy, but again beating Seattle is easy at all. They played their way into the number one spot in the NFC and today they earned. This is Matt Ryan first playoff win in 4 attempts.
49ers 45 Packers 31
Reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers could not match newcomer Colin Kaepernick. The 49ers made a quarterback change after Alex Smith, the QB that took the 49ers to the NFC Championship last year, suffered a concussion. This was the game that it all made since.
"I didn't know how fast he was. Coming in I never really paid attention to it. But he is fast", says Green Bay Packer Charles Woodson.
Kaepernick rushed for 181 yards breaking a postseason NFL record for quarterbacks set twice ironically by Michael Vick when he played with the Atlanta Falcons. In his first playoff game, he ran for 2 touchdowns and threw for 2 touchdowns.
Colin Kaepernick's comments after the win, "Our receivers our tight ends, blocked great outside, and our running backs were running hard, so it made it easier on me."
Ravens 38 Broncos 35
It took 2 overtime periods to decide a winner in a NFL battle that will be apart of two Hall of Fame career summaries, Ray Lewis and Peyton Manning. The story of this game starts with what is now being called the "Flacco Fling" as Joe Flacco hit Jacoby Jones for a 70 yard touchdown on 3rd and 30 with :31 seconds left to play.
"At that point you have to start taking shots." said Flacco. "You have to get a little lucky."
