As predicted, New England and Seattle are in the Super Bowl
It wasn't as clear cut of a path to get there as I had anticipated though. There were some very nervous moments for the Seattle Seahawk fans where it was looking like the Rams were going to take the dream away from them and it was during that game that I started to understand why some of the pundits selected the Rams to win the entire NFL championship.
They haven't looked that good in any game of theirs that I have watched all season long. As far as the Patriots and Broncos game is concerned, I was really surprised that one, the score was so low, and two, that the Patriots didn't destroy them.
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There's also some fun articles out there talking about how open-air snow-filled games are a part of tradition in the NFL and the people who are calling for all cold-weather places to have indoor stadiums need to shut up.
I'm going to focus mostly on the LA vs. Seattle game because a 10-7 victory by the Patriots doesn't really have a great deal to be said about it other than jeez guys, score some point why doncha?
In the Rams game, a very big part for the Seattle victory can boil down to one very big mistake that will be haunting this guy for a long time to come.
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This is not a great picture so let me paint the picture for you. The Rams have fantastic defense, one of the best in the league, so they were able to force a 3 and out punt in the 3rd quarter then the score was Rams 13, Seattle 17. It's anyone's game at this point. During a routine special teams punt return, which is virtually the only thing that they ever practice, Xavier Smith, number 19 for the Rams is on the receiving end of a punt deep in his own territory. I don't know what the hell is going on here because due to the new rules, you really aren't allowed to smack the crap out of whoever catches the ball, yet he bobbled this catch, falls backwards to try to catch a mistimed position on the catch, then it bounces off of his body and Seattle recovers the ball on the 16 yard line.
The very next play was a Seahawks passing touchdown.
The call it "muffing" a punt return and I don't even want to have a guess at where that wording comes from.
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The crazy thing about this is that Xavier had bobbled a punt earlier in the season as well. A lot earlier in fact. It was in THIS GAME. He was able to recover the other "muff" but my question is why are you putting a guy in the game still that clearly is rattled and seems to be prone to screwing up badly? Xavier is getting torched online and with good reason. Since the Rams lost the game by less than 7 points, it is easy to point the loss squarely on his shoulders. A ton of other things could have happened, but this doesn't change the fact that Xavier basically handed 7 easy points up on a platter for the Seahawks.
Smith doesn't play a great deal, just like most people in special teams, and only pulls down a mere $877,000 a year.
This blunder on his part couldn't come at a worse time because after this game he became an unrestricted free agent (meaning that any team can now sign him) but who is going to since this is probably what he will most be remembered for?
There were a couple of really stupid penalties that I really hope these guys get in trouble for. On a later 3rd quarter drive LA nearly threw an interception and instead of just celebrating like a normal human, Riq Woolen thought this would be a good time to act like a WWE superstar and taunt and talk smack to the Rams, and ended up turning a near certain punt into a 15-yard penalty and a first down. This sort of crap is just ridiculous and could have cost Seattle the game.
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This isn't some sort of thing that can be left up to interpretation and ruled as some sort of conspiracy to keep the game close either. Woolen ran over to the Rams bench alone and definitely was talking shit and taunting the entire Rams team. When has this ever been a good idea?
Woolen makes over $5 million a year. He also, ironically, is entering free-agency after this season. Hopefully for the sake of his own wallet he is able to redeem himself in the Super Bowl.
American football does seem to be filled with some of the richest fools in the world who let their emotions get the best of them. That one penalty turned what could have been a blowout into a very close game.
Seattle was clearly worried as well because they spent the 4th quarter apparently attempting to waste as much of the clock as possible and the Rams knew their backs were against the wall as they had a turnover on downs on one possession and then Seattle left LA with just 25 seconds to work on their final possession. A field goal doesn't do you a whole hell of a lotta good when you are down by 4.
Unfortunately, I feel as though this game was the real Super Bowl because I believe Seattle is going to trounce New England in the Super Bowl. At the moment they are 5 point favorites with the bookies in Vegas, and if it stays at that point (which is unlikely) or eventually has Seattle winning by less than a TD, I am going to throw my usual $10 bet on it. I believe that the Seahawks will win the Super Bowl by 10 or more points.