Road to the Super Bowl: Divisional Round Recap

​Saturday, January 14th:
First up, the Seattle Seahawks took on the Atlanta Falcons and for the second year in a row, the Seattle Seahawks couldn’t make it past the divisional round. They fell to the Atlanta Falcons 36-20. The question that was on everyone’s mind after this game is, can an entire game’s momentum really shift in one penalty? The answer seems to be a resounding, yes. It came in the second quarter, holding on Kevin Pierre-Louis, all while Devin Hester took a punt 80 yards for nothing. If there was no penalty could the Seahawks have scored again going up double digits in the 2nd? The world may never know. After the call, Atlanta scored 17 unanswered points and the Seahawks never had the momentum again. It may not be fair to pin an entire loss on one play since there were two whole quarters left after the call but if you believe in the power of momentum than you may just believe that this penalty was a game changer.

Next, the Houston Texans faced off against the New England Patriots Saturday night, doing their best to shake Tom Brady in their 34-16 loss. The Patriots started off strong, Dion Lewis had a 98-yard kickoff return, the first ever by the Patriots in the post season. But then the Texans started to show a little force of their own. They were able to intercept Brady, twice and their defense kept pressure on the Patriots forcing them to kick a field goal two yard from the goal line. After their strong showing in the first, things sort of unraveled. The Texans suffered from three interceptions and could only come up with a field goal. The Texans fell victim to the Patriots in Foxborough, a story there were only all too familiar with already.

Sunday, January 15th:
First game of the day, Dallas Cowboys took on the Green Bay Packers coming up shy in a 34-31 loss. Rookie quarterback, Dak Prescott threw three touchdown passes, more touchdown passes than Tony Romo has thrown in a single playoff game. He kept his cool to the end, throwing an 11 yard to pass to Jason Witten with 1:07 left on the clock. After that, things, well they got interesting. In an effort to save their final time out, the Cowboys spiked the ball with 48 seconds left, kicking a 52-yard field goal to tie. What did spiking the ball do? It exchanges one down for 10 to 15 seconds additional game play.  It could have worked, but it didn’t. After the Dallas’ field goal the Packers got the ball and scored their own 50+ field goal for the win.
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Next, Pittsburgh Steelers took on the Kansas City Chiefs in an 18-16 win. Much like the Seahawks the day prior, The Chiefs’ season came to a close and it might just be pinned to a holding call. The Chiefs were down by two when quarterback, Alex Smith completed a pass to Demetrius Harris for what should have been a tie game, if only Eric Fisher didn’t get called for holding. The penalty took the two point conversion off the board and pushed the Chiefs back 10 yards. The Steelers were then able to pull out a win with star quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger running a passing play. 

Next week's match ups are: Green Bay vs. Atlanta and New England vs. Pittsburgh. 

Written by Kristen