Pats Book Their Trip to Super Bowl 49 vs. Seahawks With Easy 45-7 Blowout of Colts

I can't ever recall being so confident heading into a big playoff game for the Patriots as I was this week for the AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium vs. the Colts. It turns out that I was giving Indianapolis way too much credit as they got run out of town 45-7. The Pats will take on the Seahawks a week from Sunday in Glendale, Arizona for Super Bowl 49.

Indy was so helpless and overmatched that this contest doesn't even deserve that many details of the one-sided carnage. Believe it or not, it was only 17-7 Patriots at halftime. Who knew that they'd go on to the second-biggest margin of victory in AFC Championship Game history? Tom Brady (23 of 25 for 226 yards, 3 TDs) threw an interception at the goal-line when he tried to force a throw to Rob Gronkowski but that was his only real mistake of the game and it didn't matter one bit. He became the first QB with 20 postseason wins as he advances to his record sixth Super Bowl.

Poor Andrew Luck can't do anything but get smoked by the Patriots, this is the fourth time (out of 4) in his young career that he's lost by over 20 points to New England. In many ways, it was a carbon copy of last season's blowout win by New England a round earlier. Like that, LeGarrette Blount (30 carries, 148 yards, 3 TDs) was unstoppable or should I say that nobody on the Colts wanted a piece of him when it came to tackling in space.

Indianapolis was extremely fortunate to make it this far after they upset Denver at home last Sunday. I'm not saying that crippled Peyton would have done much better but it's hard to think of a more one-sided affair than this was. Andrew Luck (12 of 33 for 126 yards, 2 INTs) was a disaster, not that his fraud teammates could get anything going as well to help him out.

The Pats continued to try and take advantage of the chaos with their cute ineligible receivers but Indy was there to stop most of them. In addition, Brady managed to hit James Develin for a 1-yard touchdown catch and offensive lineman Nate Solder caught a 16-yard touchdown to get the second half going in the right direction. New England exploded for 21 points in that frame. Gronk caught a 5-yard touchdown and Julian Edelman (9 catches, 98 yards) seamlessly replaces Wes Welker.

Darrelle Revis and Jamie Collins each had an interception for New England's defense (that looked like themselves again after last week's debacle vs. Baltimore) who pitched a shutout in the second half. It's hard to really evaluate Luck since everything around him is so average (at best). T.Y. Hilton was held to one catch and Reggie Wayne didn't have any, leading me to wonder if that was it and he'll retire this offseason since he's a ghost of his former Hall of Fame self.

The Packers had one of the great choke jobs in modern sports history against the Seahawks this afternoon in Seattle, allowing the home team to escape 28-22 in overtime. No matter how you evaluate it, the Seahawks are a scary matchup for the Patriots. Their only real noticeable weakness is at receiver but still guys like Jermaine Kearse (who caught the game-winner) and Doug Baldwin are good enough to make a couple big plays a game.

This is a dream matchup for the NFL and football fans (yes, I'd say that even if I didn't root for the Pats): it should get a record rating as the new dynasty goes vs. the old one, Belichick vs. Carroll, Brandon Browner vs. his former team, Brady vs. Wilson, Sherman vs. Revis and leftover feelings from Seattle's win a few years back vs. New England (when Sherman popularized "U Mad Bro?}. The two weeks between Championship Weekend and the Super Bowl always feel like they last forever but for once, I won't complain about it. If ever a game deserved that ungodly amount of hype, it's this one. I expect it to be an instant classic.

PS it'll be nice that unlike three years ago vs. the Giants when Gronk's ankle was hurt that we won't have to hear about blind injury speculation regarding him. Instead it will focus on Earl Thomas (shoulder) and Sherman (elbow) who are both getting MRIs on Monday. As Belichick, now the most winningest head coach in postseason history, said in the joyous post-game: "I've only got one thing to say-we're on to Seattle."

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The Most Cut and Dry Patriots Playoff Loss that I Can Ever Remember

Well I think today's AFC Championship Game between the Patriots and Broncos left no doubt who the better team was today, tomorrow and in two weeks: Denver. The Broncos controlled play from start to finish and won 26-16 at Sports Authority. New England overachieved all season and at some point, you knew that their lack of playmakers on both sides of the ball would catch up to them. Unfortunately, this afternoon was that painful time.

I honestly can never recall a loss in the playoffs by the Patriots that was so simple. No drama, no bad calls (either by their coaches or refs) in terms of affecting the contest in a major way or things to second guess. Nope, this was an old fashioned beatdown. The Broncos should have won by 20+ points and if they were decent in the red zone (2 for 6), they would have accomplished that.

The lazy/hot sports take way to look at this result is that Peyton Manning (32 of 43 for 400 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs) badly outplayed Tom Brady (24 of 38 for 277 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs). Clearly, Peyton was better but this just came down to his abundance of weapons and Brady's utter lack of anything outside of Julian Edelman (10 catches, 89 yards).

Denver got up 10-0 in the second quarter and 20-3 in the third quarter, thus eliminating New England's favored mode of attack: running the ball. SI cover boy LeGarrette Blount predictably plummeted back to Earth with five carries for six yards.

Meanwhile, the Thomas brothers-DeMaryius (7 catches, 134 yards) and Julius (8 catches, 85 yards)-dominated the Pats sorry secondary which lost Aqib Talib to a knee injury. PS they're not related. That makes it two years in a row that he went down with an injury in the AFC Championship Game. However, like last season I don't think his absence was the difference between a win and loss. Make no mistake, the Broncos would have won this game 10 out of 10 times.

Matt Prater opened the scoring with a 27-yard field goal in the first quarter. Jacob Tamme caught a 1-yard TD from Manning halfway through the second quarter for a 10-0 lead. New England's only points of the first half was a 47-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski. Prater added a 35-yard field goal with 25 seconds left in the first half for a 13-3 Broncos lead.

Demaryius Thomas caught a 3-yard touchdown in the third quarter and Prater's 19-yard field goal increased Denver's lead to 23-3 early in the fourth quarter. As they did all season, the Pats showed plenty of pride by not rolling over when most would. Edelman caught a 7-yard TD but Prater's 54-yard field goal and a missed two-point conversion after Brady's 5-yard TD run sealed New England's fate.

It doesn't make up for two weeks of crap but Broncos-Seahawks should be an excellent Super Bowl. More importantly, the Patriots need to get to work immediately to figure out how to maximize the next few seasons. Brady and Bill Belichick won't be around forever so they need to show more urgency by spending as much as they can and getting better players all around them.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it's that Brady and Belichick can rack up the (meaningless) regular season wins and even a few playoff games (assuming they face some scrub team) but they need way more help to beat super squads like the Broncos.

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AFC Championship Game Injury Report: Patriots at Broncos

You might not know this but the 2014 AFC Championship Game is on Sunday (3, CBS) and it involves the Patriots taking on the Broncos. Now that we've got that out of the way, let's get to the very brief injury report.

Denver lists everyone as probable so we won't bother with those jokers. New England has three players that are questionable: wide receivers Aaron Dobson (foot) and Kenbrell Thompkins (hip) along with punter Ryan Allen (shoulder).

So Tom Brady can have someone other than Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola to throw to, he needs one of the rookies to play. Thompkins played last week vs. Indianapolis but he suffered a concussion, his hip injury is from earlier in the season. Dobson didn't play but he's practiced the last few days, giving us hope that the Pats could have their only viable deep threat. As for Allen, he famously got hurt vs. the Colts forcing Stephen Gostkowski into punting duty (something he'd never done before in the NFL). New England didn't bring in another punter this week so you have to think that Allen will tough it out (an oxymoron for punters).

I'll update this on Sunday-if I feel like it-with the inactives for the Broncos and Patriots. To quote the great Bart Scott, "can't wait!"

UPDATE 1/19: Patriots inactives are Steve Beauharnais, Isaac Sopoaga, Justin Green, Chris Barker, D.J. Williams, Jake Bequette and Thompkins. That means that Dobson is active. For the Broncos: QB Zac Dysert, RB Ronnie Hillman, CB Marquice Cole, OT Vinston Painter, G Chris Kuper, TE Joel Dreesen and DT Sione Fua.

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