It appears that we all had a bad case of short-term memory before week 16 of the NFL regular season, and the New York Giants and Tennessee Titans did a good job of curing that for us.
Both the Giants and Titans won their games this week to take full control of their respective conferences, and obtained home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Now, they won in distinctive fashions, but both teams made statements that they are, and always were, the best teams in the league.
The Titans defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, 31-14; and despite being underdogs, they practically dominated the game, particularly in the second half. They were highly doubted to come out with a win against such a competitive and talented team, especially since they came off of a disappointing loss to a so-so Houston Texans team last week. They played outstanding, however, and made Pittsburgh look like a mediocre team, and Ben Roethlisberger look like a mediocre quarterback.
The Titans’ defense swarmed all game, and obliterated every phase of the Steelers’ offense. Tennessee held Pittsburgh to only 71 total yards rushing, and even though they allowed 303 yards passing, they had two interceptions and two fumble recoveries. All four of the Pittsburgh turnovers were at fault of Ben Roethlisberger. To put it more accurately, it was a result of the Tennessee defense, which made amazing plays. Ben Roethlisberger just so happened to be a part of those plays.
Defensive end Jason Jones had 3.5 sacks and 3 forced fumbles. Wait, who is Jason Jones?
Exactly. The Titans proved that the injuries to Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch would not affect their defensive line play. (The Steelers also proved that their offensive line, and their offense in general, is very inconsistent, but that’s a different story.)
The great teams of the NFL play great in games that count, despite the occurrence of injury.
The Titans also played very solid offensively, as Chris Johnson and LenDale White ran for a combined 117 yards, and Kerry Collins completed 69 percent of his passes and threw for two touchdowns. This offense was what you would call very consistent, and has been generally consistent all year with Kerry Collins at the helm. And even though the Titans only ran for 117 yards, that is a very good total against a defense who only allows just over 78 rushing yards per game, and was first in almost every defensive category before this game. Smash and Dash (no, not DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart; remember, Lendale White and Chris Johnson claimed the nickname first.) didn’t run for a large sum of yardage, but made the big plays when they needed to, which is key.
The Titans had big runs when they needed to, made the great passes when they needed to, made spectacular defensive plays when they needed to, and played their best football and came out with a win when they needed to. And if I’m not mistaken, you need to win in the playoffs to stay alive. Well, the Titans have shown they can win when they need to as much as, or even more than any team in the league.
The New York Giants also won their week 16 game, as they defeated the Carolina Panthers 34-28 in a Sunday night overtime thriller. This game wasn’t as one sided, as the score would obviously indicate, but the Giants did dominate in one phase of the game– the running game.
The Giants ran for a total of 301 yards in a game that included the return of running back Brandon Jacobs. Jacobs didn’t run for the most yards on the team, but set the tone with his downhill-style running attack, which eventually tired out the Carolina defense, and this was apparent in the overtime period.
Brandon Jacobs pounded the ball inside as Earth, and opened up the outside for Wind. Wind, also known as Derrick Ward, ran for 215 yards on only 15 carries. In this case, it wasn’t the Carolina run game that was getting all of the attention as it had in the past weeks; it was the opposing team’s. The Giants continued to wear the Panther defense down throughout the game, and the big runs by Ward in overtime were the deciding factors.
The Giants’ running game all but exposed the Carolina defense, and proved that Carolina was not as worthy of home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.
New York didn’t allow giant games from both of the Panther running backs, and Carolina wasn’t as dominant running the ball as they had been the past few weeks. DeAngelo Williams did run for 108 yards with 4 touchdowns, but Jonathan Stewart only ran for 29 yards. He had rushed for 223 yards at 6.4 yards per carry in the previous three games combined.
Eli Manning also played a solid game, and it seems that is always the case. Smooth Eli only passed for 181 yards, but threw no interceptions and managed his team extremely well. This was vintage Eli Manning in a tightly contested, playoff atmosphere-type game.
To put it simply, the New York Giants pulled through when they needed to in overtime, and won when they needed to in order to attain home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Again, they did it all when they needed to, just like the Tennessee Titans, and the road to the Super Bowl in the NFC will go through The Meadowlands.
Both of these teams will have the luxury of playing at home throughout the playoffs, and both of these teams are following my personal championship philosophy. They are running the ball effectively, and they are also playing defense very effectively. The superior team in these phases of the game will win the Super Bowl, and the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants have proved that they are currently the superior teams in their individual conferences.
By: Clayton Terry
Both the Giants and Titans won their games this week to take full control of their respective conferences, and obtained home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Now, they won in distinctive fashions, but both teams made statements that they are, and always were, the best teams in the league.
The Titans defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, 31-14; and despite being underdogs, they practically dominated the game, particularly in the second half. They were highly doubted to come out with a win against such a competitive and talented team, especially since they came off of a disappointing loss to a so-so Houston Texans team last week. They played outstanding, however, and made Pittsburgh look like a mediocre team, and Ben Roethlisberger look like a mediocre quarterback.
The Titans’ defense swarmed all game, and obliterated every phase of the Steelers’ offense. Tennessee held Pittsburgh to only 71 total yards rushing, and even though they allowed 303 yards passing, they had two interceptions and two fumble recoveries. All four of the Pittsburgh turnovers were at fault of Ben Roethlisberger. To put it more accurately, it was a result of the Tennessee defense, which made amazing plays. Ben Roethlisberger just so happened to be a part of those plays.
Defensive end Jason Jones had 3.5 sacks and 3 forced fumbles. Wait, who is Jason Jones?
Exactly. The Titans proved that the injuries to Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch would not affect their defensive line play. (The Steelers also proved that their offensive line, and their offense in general, is very inconsistent, but that’s a different story.)
The great teams of the NFL play great in games that count, despite the occurrence of injury.
The Titans also played very solid offensively, as Chris Johnson and LenDale White ran for a combined 117 yards, and Kerry Collins completed 69 percent of his passes and threw for two touchdowns. This offense was what you would call very consistent, and has been generally consistent all year with Kerry Collins at the helm. And even though the Titans only ran for 117 yards, that is a very good total against a defense who only allows just over 78 rushing yards per game, and was first in almost every defensive category before this game. Smash and Dash (no, not DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart; remember, Lendale White and Chris Johnson claimed the nickname first.) didn’t run for a large sum of yardage, but made the big plays when they needed to, which is key.
The Titans had big runs when they needed to, made the great passes when they needed to, made spectacular defensive plays when they needed to, and played their best football and came out with a win when they needed to. And if I’m not mistaken, you need to win in the playoffs to stay alive. Well, the Titans have shown they can win when they need to as much as, or even more than any team in the league.
The New York Giants also won their week 16 game, as they defeated the Carolina Panthers 34-28 in a Sunday night overtime thriller. This game wasn’t as one sided, as the score would obviously indicate, but the Giants did dominate in one phase of the game– the running game.
The Giants ran for a total of 301 yards in a game that included the return of running back Brandon Jacobs. Jacobs didn’t run for the most yards on the team, but set the tone with his downhill-style running attack, which eventually tired out the Carolina defense, and this was apparent in the overtime period.
Brandon Jacobs pounded the ball inside as Earth, and opened up the outside for Wind. Wind, also known as Derrick Ward, ran for 215 yards on only 15 carries. In this case, it wasn’t the Carolina run game that was getting all of the attention as it had in the past weeks; it was the opposing team’s. The Giants continued to wear the Panther defense down throughout the game, and the big runs by Ward in overtime were the deciding factors.
The Giants’ running game all but exposed the Carolina defense, and proved that Carolina was not as worthy of home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs.
New York didn’t allow giant games from both of the Panther running backs, and Carolina wasn’t as dominant running the ball as they had been the past few weeks. DeAngelo Williams did run for 108 yards with 4 touchdowns, but Jonathan Stewart only ran for 29 yards. He had rushed for 223 yards at 6.4 yards per carry in the previous three games combined.
Eli Manning also played a solid game, and it seems that is always the case. Smooth Eli only passed for 181 yards, but threw no interceptions and managed his team extremely well. This was vintage Eli Manning in a tightly contested, playoff atmosphere-type game.
To put it simply, the New York Giants pulled through when they needed to in overtime, and won when they needed to in order to attain home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Again, they did it all when they needed to, just like the Tennessee Titans, and the road to the Super Bowl in the NFC will go through The Meadowlands.
Both of these teams will have the luxury of playing at home throughout the playoffs, and both of these teams are following my personal championship philosophy. They are running the ball effectively, and they are also playing defense very effectively. The superior team in these phases of the game will win the Super Bowl, and the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants have proved that they are currently the superior teams in their individual conferences.
By: Clayton Terry