The Home Teams Win
New England Patriots over the Kansas City Chiefs 27-20: Tom Brady had all of his weapons back for the first time in a long time, and the offense was clicking. Their top two running backs are out, but Steven Jackson and James White are producing well. Julian Edelman was back in the lineup, and Rob Gronkowski played well like always (scoring two touchdowns). The Chiefs were unable to put points on the board and produce on their opportunities and fell in a deep hole heading into the fourth quarter. There was also bad time management decisions by the coaches for the Chiefs, and they did not even receive a chance to try and tie the game up.
Arizona Cardinals over the Green Bay Packers 26-20 in OT: I believe that this was the best game of the weekend. It had everything; Larry Fitzgerald playing like he is not in his 30s, Carson Palmer throwing terrible passes, two Hail Mary passes on the final couple of plays in the fourth quarter by Aaron Rodgers to tie the game, and even a coin toss in which the coin did not flip. The game was entertaining, but with Fitzmagic and good defense (for the most part), the Cardinals came out on top in overtime.
Carolina Panthers over the Seattle Seahawks 31-24: This game was a tale of two halves. It seemed as though the Panthers put the game out of reach in the first half as they scored 31 unanswered points (31-0) thanks to two picks by Russell Wilson. But in the second half, the Seahawks almost completed their furious comeback, as they scored 24 unanswered points, and did not recover the onside kick in the final minute of regulation. The Panthers got over the hump and the Seahawks will not be returning to the Super Bowl for three consecutive years, but the way the Panthers closed out the game has to be troublesome and the problems they had in the half must be fixed by next week when they will play the Cardinals.
Denver Broncos over the Pittsburgh Steelers 23-16: If Big Ben Roethlisberger did not have an injured shoulder (he still played), if DeAngelo Williams or LeVeon Bell were not injured, if their starting center and left tackle were not injured, and if Antonio Brown did not have a concussion, the Steelers could have won this game. They basically had too many injuries to overcome in the end. On another note, we will see Manning vs. Brady play each other for the eighteenth time next week. Manning looks completely healthy right now, the best he has been in over a year, and against the Steelers, he was able to push the ball down the field and control the game along with their outstanding defense.
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