You just knew that if the Seahawks could get Marshawn Lynch going they would beat the New Orleans Saints.  They did and now Seattle is just a little bit closer to getting to their second Super Bowl appearance.  Now the way this game was going it wasn’t a dominant performance by Seattle.  There were many chances for the Saints to make some noise, but a few failed fourth down attempts and a brain fart on the last play of the game by WR Marques Colston marked their fate.  New Orleans’ defense did better than I thought and that should be an encouraging sign going into next season.  As much fan fare as the Saints get on offense, they did run the ball well without Pierre Thomas, but they need more receiving options.  TE Jimmy Graham was virtually shutout and Colston was the only reliable target for Drew Brees.  Seattle did just enough with Lynch, but they will need more to actually win a Super Bowl.

The Patriots always seem to get the best out of players whom they gave second chances to.  RB LaGarrette Blount is the newest to join that class.  He is a bruiser at the line of scrimmage and if he has an opening he is deceptively fast.  The Colts found that out the hard way with their loss at Foxboro.  Normally with the Patriots in the past they don’t run the ball enough to scare opponents.  Now that they use a three man rotation that is starting to center around Blount, teams have to prepare for it from now on.  Indianapolis could have put a little scare into the Pats until Andrew Luck threw an interception on their first drive.  That pretty much set the tone. Now there were many injuries to the Colts this season, the biggest being WR Reggie Wayne.  But the fact that even when the Colts acquired RB Trent Richardson from the Cleveland Browns earlier this season, he has been a huge disappointment.  Without a running game to offset the pressure on Luck the Colts were doomed for an early exit.  It was just delayed by one week.

It was supposed to be a close game and it was for the first half. After the 49ers scored a touchdown just before halftime, the Panthers must not have known there was another half to play.  The Panthers had a long drive to start the second half, but Cam Newton getting sacked and the Panthers offense being stagnant resulted in no points.  That set the tone for the whole half as the 49ers dominated keeping Carolina scoreless and adding another ten points to their lead.  I’m just wondering what seemed to happen to the Panthers who were supposed to be the surprise team of the playoffs.  Judging by the way they played during the season and how they played against the 49ers is they didn’t go with what worked for them.  Cam Newton was involved in the read option offense in the first half and they scored 10 points.  That offensive game plan was abandoned in the second half.  Carolina should be back in contention next year although there might be some new faces.

A simple way to win a football game is to pressure the quarterback. Denver was able to do that against Chargers QB Philip Rivers. San Diego had some problems running the ball effectively too with Ryan Mathews having a bum ankle and Danny Woodhead missing some time late in the game.  Also the Chargers seemed to not have any urgency to their offense when Denver was out to a sizable lead. If San Diego showed more life to their offense they might not have had to spend so much in the fourth quarter.  Denver was the better team, but the Chargers exposed their secondary once again and the Patriots are sure to try it in the AFC Championship game.  San Diego surprised many this year, but they need to fill some holes to make another run next year.