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Giants, 49ers, Patriots, & Ravens move on to Conference Championships

     In what was an insanely exciting weekend of playoff football, 4 teams emerged victorious and moved one step closer to going to Indianapolis for Superbowl XLVI.  Here's what went down...

- The New England Patriots demolished the Denver Tebows Broncos 45-10.  The Patriots had this game on lock, save for one 1st quarter Brady interception, the Broncos were never in this game.  The New England defense was surprisingly dominant, forcing Tebow to scramble even more so than usual as he threw for an extremely pedestrian 136 yards while only completing 9 of 26 pass attempts.  Tom Brady, on the other hand, had a record-tying performance, matching Steve Young for the most touchdown passes in a single playoff game with 6.

- The Patriots will be facing the Baltimore Ravens who took care of business against the injury riddled Houston Texans.  The Ravens won 20-13 as Houston was able to hang around with rookie quarterback T.J. Yates who struggled mightily throwing 3 interceptions against the tough Baltimore defense.  Of Yates' 184 passing yards, 111 of which went to Andre Johnson.  Arian Foster led the way for Houston's offense with a touchdown and 132 yards rushing, but it wasn't enough.  The Texans had a chance to tie it late in the 4th as they were driving down field when Yates threw an interception to safety Ed Reed who would seal the deal for Baltimore and punched their ticket to the AFC Championship game.

- In what may have been one of the greatest, if not entertaining NFL playoff games of all time, the San Francisco 49ers managed to defeat the New Orleans Saints in a back & forth nail-biter, 36-32.  The stellar 49er defense was able to force 3 turnovers in the first quarter alone against the dynamic Saints offense including a fumble recovery on their own 2 yard line after Pierre Thomas was knocked out of the game with a hit from Donte Whitner.  The 49er offense struggled through most of the game as it remained close despite the dominant showing from the San Francisco defense.  At the beginning of the 4th quarter it was 20-17 San Francisco.  That's when all the fun began.  A David Akers 37 yard field goal made it a 23-17 game with 7:36 to go which was followed up by a 44 yard touchdown pass from Drew Brees to Darren Sproles to put the Saints up 24-23 with 4:02 left in the game, just 1 of Sproles' record-breaking 15 receptions in the game.  The 49ers answered when their quarterback, Alex Smith was able to rush for a 28 yard touchdown on a 3rd & 8 with 2:11 left in the game putting San Francisco up 29-24 after a failed 2 point conversion attempt.  New Orleans answered right back as Drew Brees threw an epic pass to Jimmy Graham that ended up as a 66 yard touchdown pass down the middle, as the Saints were able to tack on the 2 point conversion making it a 32-29 game with only 1:37 left in the game.  Game over, right?  Wrong.  Alex Smith led the 49ers down the field and capped it all off with a 14 yard touchdown pass to Vernon Davis, who had 7 receptions for 180 yards & 2 touchdowns, including the game-winner with just 9 seconds left in the game.  A tearful Davis returned to the sidelines after the catch and embraced his rookie coach Jim Harbaugh in an image that will live on forever.

- The 49ers weren't the only NFC team to pull off what was perceived to be an upset this past weekend.  The best team in the regular season, Green Bay Packers who went 15-1 were defeated at home by the New York Giants 37-20.  This was a game that, surprisingly, the Giants had control for most of the way through.  The Packers defense was their downfall as Eli Manning was able to throw for 330 yard and 3 touchdowns.  The probable MVP of the regular season, Aaron Rodgers had a very pedestrian game for his standards, as he was only able to muster up 264 yards on 2 touchdowns and an interception.  Not all on him though, as his wide receivers dropped several balls that came back to bite Green Bay in the ass.  Hakeem Nicks led the way for the Giants on offense as he caught 7 passes for 165 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 37 yard bomb to end the first half that he was able to grab in the endzone.

So we have the Ravens & Patriots and the 49ers & Giants.  Personally, I love these matchups and will be rooting for the 49ers and Ravens.  Give me a Har-BOWL!  With Jim in San Francisco and his brother John in Baltimore, this could very well be a very Harbaugh Superbowl.  This 49ers team is a hell of a lot of fun to watch and virtually impossible to root against.  Seriously, unless you're a Giants fan, I don't see why you would want to root against them next weekend.  I know I sure won't be.

And This Happened...

Kobe Bryant continued to dominate scoring 40 points in 4 consecutive games - Kobe Bryant scored 48 points against the Phoenix Suns on January 11th, then followed that up with 40 points against the Utah Jazz one day later.  This past Friday Kobe scored 42 points in a victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers and he followed that up with 42 points again in a loss against the Los Angeles Clippers on the 14th.  You know what's most amazing about this offensive onslaught from Kobe?  He's been doing it all with torn ligaments in his shooting hand.  God knows how well he'll perform when it's completely healed.  Kobe will try to make it 5 straight 40 point games against the Mavericks tonight.

Jeff Fisher is hired as the new head coach for the St. Louis Rams - Jeff Fisher, who was the coach for the Tennessee Titans from 1994-2010 is now the head coach for the St. Louis Rams, after they fired Steve Spagnuolo in response to an extremely disappointing 2-14 record.  Fisher, who won an AFC Championship in 1999, turned down the Miami Dolphins head coaching job for the Rams and looks to turn around this injury depleted franchise that showed great promise just 2 seasons ago.

The New York Yankees add 2 starting pitchers to their rotation - In 2 separate moves, the Yankees were able to improve a huge achilles' heel that has plagued them for the past several seasons.  Starting pitching.  They have a bonafide Cy Yonng candidate in CC Sabathia and now some depth as well.  Former Los Angeles Dodger, Hiroki Kuroda was signed to a 1 year deal worth $10 million.  Kuroda, who went 13-16 with an impressive 3.07 ERA for the hapless Dodgers last years looks to put up similar numbers with the Yankees, just with better results in the win/loss column.  The Yankees weren't done there, as they made a risky trade sending a slew of prospects, including one of their best (Jesus Montero) to the Seattle Mariners for all-star pitcher, Michael Pineda.  Pineda, a flame throwing 19 year old right hander, went 9-10 with a 3.74 ERA and 173 strikeouts last year in his rookie year, will look to repeat his all-star performance in the Bronx.  It remains to be seen if he'll be able to go from the ho-hum confines of Safeco Field with zero expectations to the high pressure situation of pitching in Yankee Stadium for a team expected to compete for the World Series.

Dwyane Wade is out indefinitely for the Miami Heat with a sprained ankle - In a shortened NBA season where Dwyane Wade has already missed 4 games this year, he is expected to possibly miss a few more. Wade sprained his ankle in a loss against the Denver Nuggets on Friday, Miami's 3rd loss in a row.  It's unlikely Wade will be rushed back due to the fact that Miami has been dealing with injuries already in this shortened season, with LeBron James having to sit out as well as Mike Miller who has yet to make his season debut due to injury.  Regardless, this could be one of those years where a guy like Dwyane Wade has to deal with little injuries plaguing him all year long, which could hinder his ability to play at a high level.  Miami needs Wade back healthy at 100% if they wish to win that elusive championship ring.