Headlines 1/22/2013

Before we get to the Knicks/Nets MLK thriller, we have to get post mortems for the two championship runner ups and the Super Bowl participants.

In New England, Bill Belichieck was very reflective during his end of season press conference, offering candid details as to why the Ravens were able to beat the Pats in the AFC Championship game.  Meanwhile, the Ravens coaching staff doesn’t get nearly the credit it deserves while dealing with injuries and firings throughout the season.

In Atlanta, the case is being made that Mike Smith (former defensive coordinator) hasn’t done anything of note with his defense.  While in San Francisco, there may be another Joe Cool, but his name is Colin Kaepernick.  

There’s an obvious storyline that will get a ton of play over the next two weeks, but good luck getting the Harbaughs to talk about it.

I was in Baltimore this weekend to witness the Ravens/Pats game and while it wasn’t physically in Baltimore, being in a town where a championship game or any game of huge significance is taking place you can feel it in the air.  Everyone decked out in their team swag and showing support on that Friday before the weekend at work and then during the weekend wearing jerseys and showing support by wearing team colors its just a feel you get being there.  

Watching the Ravens/Pats game I knew that this was not going to be a Pats blow out.  Of course it had the chance to be but the two teams were so evenly matched and both had the kind of intimate knowledge of the other having played each other in last year’s championship game that there was almost an inevitability about them playing one another in the game that would decide the Super Bowl participants.  For the Ravens, the Pats were their crucible.  The one team they had to beat along the way.  You could tell that every fan, player and exec of the Ravens wanted to see the Patriots and vice versa.  No matter what anyone tells you, this is exactly what both teams wanted and got.  The Patriots knew that the Ravens were there and they knew they escaped last year.  They still had some hard feelings over the ending of the regular season contest in which Justin Tucker’s game winning field goal was somewhere in the upper stratosphere when it may or may not have went through the uprights.  

The game was playing just like a script and I agree with coach Belichieck on a key point he made.  So many people make a big deal of third down conversion rate, but a sneaky good stat to pay attention to is how teams do on second down.  Second down can be played in so many different ways but a smart way to play it is to set up a manageable third down.  So many teams don’t do this instead going for the first down as quickly as they can.  You always take what the defense gives you and if the defense is giving you a short pass, you take it and keep getting closer to the first down or try and get yards after catch and get the first down immediately.  Coach Belichieck stressed during his final press conference of the season that the Patriots never stopped the Ravens on second down and it set up manageable distances for the Ravens.  If you get it close enough, and it becomes 3rd and 2, or 3rd and 4, you can open up the playbook.  Suddenly teams have to begin guessing and this is where the film work and knowing the other team’s playbook comes in handy.  This is where the defensive leaders earn their paychecks.  The Ravens, especially on that final drive to kill most of the clock, were able to get big runs to set up down and distances that behooved them.  Check out the play by play, on their final drive:

With those two 2nd down runs, they were able to take off almost 5 minutes off the clock leaving Brady with nothing to work with.  Its those kinds of plays on second down that set up the Ravens for success.  A ton is being made of the coaching change that the Ravens made but the job Dean Peas has done with a depleted Ravens defense has been nothing short of phenomenal.  Wes Welker again with two key drops on third down.  And he wonders why he never gets a long term contract from the Patriots?  Brady just never had the opportunity to throw it deep.  It could’ve been the near 40 mph winds but Flacco took a few deep shots but never hit on any of them.  The Pats were hurt by Aqib Talib’s absence after the first quarter with a thigh injury.  The Pats went zone which left the middle wide open for Flacco and the Ravens switched their game plan up and attacked it and was successful in doing so.  

Meanwhile, fair or unfair, the Falcons will be wondering what if.  Seattle came 40 seconds of beating the Falcons and the Falcons in turn came within a 4th and 5 of setting up for another game winner.  It came down to another poor second half for the Atlanta defense who failed again to cover the tight end.  Vernon Davis went to work over the middle and caught big catch after big catch.  The Falcons however seemed content on holding a lead and stopped being ultra aggressive in the second half.  Credit the Niner secondary with keeping Roddy White and Julio Jones in front of them.  Jones was bothered by an ankle injury that limited his effectiveness despite a beastly first quarter where he caught 5 passes for 106 yards.  I can’t imagine how tense the Atlanta fanbase must have been even with a 17-0 lead knowing that the Falcons were following the same script as last week.  The stadium was really loud and had a ton of energy to open the game but as usual (I don’t know this for a fact but according to all the blogs I read and tweets I heard from Atlanta fans, apparently this happens alot- they are as fairweather and as bandwagon-ey as New York fans), the fans gave way as soon as the team began to lose momentum.  Honestly, I can’t say I was surprised they lost this game.  Even last week, when Seattle went down 20-0, I never felt as though the game was over and it wasn’t because I had this overwhelming confidence in Russell Wilson- I just never felt like Atlanta was as good as that first half was.  Again, the first half had a sequence of events where they exhausted all their good fortune in one half.  Every play worked, and every defensive call was smart too.  But once adjustments were made by the other team, the Falcons never countered.  

Mike Smith won’t be fired for losing this game but there has to be real changes to the way he handles late game situations.  The second halves of the past two games were nightmares for the Falcons and Smith will have to live with the knowledge that while his offense is good enough to put up points, his defense is still no where to be found.  Unless his defense shows up, they won’t be taken seriously when it comes time for the playoffs.

As for the BroBowl, Harbaughl, and any other iteration, I will have more to say about it later but its not that difficult to see the genetic make up of these two guys.  Willing to take risks and always mindful that its about the players and not about the coaches (ahem, Rex).  Its about the guys who tackle and who make plays and not about the brothers and I will enjoy John and Jim and Jack and Jackie avoid, deflect and “no comment” their way through the next two weeks.  Ok, fine, I won’t but be prepared to know every detail about the Harbaugh boys that you probably didn’t need to know.

The Knicks and Nets renewed acquaintances and put on a show for MLK day.  The Nets however were the big winners beating the Knicks 88-85 to tie up the season series and make fans crave for more of the same come playoff time.  Mike Vaccaro of the Post says that the Garden crowd knew that they did not want to see Joe Johnson taking that last shot- and he confirmed their fears by hitting it.  Filip Bondy of the Daily News writes shame on the NBA for crunching these games together in the first three months of the season while leaving the next 3 without a single Knicks/Nets game.  Finally Dave D’Alessandro with another great piece, this time about the Knicks goodwill ambassador Cal Ramsey on Martin Luther King day.

I had to read the description of the game on twitter and you could feel the back and forth between the two teams as I was driving back from Baltimore (no I wasn’t driving).  It was the kind of game that both teams get up for and both teams get told the significance and can feel it.  And if they aren’t told about how important this game is, you can feel the energy in the building.  Forget that both teams are legit playoff contenders and obviously have talent to make for a good game.  Now add to that the natural enmity caused by being neighbors and in the same city fighting for the same real estate in the biggest market in the world.  Yeah, that’s just half the story.  Joe Johnson has always been a good player but something tells me this move to Brooklyn has reinvigorated him from the sleepy doldrums of mediocre success he was experiencing in Atlanta.  They were aiiight, but Joe Johnson in Atlanta wasn’t scaring a single person.  Now, Joe Johnson in Brooklyn?  That dude is a killer.  A heart breaker who wants to the rock in the final seconds.  So many teams don’t have that final shot taker decision made, but Brooklyn has decided to throw their eggs in the Joe Johnson basket.  I saw the replay and Melo couldn’t match up because Gerald Wallace was just better at defending that final shot than JR Smith was at defending Joe Johnson who shot a pure jumper and had that shooter’s bounce of a guy who knew what the final result of that shot would be as soon as he released it.  

These were all great games and I have a feeling that this will be a good series which ultimately, if the Knicks are completely healthy, the Knicks will take in six.  Not having Felton has been tough and the Knicks had better hope he is 100% healed and not being rushed out there because of the obvious problems quick point guards give the Knicks.  Jason Kidd is a reserve playing starter’s minutes which is never a good idea for a near 40 year old man.  They need Felton back and playing major minutes and they need to get Iman Shumpert playing more minutes as the weeks go on.  Hopefully the Knicks are slowly pacing themselves to set up an exciting playoff run.  Lord knows the fan base needs it.  For now, they have this Knicks/Nets rivalry which is surely anything the city will be talking about.  And like any crazy New York fan, I’m hoping that they give us a classic series in April or May.