During this weekend both the National Football Conference (NFC) and American Football Conference (AFC) championship games for the National Football League (NFL) occurred. The winner of each game would advance to the Super Bowl and represent each of their conferences. The final four teams left were the Panthers, the Patriots, the Cardinals, and the Broncos. The Patriots played against the Broncos in Denver, and the Cardinals played against the Panthers in North Carolina. Both of these games were supposed to be close and intense.
The Patriots were heavily favored to win against the Broncos in their matchup. Before the game there were many people who voiced their opinion on the Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning. They said how he was too old and stood no chance against the favored Patriots. The game began and it was immediately clear that it would indeed be a tight game. The Broncos were able to score first and the rest of the game up to the fourth quarter was very tightly contested. The Patriots received the ball with only a few minutes left and they were down by eight points. Tom Brady was able to lead them on a drive to score a touchdown. The drive featured many spectacular throws and catches in addition to many fourth down conversions. In the end the Patriots failed to score the two-point conversion. They ended up losing the game because of their failure on one play. The final score was twenty to eighteen in the Denver Broncos favor.
The second game that kicked off had very high expectations. The Cardinals and the Panthers were considered both formidable opponents. This was the game that everyone had been waiting for the whole season. Instead of being a good game it was a total blowout. The offense lines of the Cardinals played horribly and were not capable of protecting Carson Palmer. The receivers made multiple drops and the Panthers dominated the whole game. The Panthers scored easily and the Cardinals couldn’t get any momentum going and were frequently intercepted. The final score of the game was forty-nine to fifteen in favor of the Panthers. Next up is the Super Bowl which is the final real NFL game of the season.
