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NFL Capsules - Playoffs: Ravens beat Texans 20-13, move into AFC title game
BALTIMORE (AP) — If style points and offensive fireworks meant anything, the Baltimore Ravens wouldn't stand a chance of making it to the AFC championship.
Playing defense and protecting the football are what they do best, and that formula led to a 20-13 victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday, putting Baltimore in the AFC title game against the New England Patriots.
"I always say there is a right way to do things, there is a wrong way to do things and there is just the Ravens' way of doing things," linebacker Terrell Suggs said. "It wasn't pretty but we're not really a pretty team. We got the W and now it's on to the AFC championship."
The Ravens (13-4) had almost as many punts (nine) as first downs (11) and scored only three points over the final 46 minutes. But Baltimore wasn't penalized once, didn't commit a turnover, intercepted rookie quarterback T.J. Yates three times and totaled four takeaways — two in the first quarter and two over the final eight minutes.
"If we didn't get any of those turnovers it would probably be a different game," Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata said.
Baltimore visits New England next Sunday, with the winner advancing to the Super Bowl in Indianapolis on Feb. 5.
The Patriots lead the series 6-1, but Baltimore's lone win came in the postseason.
"We don't play the game until next week," Suggs said. "I'm going to enjoy tonight."
Veteran defensive stars Ed Reed and Ray Lewis led a unit that yielded only one touchdown and came up with the big play when one was needed. Lewis had a team-high seven tackles and Reed sealed the victory with the Ravens' fourth takeaway, an interception near the goal line in the closing minutes.
"It's winning by any means necessary," Reed said. "That's what it's got to be."
The Ravens finished 9-0 at home, but this one was anything but easy. Baltimore led 17-3 after the first quarter, and interceptions by Lardarius Webb and Reed in the final 7½ minutes helped the advantage stand up.
Reed has eight interceptions in 10 playoff games, few bigger than the last one.
"You can't say enough about him," Ravens linebacker Jarret Johnson said. "His big plays always seem to happen when you need one."
One week earlier, in the first playoff game in Texans history, Houston didn't commit a turnover in a 31-10 home rout of Cincinnati. Against Baltimore, the Texans couldn't hold onto the ball and quickly fell behind by two touchdowns.
Arian Foster ran for 132 yards, the first player ever to rush for 100 yards against the Ravens in the postseason. But Yates' three interceptions matched the total he had in six regular season games.
"I can't have the turnovers," Yates said. "If we don't turn the ball over like that, we have a chance to win. And we still had a chance to win. If I'd done a better job of protecting the football, I really think we'd have come out with the win today. We did a good job of moving the ball and we had some big plays, but you can't have that many picks."
Yates was the third starting quarterback used by Houston this season following injuries to Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart. The Texans also lost wide receiver Andre Johnson for a spell and finished without sack specialist Mario Williams, who missed the last two-thirds of the season.
And still, the Texans got within a win of reaching the conference title game. After the game, team owner Bob McNair pulled aside coach Gary Kubiak and congratulated him.
"I told him how proud I was. ... To come out and play the way this team has played, I think it's just remarkable," McNair said. "Where would New England have been if (Tom) Brady wasn't playing, and if Wes Welker wasn't playing, and if their best defensive player wasn't playing? Go down the list of any of these teams and ask where they would be — and they wouldn't be in the playoffs. And this team was in the playoffs."
Down 17-13 at halftime, Houston twice held the Ravens without a first down in the third quarter before driving to the Baltimore 32. From there, Neil Rackers' 50-yard field goal try hit the crossbar and dropped into the end zone.
Baltimore then launched a drive in which seldom-used Lee Evans made a sensational one-handed catch for a 30-yard gain on third-and-5 from the Houston 39. On fourth-and-goal inside the 1, Ray Rice was stuffed by linebacker Tim Dobbins for no gain.
"That's a huge play," Houston defensive end J.J. Watt said. "Those are the type of plays that win playoffs games. Obviously, we wish it had gone the other way, but those are the type of plays that you remember."
The Texans couldn't move the ball, and the Ravens took the ensuing punt at the Houston 49. But three plays netted only 4 yards, and Sam Koch punted for the seventh time.
Minutes later, the Ravens went three and out for the fourth time in five second-half possessions. Fortunately for Baltimore, the defense compensated for the team's inability to add to its early lead.
"You have to do whatever you have to do to win a football game," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.
Webb's second interception came with 7½ minutes left and the Ravens clinging to 17-13 advantage. Baltimore moved 45 yards to get a field goal by Billy Cundiff with 2:52 left.
Houston's Danieal Manning muffled the record crowd of 71,547 by taking the opening kickoff 60 yards to the Baltimore 41. Yates then completed two straight passes, and after the Ravens stuffed Foster on a third-and-1, Rackers kicked a 40-yard field goal.
Baltimore failed to get a first down on its first possession and had to punt. Jacoby Jones inexplicably attempted to field the bouncing ball at the 13-yard line, was immediately hit by Cary Williams and lost the ball, which was recovered by Baltimore rookie Jimmy Smith at the 2.
On third down, Joe Flacco threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Kris Wilson — the tight end's first catch of the season.
After a Houston punt, Flacco completed a 21-yard pass to Anquan Boldin to set up a 48-yard field goal for a 10-3 lead.
Later in the first quarter, Ravens cornerback Lardarius Webb stepped in front of Johnson for an interception at the Houston 35. Five plays later, Flacco tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Boldin in the right side of the end zone.
Yates then completed a pair of third-down passes in a 59-yard drive that ended with a field goal. After Yates misfired on third down from the Baltimore 10, the rookie came off the field he was greeted by coach Gary Kubiak, who put a hand on the back of the quarterback's jersey while chatting.
Yates returned after a Baltimore punt to direct a 12-play, 86-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Foster, who accounted for 66 yards — including 54 on the ground.
Yates went 17 for 35 for 184 yards. Johnson had eight catches for 111 yards.
Notes: Baltimore improved to 6-0 against Houston, 2-0 this season. ... It was the Ravens' first home playoff win since 2000. ... Foster ran for 285 yards in the postseason, most by a player in his first two NFL playoff games. ... With the Ravens' home win, it's the first time since the NFL went to current playoff format in 1990 that the first seven games have been won by the home team.
Texans hurt by four turnovers in loss
BALTIMORE (AP) — After throwing his third interception of the afternoon, Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates leaned over, rested his hands on his knees, and lowered his head.
Then he trudged slowly off the field, met by a straight-faced coach Gary Kubiak. Texans running back Arian Foster, meanwhile, walked away from them and headed off for some alone time on the sideline.
All three — along with everyone else in the stadium — knew why the Texans lost 20-13 to the Ravens in the divisional playoffs Sunday, sending Baltimore to the AFC championship game against the New England Patriots. For everything Houston did right — including Foster's 132 yards rushing, and the defense's stingy play — four turnovers undid all the hard work.
"You can't turn the ball over, especially against a team that has the defense that they do," said Foster, the first opponent to rush for more than 100 yards against Baltimore in a postseason game. "They're opportunistic, and they're very tough."
Then Foster paused for a moment, before adding: "Still, at the end, we had a chance to tie it up."
That's absolutely true.
"Definitely, I feel like we should have won this game," Texans linebacker DeMeco Ryans said. "At the end of the day, they made plays to close the game out and we didn't. That was the difference."
In a season so much about passing and points, the Ravens and Texans squared off in a classic defensive matchup, combining for three points in the second half. That's nothing new when it comes to the Ravens — do the names Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs and Ed Reed ring any bells? — but is something of a novelty for the Texans, who quickly developed a top "D'' under first-year coordinator Wade Phillips.
The Ravens held Ray Rice to 60 yards rushing, and linebacker Tim Dobbins stuffed him on a fourth-and-goal play from the 1 late in the third quarter. Led by rookies J.J. Watt and Brooks Reed, Houston sacked Joe Flacco five times.
"We got after him, just like we planned on it," safety Glover Quin said. "We just got dug in a hole early. We tried to crawl out of it; we just couldn't."
The Ravens actually put the ball on the ground a couple of times, but they managed to keep possession.
"We didn't recover the ball," Watt said. "That's what hurt us."
Well, and then there was the matter of the way the Texans were careless about protecting the ball when they had it.
"We did the one thing that we couldn't come in here and do and win," Kubiak said, rubbing his eyes. "When we don't turn the ball over, we're tough to beat. ... We just didn't play clean enough to move on to next week."
Houston's problems Sunday began in the first quarter, when Jacoby Jones muffed a punt, and the Ravens recovered at the 2. That led to Flacco's 1-yard touchdown pass, putting Baltimore ahead to stay at 7-3. The Ravens would go up 17-3, on the way to a 17-13 advantage at halftime.
Last week, in the first playoff game in franchise history, Houston did not commit a turnover while collecting four in a 31-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
But this week, Houston's errors just kept on coming.
"We made mistakes. We did it to ourselves. The Ravens didn't," said Texans owner Bob McNair, wearing a red tie dotted with tiny club logos.
Yates was picked off twice by Baltimore cornerback Lardarius Webb, and then came the interception by Ed Reed on the first play after the 2-minute warning. The Texans had moved from their own 28 to Baltimore's 38, but Yates threw a deep ball, and the Ravens' safety caught it before tumbling backward into the end zone with his eighth pick in 10 playoff games.
"He taught me a lesson," Yates said.
The rookie QB was forced into Houston's starting lineup this season because Matt Schaub and Matt Leinart got hurt, part of a string of injuries the Texans managed to overcome en route to the AFC South title. Top receiver Andre Johnson missed nine games; top pass-rusher Mario Williams missed the last two-thirds of the season.
That Houston was in the second round of the playoffs at all was seen as a significant accomplishment by several of the players dressing in a quiet locker room Sunday. After the game, McNair pulled aside Kubiak for some encouraging words.
"I told him how proud I was. ... To come out and play the way this team has played, I think it's just remarkable," McNair said. "Where would New England have been if (Tom) Brady wasn't playing, and if Wes Welker wasn't playing, and if their best defensive player wasn't playing? Go down the list of any of these teams and ask where they would be — and they wouldn't be in the playoffs. And this team was in the playoffs."
Now, though, because the Texans kept turning the ball over, they're gone.
Notes: Foster set a record for most yards rushing in a player's first two postseason games with 285. After the game, he exchanged jerseys with Baltimore's Lewis, something they had pre-arranged via text messages. ... Yates was 17 of 35 for 184 yards. ... Johnson had eight catches for 111 yards. ... In Baltimore's 29-14 victory over Houston in Week 6, the Texans were held to season lows in points and yards.
-- Howard Fendrich
Ravens place CBs Carr, Brown on inactive list
BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens have placed cornerbacks Chris Carr and Chykie Brown on the inactive list for Sunday's playoff game against the Houston Texans.
Carr missed seven games during the regular season with thigh and back injuries, although he did see action in the final three games. Brown played on special teams in the finale against Cincinnati and participated in only seven games this season.
Baltimore's other inactives are wide receiver Tandon Doss, running back Anthony Allen, offensive lineman Justin Boren and linebackers Sergio Kindle and Josh Bynes.
Houston's inactives: safety Troy Nolan; wide receiver Jeff Maehl; third-string cornerback Brandon Harris; offensive linemen Thomas Austin and Andrew Gardner; tight end Garrett Graham; and third quarterback Jeff Garcia.
Manning throws three TDs, Giants stun Packers
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — With their own star quarterback and a dominating defense, the New York Giants exposed the Green Bay Packers for what they now are — former Super Bowl champions.
The Packers dropped passes, fumbled the ball and simply couldn't stop Eli Manning and his receivers in the Giants' shocking 37-20 divisional playoff victory Sunday. To the Giants' delight, a Green Bay team that had a real shot at an undefeated season less than a month ago is heading home.
And that the win came at Lambeau Field, well, that was just as sweet. The site has become a familiar launching pad for the New Yorkers. After beating the Packers (15-2) at home for the second time in four years, they only hope this trip ends the same way — in the NFL title game.
The Giants will play the 49ers in San Francisco for the NFC championship next Sunday.
"I think we're a dangerous team," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "I like where we are and how we're playing."
The Giants (11-7) have been on a roll ever since beating the rival Jets on Dec. 24, beating the Dallas Cowboys to get in the playoffs and then blowing out Atlanta in the wild card round last week.
They took down the Packers on Sunday, as Manning threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns.
The Giants are 3-4 against the 49ers in the playoffs, including their memorable collapse in a wild card game at San Francisco on Jan. 5, 2003. New York led 38-14 in the third quarter but fell apart and lost 39-38.
That probably won't be much of a worry for this year's Giants, who were oozing confidence even before they beat the Packers.
"This team knows how to win on the road," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "It seems like right now it's our time."
The Giants stunned the Packers with a touchdown off a long heave from Manning to Hakeem Nicks just before halftime, then knocked them out with a late touchdown off a turnover.
Lambeau Field fell silent as the Giants swarmed the field in celebration, with a handful of New York fans chanting, "Let's go, Giants!"
"I knew we were going to beat them on Wednesday, to be honest with you," running back Brandon Jacobs said.
The win came four years after the Giants beat a Brett Favre-led Packers team in the NFC title game. It wasn't nearly as frigid this time around, and the Packers' vulnerable defense seemed to be waiting to get sliced up.
Manning found six different receivers against a porous Packers defense. But Manning did the most damage with his throws to Nicks, who caught seven passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns.
Nicks' biggest play was a 66-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. His score at the end of the half came on a 37-yard pass into the end zone with defenders all around.
"It was a big momentum play for them, but we were not deflated as a football team," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.
The Giants' defense also was able to defuse the big-play abilities of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' offense.
Rodgers was 26 of 46 for 264 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception. He also was the Packers' leading rusher with 66 yards on seven carries.
The Packers fully expected to go back to the Super Bowl, but the reality hit Rodgers quickly.
"Oh, it's real," Rodgers said. "We got beat by a team that played better tonight.
"We play to win championships. You win a championship and you're kind of at the top of the mountain, and you forget kind of how bad this feeling is. We had a championship-caliber regular season and didn't play well today."
The Packers' past problems with dropped balls by their talented group of wide receivers returned at the worst time imaginable.
And while the Packers' defense has been vulnerable all season, giving up far too many yards and big plays, they've typically made up for it by forcing turnovers.
This time, the Packers were the ones giving the ball away.
Green Bay lost three fumbles, including one on a rare giveaway by Rodgers. The Giants also sacked Rodgers four times.
With the Packers trailing 20-10 at halftime but finally beginning to look like themselves on offense to start the second half, Osi Umenyiora swatted the ball away from Rodgers, and Deon Grant recovered the fumble.
"With a 10-point lead, we're going to get after you," Umenyiora said. "And that's what we did."
But the mistake didn't cost the Packers points, and Green Bay cut the lead to seven points on a 35-yard field goal by Mason Crosby late in the third quarter.
The Packers put together another drive early in the fourth quarter, but Michael Boley and Umenyiora combined to sack Rodgers on fourth-down play in Giants territory.
After carving up the Packers in the first half, the Giants' offense hit a lull in the second half. But they broke out of it to drive for a 35-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes to take a 23-13 lead with 7:48 left to play.
Packers running back Ryan Grant then fumbled after catching a pass and the Giants recovered, taking the ball back deep into Green Bay territory.
Manning then threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham and the Giants took a 30-13 lead. Rodgers rallied the Packers for a 16-yard touchdown pass to Donald Driver, cutting the lead to 30-20 with 4:46 left.
The Packers then tried on onside kick, but the Giants' Victor Cruz recovered.
Jacobs scored on a 14-yard run with 2:36 left to put the game away.
It was an emotional day for the Packers, who welcomed offensive coordinator Joe Philbin two days after the funeral service for his 21-year-old son, Michael.
Philbin had been away from the team all week after Michael Philbin's body was recovered from an icy river in Oshkosh, Wis. on Monday. A preliminary autopsy showed that he drowned.
"I think deep down, a lot of us wanted to kind of get this one for him," Rodgers said.
Notes: Giants safety Deon Grant left the game with a head injury. ... Packers running back John Kuhn left the game with a knee injury, and wide receiver Greg Jennings sustained a rib injury. ... Driver caught three passes, giving him a franchise-record 49 postseason receptions in his career. ... Packers LB Brad Jones blocked a 40-yard field goal attempt by Tynes in the second quarter.
-- Chris Jenkins
Packers done in by mistakes, Giants
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Booed off the field at halftime by their own fans, the collapse of the once-perfect Green Bay Packers was as swift as it was complete.
The defending Super Bowl champions bumbled their way through Sunday's 37-20 playoff loss to New York with turnovers and drops, letting Eli Manning and the Giants rule every inch of Lambeau Field. Whether it was the bye last weekend or the shocking death of offensive coordinator Joe Philbin's 21-year-old son days earlier, the Packers were sloppy and sluggish.
"We play to win championships. You win a championship and you're kind of at the top of the mountain, and you forget kind of how bad this feeling is," Aaron Rodgers said. "We had a championship-caliber regular season and didn't play well today."
And all talk about Rodgers having one of the finest seasons in NFL history? Check with Manning on that. He's the one getting it done in the postseason.
The Giants now face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship next Sunday night. The Packers, meanwhile, will be cleaning out their lockers for an offseason that came unexpectedly early. As the final seconds ticked down, Lambeau was silent except for chants of "Let's Go, Giants!" from the smattering of New York fans in the crowd.
"It's very disappointing. It's a locker room that expected a lot more, and rightfully so," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "It was an excellent regular season. But we clearly understand in Green Bay it's about winning championships. Just going to the playoffs is not enough."
The Packers have no one to blame but themselves for the dismal finish to a season that started with such promise.
Green Bay won its first 13 games, extending the winning streak that carried the Packers to their fourth Super Bowl title to 19 games, second-best in NFL history. Rodgers and the high-powered offense were piling up points by the bunches, more than enough to bail out the shaky defense, and the Packers seemed on their way to another Super Bowl.
But the defense, maligned all season for its penchant for giving up big plays, was even worse than advertised. It was powerless to stop Manning, who threw for 330 yards and three touchdowns and coolly moved the Giants down the field drive after drive. Hakeem Nicks made the secondary look downright silly with 165 yards receiving and two touchdowns, the second of which he plucked out of the air above a scrum of Green Bay defenders just before halftime, prompting Packer fans to boo as their team trotted of the field.
"It's about big-play opportunities in big games. And that was a big play obviously for the Giants," McCarthy said. "It was a 10-point game at halftime, and we had the ball coming out. It was a big momentum play for them, but we were not deflated as a football team."
And as was the case other times this season, the defensive players didn't seem to be operating from the same playbook. On one play, defensive captain Charles Woodson was still talking to another defensive back when the Giants snapped the ball. Woodson wound up covering the wrong receiver and the dangerous Victor Cruz was left wide open.
"Anything that you've seen through the regular season happened to us today: missed tackles, assignments, not getting to the quarterback," Woodson said.
The Green Bay offense has usually been potent enough to make up for the defense's shortcomings, scoring a franchise-record 560 points during the regular season. The offense had additional motivation, too, wanting to win for Philbin, who was away from the team all week to mourn the death of his son Michael. Michael Philbin's body was recovered from an icy river in Oshkosh on Monday; a preliminary autopsy found that he drowned.
"A lot of us wanted to get this one for him, give some happiness to him and his family during a tough week," said Rodgers, one of many players who went to Michael Philbin's wake and funeral.
But the offense wasn't much better than the defense. The Packers lost three fumbles and the receivers may as well have had rubber on the tips of their fingers for as many balls as they dropped. Jermichael Finley dropped one. James Starks dropped another. Tom Crabtree watched one bounce off his fingers. Despite having their regular starting offensive line in place for the one of the few times this season, Rodgers was sacked four times.
"I felt we had pretty good rhythm. We moved the ball pretty effectively," Rodgers said. "We just had some drops and then had some uncharacteristic turnovers."
It wasn't Rodgers' best game, either. He overthrew an open Jennings in the end zone on the very first drive, and lost his first fumble in a year when he was sacked in the third quarter by Osi Umenyiora. With the Giants secondary smothering the receivers as few defenses have this year, Rodgers was often forced to scramble or dump off for short gains. He finished with a team-high 66 yards on seven rushes, but was 26 of 46 passing and his quarterback rating of 78.5 was well off his 122.5 for the regular-season, an NFL record.
"If nobody's open, I'm going to try and extend the play. For whatever reason, that happened more than usual tonight," Rodgers said. "I tried to make the most of it, I ran for a few first downs. It's not something I was thinking was going to happen maybe as much going into the game, but their high volume of man coverage kind of dictated it."
The Packers did put together a nice drive in the third quarter, as Rodgers connected with Donald Driver for a 13-yard catch and Starks on a 12-yard reception as Green Bay marched to the Giants 17. But he failed to connect with Jennings in the end zone again, and the Packers had to settle for a field goal when they really needed a touchdown.
"We got beat by a team that played better," Rodgers said. "That's the reality of this league. (I've) been in the playoffs four times, and three times you lose your last game and you go home, and the one time you have that euphoric feeling that you keep fighting for. It's tough. I didn't think it was going to end tonight."
-- Nancy Armour
Giants' Grant has head injury, Packers' Kuhn hurt
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — New York Giants safety Deon Grant was taken to the locker room with a head injury during the second half of Sunday's playoff game against the Green Bay Packers.
Grant passed the mandatory concussion tests on the sidelines. But an announcement was made late in the third quarter that he was being taken to the locker room for further observation.
Packers fullback John Kuhn was questionable to return after he was taken to the locker room with a knee injury.
Kuhn was hurt on Green Bay's scoring drive that cut New York's lead to 20-13. Trainers worked on him on the sideline before he was taken off the field on a cart with 3:50 left in the third quarter. The Packers did not specify which knee.
Kuhn scored Green Bay's only touchdown of the game, an 8-yard catch that tied the game at 10 at the start of the second quarter.
Philbin rejoins Packers two days after son's funeral
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin will rejoin the Green Bay Packers for Sunday's divisional playoff game against the New York Giants after spending the week away from the team to mourn the death of his son.
A Packers spokesman says Philbin and the team decided Sunday morning that he would coach in the game. CBS Sports first reported Saturday that Philbin would have a role with the team.
The body of 21-year-old Michael Philbin was recovered from an icy river in Oshkosh on Monday. A preliminary autopsy found that he drowned. Several Packers players and coaches attended a visitation Thursday and the funeral service Friday.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy said earlier this week that the team was giving Philbin as much time as he needed to be with his family.
Championship Round
Commentary: Who's the 'elite' quarterback now?
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — It doesn't get much more "elite" than that.
On the road, facing the defending Super Bowl champs, and limited for three quarters by a running game that couldn't get out of its own way, Eli Manning vaulted himself back into the conversation about the best quarterbacks in the league by engineering a 37-20 win over the Green Bay Packers.
Mocked before the season began for putting himself in the same elite class as New England's Tom Brady, then skewered when New York stumbled through the middle of its schedule, the youngest member of the Manning quarterbacking clan played the position Sunday night as if it were his birthright instead of a burden. And what better place than Lambeau Field?
Three years ago, when the Giants came to town on another improbable playoff run, they paved the way with a bruising rushing attack and a fierce, opportunistic defense. Back then, Manning's pre-game instructions could have been summed up this way: "Just don't screw things up."
This time around, though, he took control from the opening drive, almost single-handedly managing the Giants' transition from a run-first offense to a multi-faceted passing attack — a necessity in the new, points-a-plenty version of the NFL. By the end, Manning had rolled up 330 yards on 21-of-33 passing for three touchdowns and a nifty 114.5 QB rating.
"The offensive line did a great job. We had time to get the ball off," Manning said.
He can be self-effacing to a fault. You could almost see him reviewing a roster of his teammates to make sure he didn't leave anyone out.
"We kept our tight ends in. We kept our backs in," he added. "They gave me time to sit back there and wait for guys to get open."
It wasn't nearly as simple as he made it sound, though. Seven of those catches and two TDs were claimed by receiver Hakeem Nicks — including his stunning, jump-ball grab of a rainbow in the end zone to close out the first half — but Manning spread the wealth around to seven different receivers.
"He understands the defense. He understands what we can see on every single down and every single coverage," receiver Victor Cruz said. "He's just making the right reads and really hitting people when the time is right."
With these Giants, that means most of the time.
Leading 20-10 early in the fourth quarter, New York was desperately trying to hold onto its momentum and faced a third-and-1 at the Packers 46-yard line — a situation that begged for a power back like Brandon Jacobs or Ahmad Bradshaw to plow a route somewhere between the tackles. At that moment, though, with 13 attempts between them, the duo had exactly 42 yards.
So Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride put Manning in the shotgun with an empty backfield, piling the fate of the drive onto his quarterback's slim shoulders. Manning coolly delivered a 8-yard sideline throw to Mario Manningham for the first down, then wound up driving New York another 21 yards to set up Lawrence Tynes for a 35-yard field goal. None of it — not Gilbride's gutsy call, nor Manning's crisp spiral to a tight spot on the sideline — surprises the Giants' receiving corps anymore.
"He trusts the ball in Eli's hands," Cruz said, referring to Gilbride, "so any time we get that pass call on third-and-short, we understand what we have to do — get open so we can get the ball."
In a fitting postscript, just as his running backs rediscovered their legs late in the game, Manning switched from driving the offense to getting behind the car and pushing. As Jacobs headed toward the right sideline on what would turn out to be a 14-yard TD run, Manning threw a block to buy his runner a few yards of space.
"It might not have been the best technique, but it got the job done. I'm sure I'll get some heat from the guys when we watch it on film tomorrow. Doesn't matter," he said. "I'm still saying I'm proud of my block."
Maybe so. But before Manning gets carried away, he should remember that the fat paycheck the Giants send him every week is for being an elite quarterback, not a pylon.
Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org.
Brady leads prolific Patriots to AFC title game
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Next up to try and stop the seemingly unstoppable Tom Brady and the New England Patriots' offense: the Baltimore Ravens. Good luck.
How do you cover powerful Rob Gronkowski and versatile Aaron Hernandez and still have a defender left to deal with Wes Welker, the NFL's leading receiver?
Can you generate enough of a pass rush to foil Brady's quick release? If you don't, the master of analyzing defenses and firing precise passes can stand comfortably in the pocket, calmly searching for his best option and the quickest route to the end zone. And don't forget the ground game while you're focused on all those aerial stars.
Get ready, Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs. Your dominant defense is about to get its toughest test. Baltimore's reward for beating the Houston Texans 20-13 on Sunday is a date with the prolific Patriots, who got there with a 45-10 win Saturday night over the Denver Broncos that turned Tebowmania into a passing phenomenon while its central character, Tim Tebow, kept passing poorly.
The Ravens play at Foxborough on Sunday with a defense much better than the one the overwhelmed Broncos displayed. Baltimore's unit is the third-stingiest in the NFL, but it has never seen anything like this. Not with Brady at the top of his game after his decade of greatness.
"The team revolves around him," Hernandez said. "When he comes to play, which he mostly does every game, then we're going to be on fire, and when he's ready, we're all ready."
Brady's performance rivals —and surpasses in some ways — his 2007 MVP season when he set an NFL record with 50 touchdown passes and established a team mark of 4,806 yards passing. This season, he beat that by more than 400 with 5,235, second-most in NFL history to Drew Brees' 5,476.
The Patriots went 18-0 in 2007, then lost the Super Bowl 17-14 to the New York Giants on a last-minute touchdown. Now they're 14-3.
One more win gets them to the championship game thanks to Brady's six scoring passes against Denver, tying the NFL record held by Daryle Lamonica and Steve Young. By halftime, Brady already had thrown for five touchdowns while Tebow had just three completions.
The victory helped ease the lingering pain of three straight playoffs losses — 33-14 to Baltimore and 28-21 to the New York Jets after the Super Bowl disappointment.
"You lose a few playoff games and it's a very bitter way to end the season and it sits on your mind for quite a long time," Brady said. "For us to come out and play the way we did, have a very solid performance in the most important game of the year is very gratifying.
"From this point on, everyone will be focused on what we need to do to be better next week and, hopefully, come out and play for another championship."
Brady has been brilliant all season, starting with a total of 940 yards passing and seven touchdown throws in his first two games. And in his last nine — all wins — he's thrown for 25 scores and just three interceptions.
"We never look at the individual. We all try and do our job," defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. "If (Brady) plays well, everyone else plays well. When he has an off day, we try to rally around him as a team to help Tom and the offense. We aren't going to get 20-30 points all the time."
Of course not. There was that one game, back on Oct. 30, when they scored only 17.
Brady's six scoring passes Saturday matched his career high. He completed 26 of 34 passes for 363 yards, a team record for a postseason game. He wasn't sacked, hardly even pressured, all game.
"That's Tom, week-in-and-week-out," running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis said, "so I don't think anyone else in this locker room or in this country would expect anything else from him."
It wasn't always that promising.
The Patriots were just 5-3 and had lost two consecutive games for just the third time in nine seasons. Their defense, last in the league at the time, was getting pushed around.
It was time for Brady's bunch to turn things around.
They beat the Jets in New York 37-16 to start the nine-game winning streak. In three of the last four games, they've scored more than 41 points. The only other time that happened since Brady arrived in 2000 was in 2007 when they did it in three consecutive games and four of five.
That team had Randy Moss, the deep threat who caught an NFL-record 23 touchdowns.
This one has Gronkowski and Hernandez, the short, middle and deep targets who combined for 24 in the regular season and, in just one playoff game, another four.
"These two are changing the game," guard Brian Waters said. "If you decide to take away one, that opens things up for the other. You add the fact that we have receiving threats and some good guys at the running back position. It limits the things you can do defensively as far as trying to take one person out of the game. That's something that we are able to take advantage of."
The danger doesn't end when they get their hands on the ball. Often, it's just starting.
On the Patriots third play against the Broncos, Gronkowski caught a 7-yard pass and ran for another nine. On the fourth, Hernandez tricked the defense by lining up at running back and rambling 43 yards. And on the next play, Brady found Welker for a 7-yard touchdown pass.
Three plays, three ballhandlers, one impressive drive against a befuddled defense.
"Everybody makes big plays on this team," Hernandez said. "That's why our offense is real dangerous. We've got so many weapons they don't know who to cover."
The Ravens have a week to figure that out.
"I think that we are just coming together as a team and realizing that this is our time and we need to really play well," Welker said. "With all of our weapons and the guys that we have, we should always be able to move the ball."
-- Howard Fendrich
49ers' 'D' sets the tone in 36-32 win over Saints
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With New Orleans poised to score on its opening possession, Donte Whitner delivered a crushing blow that knocked out running back Pierre Thomas and forced the first of five Saints turnovers.
San Francisco's hard-hitting, opportunistic defense set the tone in the 49ers' thrilling 36-32 playoff win the same way it has all season.
From Justin Smith and Aldon Smith harassing Drew Brees all day, to Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman shutting down the running game and Dashon Goldson making punishing hits and key plays from the secondary, the defense is the biggest reason for the resurgence in San Francisco that has the 49ers (14-3) back in the NFC championship for the first time since the 1997 season.
They will play the Giants next Sunday at Candlestick Park after New York defeated the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers 37-20 on Sunday. San Francisco beat Eli Manning and the Giants 27-20 at home Nov. 13.
"It's a lot better than traveling to Wisconsin. More importantly, we're playing a team we've already faced," cornerback Carlos Rogers said Sunday. "It's not as hard as preparing for another team we haven't faced yet."
"Home game huh?" Whitner tweeted Sunday once his opponent had been determined.
An offensive show featuring four lead changes defined the final five minutes of the Niners' win Saturday, capped by Alex Smith's 14-yard touchdown pass to Vernon Davis with 9 seconds remaining. But Whitner got things going in the franchise's first postseason appearance in nine years.
"It let the (Saints') offense know we were going to be physical all day," Whitner said of the hit on Thomas, who left with a head injury and never returned.
Whitner was unfazed by his pass interference penalty moments earlier that briefly sent shaken-up tight end Jimmy Graham to the sideline. Whitner's jarring, legal helmet-to-helmet hit on Thomas was a blow to the Saints' psyche as well as to their depth chart.
The 49ers' defense has been so stingy this season they didn't allow a 100-yard runner or a rushing touchdown until the second-to-last game of the year Dec. 24 at Seattle. Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, part of plenty of top-notch defenses himself, has praised these men for not "giving up inches."
"We've got a great defense. We feel like we can stop anyone," Bowman said. "When it's not working for our offense, it's our job to get the ball back for them as many times as we can. That's all it was. If those guys aren't doing well it's our job to pick it up. That's what a team is and I think we have a great one here."
First-year coach Jim Harbaugh brought defensive coordinator Vic Fangio along with him from Stanford when he was hired last January — and Fangio has developed his unit into one of the NFL's best.
"We like to think that we play defense the right way," Fangio said. "We play physical, we play with our hands. We run to the ball. We don't try and do anything too fancy, although we do have our changeups here and there. We try and play defense the old-fashioned, hard school way."
The Niners had 38 takeaways during the regular season to only 10 turnovers. Their plus-28 turnover differential matched the 2010 Patriots for the second-best mark in NFL history since 1941.
They forced five more Saturday, and only had one turnover themselves.
In the first game with the Giants, Rogers made two interceptions for the first two-pick outing of his seven-year career. Justin Smith batted down Manning's final pass attempt on fourth-and-2 from the 10 in the closing seconds.
"We got the turnovers and were able to get to Eli," Rogers recalled. "The team has gotten better since we played them. They're familiar with us just as we're familiar with them."
San Francisco's determined defenders heard all last week how difficult it would be to stop Brees and Co., knowing many figured they'd fail.
"We got tired of it throughout the week. They gave us no chance," Goldson said. "They kept talking about the Saints, the Saints, where they stand against us and what they were going to do. We ignored everything and focused on us and what we had to do to come win this game."
Goldson had six interceptions for the NFC West champions during the regular season, then his biggest yet Saturday. That first-quarter pick snapped Brees' NFL-record streak of 226 postseason passes without an interception dating to the NFC championship game against Chicago five years ago.
Tarell Brown had the other interception, while special teams standouts Blake Costanzo and Madieu Williams each forced a fumble.
"Our guys were humming. We were able to pry a couple out and that was big," Fangio said. "The interceptions were big also."
The Niners were No. 1 in the NFL in stopping the run during the season and didn't allow a rushing TD on Saturday after the Saints scored three on the ground in a 45-28 win over the Detroit Lions in the Superdome in last weekend's wild-card round.
The Saints produced a playoff-record 626 yards against the Lions, with Brees throwing for 466 yards while completing 33 of 43 passes.
"I had figured coming into this game they would feel like, 'Let's keep everything in front of us, let's not give up big plays and obviously do a good job against the rush and try to put them in third-and-long situations,'" Brees said. "They did, yet again, a great job stopping the run in a lot of cases which we felt like in order to really get chunks, we would have to throw it. Obviously that's a great defense. It's one of the best defenses in the league."
Goldson was re-signed to a one-year contract as a free agent in August to complement newcomers and fellow defensive backs Whitner and Carlos Rogers. Against the Saints, Goldson had a team-leading 11 tackles to go with the first-quarter interception and two passes defensed. Bowman also made 11 tackles, 10 of those solo.
"We got some spectacular stops," Harbaugh said. "On third down, I thought they were outstanding. Five takeaways in the game. I know the special teams contributed to that as well. Very opportunistic today. Got pressure on their quarterback. Made plays on the ball, and made them when they were there to be made. Our guys in the secondary made them. It was a terrific job by our defense, once again. You just love the way they play. You love the way they compete. Love how hard they work on the field."
The 49ers sacked the record-setting Brees three times, including rookie Aldon Smith's pounding for an 11-yard loss on third down in the first quarter. All-Pro defensive tackle Justin Smith brought Brees to the ground for a 9-yard loss in the third quarter and Ahmad Brooks added a fourth-quarter sack on which Brees lost 7 yards.
"We wanted to come out and play our style of football, which is playing physical, being a great tackling team, and playing with good fundamentals which has carried us all year," Fangio said. "We just wanted to play the way we've played all year, particularly starting early in the game."
Whitner definitely did his part.
"I told myself that I was going to hit anything moving today and that I was going to be extremely physical, even if I hit my own guys," he said. "Luckily, I didn't hit too many of my own guys."
-- Janie McCauley
Legal hit by Niners' Whitner on Saints' Thomas
The helmet-to-helmet hit by San Francisco safety Donte Whitner that sent Saints running back Pierre Thomas to the locker room early in Saturday's NFC playoff game was legal.
Whitner was not penalized because the tackle was not against a defenseless player. Helmet-to-helmet hits are banned against defenseless players in eight categories, and a runner is not one of those categories. Thomas was considered a runner because he'd made a catch, turned and made a "football move" before being hit.
The eight categories were incorporated into one new rule last March, and a new rule extended the protection for a receiver who has completed a catch until he has had time to protect himself or has clearly become a runner. Thomas had become a runner.
"Even though you get a little extra protection while trying to complete the catch, you are not a defenseless player once you have made that football move," Mike Pereira, former director of officials for the NFL and now a Fox TV commentator said Sunday. "The notion is the runner has the opportunity to clearly protect himself."
The eight defenseless player categories are:
(1) A player in the act of or just after throwing a pass;
(2) A receiver attempting to catch a pass; or who has completed a catch and has not had time to protect himself or has not clearly become a runner. If the receiver/runner is capable of avoiding or warding off the impending contact of an opponent, he is no longer a defenseless player;
(3) A runner already in the grasp of a tackler and whose forward progress has been stopped;
(4) A kickoff or punt returner attempting to field a kick in the air;
(5) A player on the ground at the end of a play;
(6) A kicker/punter during the kick or during the return;
(7) A quarterback at any time after a change of possession, and
(8) A player who receives a "blindside" block when the blocker is moving toward his own end zone and approaches the opponent from behind or from the side.
The competition committee that recommends rules changes could re-examine such hits in the offseason.
"The committee always closely studies and analyzes anything having to do with player safety," NFL spokesman Michael Signora said Sunday.
But making a change that involves runners with the ball would be problematic, Pereira said. He noted that it has been discussed by league executives in the past.
"When you try to protect a runner, the winner is the guy who gets the lowest," Pereira said. "With both players going down at each other, the notion to make the runner defenseless essentially can make it impossible to officiate. Who made the contact first?
"In this day and age, I would not be surprised if they look at it, but it's hard to prove the runner is defenseless or the tackler is defenseless if the runner has lowered his helmet.
"I understand why people say this: 'If you say you are concerned about concussions, why not make all helmet hits illegal? But realistically, there is no way to legislate it out of the game."
-- Barry Wilner
San Francisco fans well-behaved after playoff win
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Football fans in San Francisco were exuberant but mostly well-behaved Saturday after the 49ers' 36-32 playoff victory over the New Orleans Saints.
A police spokesman says 19 people were arrested on misdemeanor charges during and after the game at Candlestick Park, while one person was arrested on suspicion of selling counterfeit tickets. Sgt. Michael Andraychak says most of the misdemeanor arrests were alcohol-related.
Police beefed up their presence for the sellout crowd of 69,732 by increasing the number of officers they usually have on duty for a football game by 25 percent.
Plainclothes officers kept an eye out for people trying to sell counterfeit items, while officers on motorcycles patrolled the stadium's parking lot.
The city's Mission district was busy with drivers honking their horns and fans celebrating on the sidewalks, but Andraychak says he was not aware of arrests or any other problems.
