Saturday Night Football

I know, this is not really a topic that is included in the Tagline, but I was so excited about last nights games, that I just gotta post my thoughts on these extraordinary matches!

Starting of with the AFC North rivalry clash between the Ravens and the Steelers at Heinz Field I was pumped about that match going in!
Started of like I expected it to be...plain and simple smash-mouth football! Lots of intensity, lots of hidden fouls and unsportsmanlike behaviour and a lot of flags flying around all over the new turf at Heinz Field. Not pretty but intense! And thats what it is supposed to be when to long-term rivals go at it to move one step closer to the ultimate goal!
The game itself was building up some intensity, I first thought after the impressive defense of the Ravens in the first half they might be able to put this game away early in the third quarter, but the Steelers D and Big Ben fought back...and for some reason the Ravens totally fell apart in the second half. Veterans dropping balls, O-lines couldn´t hold the pressure anymore and Flacco was inaccurate from time to time creating some turnovers that they nicely avoided in the first half of the game! The Steelers on the other side were dominant at the point of attack and the D stepped it up, creating more pressure towards Joe Flacco and covering the Receivers nicely throughout the second half!
Still the Ravens could have been able to put the Steelers away and move on, but first Q dropped a well thrown ball in the Inzone and then with only about 30 seconds to play, Housh dropped a fairly catchable pass on 4th and long which could have been the new first down! So in my book it´s not Flacco who should be blamed for this tough lost to a rival, the lost is more on the Receivers that couldn´t get the job done!
Congratz to the Steelers looking forward to see that defense against the Pats (honestly...I don´t give the Jets an even slight chance of winning in Foxboro!)

Comparing to that first exciting and tough football match the second match of the night was a bit of a disappointment when it comes down to tension and intensity. I felt from the beginning of the second quarter like the Falcons were not at the top of their game. I mean lets face it...the Falcons come out and are getting the job done on Defense forcing an early fumble of Greg Jennings and are able to draw first-blood with a nice tough run by Michael Turner. That should give you a whole lot of momentum going into the defense again...but then seeing Aaron Rodgers orchestrating a drive starting from inside his own 20, resulting in a TD is tough but a direct answer via a 103-yard Kickoff-return should lift your confidence for good. After that the big Packers show of strenght began. Rodgers orchestrated 3 drives resulting in TDs (2 in the air, 1 on the ground) and the Pick-6 by the great CB Tramon Williams. In my eyes the turning point of this was the second scoring drive by the Pack, when they were pinned inside their own 6 yard line and came away with big completions on 3rd down with great catches by Jones, who made the drops of the last two games almost irrelevant snatching in a jump ball against great coverage by the Falcons to score the second TD.
So the Pack really dominated the One-Seed from the NFC and are still alive to go to Arlington February 7th to take on the Winner of Pittsburgh vs. Pats/(Jets)! Would love to see Aaron Rodgers getting the opportunity to play against the Pats on the big stage, to show up for the battle of the two best QBs in the entire league today!

Tonite another great day of football actions upon us with the NFC West team in the Seattle Seahawks travel to Soldier Field to take on the Two-Seed of the NFC in the Chicago Bears, and then of course the highlight of this Divisional Round Match...trash-talking Jets vs. confident Pats....can´t wait for that!

To end this Sunday blog I came up with a list of film and episode reviews that will hit the blog in the following weeks building up to the Academy Awards! I will take a close look at favorites for the Awards starting off next week with Black Swan (4 time Golden Globe nominee), followed by The King´s Speech (7 time Golden Globe nominee). Those are the two big reviews that will come up within the next week (maybe the Weekend) and I will post my thoughts on the Golden Globe winners and of course keep you updated with the reviews of the new How I met your mother episode airing tomorrow night!
Also I will post my thoughts about the Academy Award nominations, that are going to be announced on January 25th! And wrapping this blog up I will also post a review of The Social Network and Inception prior to the 83th annual of the Academy Awards, coz I think both films will be awarded there!

Hope you enjoyed this sports episode of my blog! Would love to hear your comments! You will hear from me soon!