AFC North

At the end of the day, all the matters is the Patriots are once again going to the Super Bowl.

It doesn’t matter that Lee Evans didn’t bring that ball in. It doesn’t matter that Billy Cundiff shanked the Ravens’ chance to take it to overtime. It doesn’t even matter that Tom Brady had some very off moments. No, all that matters is the New England Patriots beat the Baltimore Ravens, setting up a much-anticipated Super Bowl rematch with a New York Giants team who ended New England’s chance at the perfect season just a few years back. What more can you really say?

Ravens fans will dwell on opportunities missed as they made the Patriots’ offense look ordinary, and got a fine display from quarterback Joe Flacco. But, as is often the case it football, it comes down to a few plays; the penalties on interceptions, the fourth down attempts, and those plays, the plays that have already become part of Ravens lore. Obviously those plays went the way of the Patriots, a team who will likely need to step up on both sides of the ball to deal with a Giants team on a white-hot streak who also caught their share of breaks.

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Championship Weekend has started off with an epic tilt! The Patriots overcame the Ravens by virtue of a missed field goal with 15 seconds left via Billy Cundiff. Now it’s time to talk about our Focus Point for the game. There are so many interesting players to look at in isolation for the Patriots here, but we elected to put Aaron Hernandez under the microscope to see what we could learn as the game happened. He did not disappoint, as he provided 66 yards receiving and another 9 yards as a running back.

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It all comes down to this in the AFC, the most one dimensional team in the league and a balanced team that has seemingly only really hit its stride in two games this season. Who will win the day and advance to Indianapolis to play a Super Bowl in the home stadium of a bitter rival of both teams? Will it be the Patriots carried by the passing attack of Messrs.’ Brady, Gronkowski, Hernandez and Welker? Or will it be the balanced, but arguably underachieving Ravens team looking to take a step forwards and crown their fourth straight playoff appearance with a first Super Bowl berth in more than a decade?

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While the offseason has arrived for all but four teams, we continue on, recognizing the excellence of individuals for seasons well played. We began our look at the 2011 All-Division teams yesterday with the AFC East, but today it’s the AFC North’s turn to take its place in the limelight.

As with all of these teams we’re using some discretion when it comes to personnel and system in order to get the best possible lineup on the field from each division, so don’t necessarily expect to see the teams match in that regard.

Here is PFF’s All-AFC North Team for the 2011 season.

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In a closely contested affair, you always got the feeling that whoever made fewer mistakes out of the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans would win, and so it proved with the Ravens advancing to the AFC Championship game as they held onto victory against a stubborn and resolute Texans side.

While people have been quick to come out and criticize Joe Flacco, the Ravens quarterback did exactly what was needed, against a defense that has caused plenty of teams problems and didn’t turn it over. Throw in several excellent throws and compare it with the performance of T.J. Yates, and you have the biggest reason the Texans are going home and the Ravens are preparing for the Patriots.

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For this game we decided to do the NFL equivalent of tracking an endangered species–we scouted the fullback and in Vonta Leach, one of the few players at that position who get any significant playing time.

It amazed me this year when Michael Robinson was named as the NFC’s first alternate; in part because he actually wasn’t very good as a blocker, but more to do with the fact he only played 22.8% of the Seahawks’ snaps. No fullback played more snaps than Leach (584) and with 52.6% of snaps, it may even be worth my while putting it all to paper. As it turned out, the Ravens game plan was so conservative that he ended up playing an awful lot more than his season average. Let’s have a look at how he did. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s rematch weekend in the NFL Playoffs and the encounter between the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans is arguably the most intriguing games and the toughest to pick. Even though the Texans have been hit by injuries, both teams are built on very similar models and matchup very well. Both run the ball well, play stifling defense, and have a quarterback who is just surviving and not making the mistakes to throw their team off course. The Ravens maintained their momentum down the stretch but have taken a week off while the Texans stumbled into the playoffs, but have momentum going into this game after a comfortable victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Wildcard Weekend. This game could not be more finely balanced. Read the rest of this entry »

Our Off-season Depth Chart Outlook series continues today with the AFC North division.

What I’m doing here is going team-by-team and taking a look at each team’s roster situation at the four key offensive Fantasy Football positions (QB RB WR TE). I’ll also be speculating on a few potential off-season moves we could see each of these teams make.

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Pittsburgh traveled to Denver to take on the Broncos sporting a record that was four wins better than their adversaries over the regular season. It stood to reason that the Steelers were expected to walk away from this game the victors after proving to the league why Tim Tebow can’t get it done on the big stage. As usual, it just didn’t work out like that.

The Pittsburgh offense was able to overcome injuries (and a clearly restricted Ben Roethlisberger) to score 23 points and move the ball pretty well, but for once they were let down by their defense–a D that sold out against the run more than we can ever remember seeing a team do before, daring Tim Tebow to beat them deep. Unfortunately for them, he obliged, and ultimately it cost them the win with one play in overtime that encapsulated the encounter.

Tebow was able to hit the deep passes against man coverage all night and the Steelers never backed off their aggressive game plan. As a result, Denver now moves on to play the New England Patriots, while the Pittsburgh Steelers move on home.

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Making the playoffs is good, winning in them is better.

You won’t need to tell the Houston Texans that after a victory in their playoff debut sent a rocking Reliant Stadium home happy. After a season that has seen them lose their star pass rusher and starting and backup quarterbacks, they overcame a Bengals team that had its chances. That they did owes a lot to a rushing attack that gave Arian Foster just enough space to make some big runs, and a defense that got to grips with Andy Dalton, eventually making him look every bit the rookie he is.

The Cincinnati Bengals will no doubt be disappointed this was the case after an efficient start that saw them have success moving the ball downfield. But after missing an opportunity to put up points, and then being held to just a field goal, they failed to deliver the kind of blow that could have rattled a Texans team that had lost three on the bounce. Still, there’s plenty of young talent on that roster (check out what Neil Hornsby had to say about the excellent Geno Atkins) and they took a huge step forward in what was meant to be a transitional year. Read the rest of this entry »