Follow up to NFL Wild-Card weekend - NFC teams

Atlanta Falcons @ New York Giants - Giants win 24-2




Wow. 24-2. In a playoff game, in the year of the quarterback as it's being referred to. Giants quarterback Eli Manning had an up and down season; at times he played like a top-tier quarterback, yet at other times he was middle-of-the-pack range. One positive though is that his interception count was down a lot from previous seasons. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Matt Ryan. He always has pretty great seasons, and this season with the acquisition of Julio Jones at WR, he had a lot of down-the-field threat and speed. But as has always been the case, he falls flat in the Playoffs.
The game started off well with the defenses playing lights-out football. The Falcons finally get a drive going but stall on 4th down and inches and turn it over on Downs. Again. However this turns out well for the Falcons, as they end up with a safety. This would be the last score of the game for the Falcons however, as the Giants Defense and Eli Manning come to life and control the game for the rest of the game. The Giants would even stop the Falcons again on 4th down. They really need to stop trying that in big games.

The Giants would go on to face the 15-1 Green Bay Packers next week in a rematch of a game that finished up 38-35 in the regular season, with the Packers winning on the last drive.

Detroit Lions @ New Orleans Saints - Saints win 45-28


The Detroit Lions, in their first season where Matt Stafford doesn't end up on season-ending injury, went a strong 7-0 to start the season before losing to the 49ers. Stafford to Calvin "Megatron" Johnson was one of the unstoppable duos in the NFL for pretty much the majority of this season. But that's nothing next to Drew Brees. Drew Brees, one of three quarterbacks who broke the record for most throwing yards in a season, with a game to spare. This Saints team looked solid all season long (aside from one game against the St Louis Rams where it seemed the team forgot to show up to), and many were looking to this game to be a great game. And a great game it was.
Instead of reviewing the game, let me just throw some stats at you. Drew Brees in this game set a playoff record for most yards in a game, with the help of their strong ground game, dumping a whopping 626 yards from scrimmage on the Lions. Brees himself wound up with 466 yards throwing and 3 TDs. On the other side of the ball, Stafford threw for 380 yards, 3 TDs and 2 interceptions. Megatron alone had 211 of those yards and 2 TDs, where-as Brees spread the ball around his receivers, Marques Colston and Robert Meachem getting 120 yards and 111 yards, respectively, and had another 3 receivers with over 50 yards apiece. The difference in this game was the Saints running game with their trio of backs, Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles and Chris Ivory getting 66, 51 and 47 yards respectively.

The Saints would wind up moving on the play the San Fransisco 49ers next week, a big game involving a big offense against a strong defense.