Super Bowl Sunday Nears as Playoffs Heat Up

The Seattle Seahawks were the Super Bowl Champions last year; can they repeat history after making the playoffs again?

The NFL playoffs always start off with Wild Card weekend. The 2014-2015 playoffs began with a divisional rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens. Steelers were looking good early, but the game did not go their way, and they fell to the Ravens 30-17.

In the other Wild Card game, the Indianapolis Colts took on the Cincinnati Bengals. With Andrew Luck having a tremendous season, the Colts looked to be the favorites. The Colts would go on to win 26-10.

In the N.F.C. Wild Card games, the Carolina Panthers matched up against the Arizona Cardinals. With Arizona losing their quarterback due to injury and the Panthers playing good football, the Panthers would go on to win 27-16.

The Detroit Lions were put up against the so-called “Americas Team,” or the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys got a lot of help from the referees. Dallas would advance by a score of 24-20.

“I think the Colts have potential to win it all this year,” junior Hunter Zagorski said.

“Being an Eagles fan and a fan of football, everybody knows Dallas got lucky,” senior Matt Hook added.

The AFC Divisional Round had some great match-ups. The New England Patriots hosted the Baltimore Ravens. With New England having a bye week because they are seeded number one, they had some extra time to get ready. That extra time proved to help, as they would go on to win 35-31.

The Indianapolis Colts would head up to the Denver Broncos to play against the great Peyton Manning. Denver also came off of a bye week, as they are second seeded. The Broncos did not look good at all. Peyton Manning has been in this situation nine times now. All nine times for him were one and done. The Colts would move on to the AFC Championship game after defeating the Broncos 24-13. John Fox, the head coach of the Broncos, is ready to move on to a new team, and Peyton Manning is deciding his future as well.

In the N.F.C. Divisional round games, first we had the Seattle Seahawks matched up against the Carolina Panthers. Seattle came off a bye week and seemed to not really need it. The remaining Super Bowl Champions are great contenders to win it again. Seattle would make a 31-17 statement win and advanced to the NFC Championship for the second consecutive year.

Then we had a huge game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a torn calf but was likely to play and did. A controversial call that did not go the Cowboys’ way was a big deciding factor in the game. The Packers would go on to win 26-21 in a game that could have gone either way.

“In my opinion, that was a catch, but the rule says it wasn’t a catch,” senior Jared Adam said.

“I think the Cowboys got robbed, but they deserved it from the game before,” senior Brandon Royer said.