Race to Super Bowl 50 - Playoffs Week 2 American Football

60 minutes of football. Take it to them right from the start.

-Let's go get it.

-Locks it into the end zone.

-Ridiculous.

-Touchdown.

-Somersault for the touchdown.

-Unbelievable!

Yes, yes!

He's intercepted at the goal line.

The New England Patriots are the NFL champions.

Hello, it's the NFL's divisional play-offs.

Effectively, the quarterfinals in the race to Super Bowl 50.

The big boys are back as the number one and two seeds re-enter the fray.

In the AFC, number-one outfit Denver have to face the lowest

remaining seed, that's the sixth seeded wild card Pittsburgh.

It's a rematch of their week 15 encounter,

which the Steelers won 34-27.

The number two seeds, New England, welcomed the other wild card

winners, the Kansas City Chiefs. Over in the NFC,

the top seeded Carolina Panthers host the Seattle Seahawks.

That's a rematch of their week six game,

won by the Panthers in the final minutes.

And the Arizona Cardinals welcome the Green Bay Packers,

who they trounced 38-8 just three weeks ago.

So, just eight teams remaining

and vying for a place in the two championship games.

Looking to pick a couple of winners,

two-time Super Bowl champion with the New York Giants, Osi Umenyiora,

along with former cornerback with Dallas, Houston and the Giants,

Jason Bell.

Our first action comes from the NFC.

Highlights of the top seeds Carolina against Seattle later

but we start with the Green Bay Packers

and their trip to the Arizona desert to take on the Cardinals.

The Green Bay Packers. Wild card qualifiers for the play-offs.

Once there, back to their best against the Washington Redskins.

The Packers, forced now to confront a few demons from the days

of the regular season when they were not in such form.

When last they travelled to Arizona, they were beaten 38-8,

the noble Aaron Rodgers suffering

the indignity of being sacked eight times.

"Welcome back to the desert," the Arizona Cardinals will be saying.

And it's third down and goal. Only a three-man rush.

And Palmer to the back corner of the end zone and it is caught.

Michael Floyd for the touchdown.

Big receiver and perfectly thrown football.

So Carson Palmer after a less than Carson Palmer-type throw.

His first one has been red-hot since.

There's a flag thrown. Rodgers going to the line.

Now you've got another flag thrown downfield. So one...

Now another one on the near side of the field.

Three different flags being thrown.

-One at the snap, one downfield.

-What a catch.

-Unbelievable.

Watch this, he's got to hold off the other hand,

stick out one hand... Does it ever hit the ground?

It does not.

There were fouls against both teams on the play.

We have an illegal shift, offence number 75.

Defence...

Illegal use of hands, hands to the face.

Defence number 44.

All those penalties offset. We'll be playing third down.

Meanwhile, Cobb needs some attention on the bench, so he is out.

They can't lose another receiver.

Well, Randall Cobb has officially been ruled out of this game.

Again, earlier they told us it was a chest injury.

He went back for X-rays,

came out of the X-ray room without his shoulder pads, was driven

back to the locker room and now

we're told he is officially out, guys.

Despite Cobb exiting the game, Green Bay orchestrated back-to-back

scoring drives to start off the second quarter,

both ending in Mason Crosby field goals -

one from 28 yards, one from 34.

At half-time, Arizona led 7-6.

From the 35.

Kuhn in at full-back. Rogers.

Look out, and it's picked off at the 47 yard line.

Underthrown, maybe chipped and it was intercepted by Rashad Johnson.

Trying to get it to Abbrederis and Arizona with the big takeaway.

Third and 11. Palmer 8 of 15 for only 74 yards.

And it goes into double coverage

and that will be picked off there by Clinton-Dix.

31 yard line.

Give it to Lacy again.

And Lacy off to the races again. Busting tackles.

Inside the 30.

And he'll get written down after he sets up a first and goal

at the seven yard line.

Rashad Johnson saving the touchdown at 62 yards.

Third and goal.

Play clock at two.

Blitz coming. Rogers escapes.

And then fires on the run and it is caught.

Janis touchdown.

Jeff Janis and it's what Rogers has done for almost his entire career.

Just extends it, looks like he's going to get sacked,

on the move, touchdown.

In possession, Arizona would march down the field on an eight-play drive

culminating in a 28 yard Chandler Catanzaro field goal

and that cut the Packers' lead

to three points heading into the fourth quarter.

Opening minute of the fourth quarter.

Spotted with the ten, a first and goal.

Passed to the end zone, he's going to be picked off.

Brown and Damarious Randall intercepted it, floated it home.

It's short and Green Bay dodges a big bullet.

Cardinals living on the edge, converting on another third down.

Ball at the 19. Good play...

Into the end zone... Almost picked again!

-Sam Shields almost had it.

-Wow!

Second and ten.

You're going against their number one guy and Sam Shields,

he's got Floyd completely blanketed.

And you're not going to catch that guy if he had caught that ball.

Oh, my goodness.

And Carson Palmer, as hard as it is right now,

you have got to keep firing.

3-3 on third down on this drive. Ball at the nine.

Palmer fires and they call for the touchdown.

Get out of here!

Michael Floyd. Oh, my goodness.

I'll tell you, if you're the Cardinals right now,

you believe in divine intervention.

How else do you describe this?

The ball is tipped by Damarious Randall.

Looks like it's going to be intercepted by Casey Hayward.

Instead, it's a touchdown to Michael Floyd.

I have never seen anything like this game.

One time-out plus the clock stops with the two-minute warning.

Fourth down and five to 42.

And they do snap it, throw it,

no good.

And Green Bay, I agree with you, I thought they would punt it

because now Arizona's already in field goal range.

Well, this play can take you down to the two-minute warning,

assuming they don't pick up the first down.

Ball at the 22 yard line.

They're going to the end zone.

Fitzgerald, what is that all about?

-Wow.

-And Sam Shields covers and it's third down and eight.

I mean, you take it to the two-minute warning

and then run off another 40 seconds.

Mm-mm-mm.

Bruce Arians, a gutsy play-caller but I don't believe that one.

The clock mismanagement hurt Arizona

but another Catanzaro kick extended their lead to 20-13.

Green Bay got the ball back with less than two minutes left with one

last chance to even the score and force overtime.

So it's fourth and 20 and it's the whole ballgame for Green Bay

to stay alive.

End of the game here if they don't get 20 yards.

Here goes Rodgers again. All the way down.

It's going to be caught by Janis at the 35 yard line.

How in the world, against that defence, do you get a guy free?

61 yards on a fourth and 20.

Second down, forget the 15. It's all about five seconds.

They've got to bring pressure.

Well, they did the last time too, which I thought was pretty smart.

They got Rodgers back-peddling.

They reset Starks.

They are going to bring pressure again.

Rogers is going to roll away.

Throws it up in the air, says a prayer and Janis...!

-Oh, stop it!

-Please.

-What a catch!

-That's insane!

Oh, my, that may be one of the great throws ever made.

Moving to his left, falling away and launching a perfect throw.

That's insane. Go back. Of course we have to watch this again.

Did he have control?

I think he had control for a moment and then it was Rashad Johnson.

Is there control right there?

And now Rashad Johnson comes in and punches it out.

-That's the way I would see that.

-The verdict.

After reviewing the play, the ruling on the field stands as called,

it is a touchdown.

There aren't a handful of quarterbacks in the history

of the National Football League that are athletic enough to make

that turn, that pivot, and strong enough armed to get it into

the end zone. And they have a chance

to win two games on plays just like that.

This is insane.

The shield is heads, the T side is tails.

Green Bay, visiting team, it's your choice.

Tails is the call. Tails is the call.

THEY ARGUE OVER ONE ANOTHER

It didn't flip, it didn't flip, it didn't flip.

I'M going to flip!

-Oh, please, you can't make any of this up.

-It is heads.

So, wait a second, it didn't flip?

The coin went up and didn't flip.

So now Arizona from the 20 yard line.

Blitz coming, Matthews.

Palmer stepping away at first, Palmer extending the play.

-Nobody there.

-Crosses the field. Larry Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald is going to take it into Green Bay territory.

-Larry Fitzgerald inside the 30, the 20...

-If he scores, it's over.

Larry Fitzgerald is insane! For the four yard line.

One of the greatest postseason performers ever.

His OA postseason was one for the ages.

As great as it was by Fitzgerald, it may be better by Carson Palmer.

Watch this.

Escapes, somehow finds Fitzgerald across the field to set this

entire thing up.

And this was a huge tackle at the end because

if Fitzgerald scores it's over.

Much tighter formation this time out of the shotgun.

Brown is the motion man.

Little flip to Fitzgerald, he scores!

And the Cardinals win an amazing game.

You know, it's just the way it goes.

It comes down to a coin flip sometimes after a long

and hard-fought game back and forth.

Plays made...

Bizarre plays made by both teams and unfortunately it comes down to that.

Yeah, we've been working on the shovel for I don't know how long.

I can't tell you how many times I've run that shovel in practice

just waiting for my opportunity and, lo and behold, the second

round of the play-offs you get your number called for a shovel.

My eyes lit up in the huddle.

The Arizona Cardinals

and the Green Bay Packers played one of the best games in recent memory.

Two players who stood out - Larry Fitzgerald

and, from the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers.

Now here you're going to see Aaron Rodgers.

First of all, he's a quarterback

and most people know I don't really like quarterbacks.

As a matter of fact, I hate them.

But you've got to give credit where credit is due,

Aaron Rodgers played a magnificent football game.

Right here you're going to see the pressure come from Dwight Freeney

and Aaron Rodgers is going to roll out.

And watch this play right here.

Watch this guy right here as he rolls out of the pocket,

he doesn't even get his feet set.

Watch his feet.

Now, you're told as a quarterback to always plant that foot and throw.

Watch Aaron Rodgers make this throw right here.

Doesn't even get his feet to set and throws the ball

40, 50 yards down the football field.

That is an incredible play by Aaron Rodgers.

Unbelievable play, to say the least. And he's not done yet.

Whatever church Aaron Rodgers is going to, I'm going

there next week and I'm going to tell you why.

This guy has completed two Hail Marys in the same season.

Most quarterbacks don't complete one Hail Mary in their life.

Watch Aaron Rodgers here as the pressure is going to come

from him again.

And he's going to do the exact same thing, roll out this way

and watch this play right here.

Pressure comes, he rolls out, throws the ball,

saying his prayers as he throws the ball and the receiver is going

to high-point the ball and make an incredible...

Look at him close his eyes. He was just like,

"Hail Mary, full of grace, help me out here."

And the receiver made a great play for him, bailing him out.

Unbelievable.

But, not to be outdone, here comes Larry Legend,

the greatest player in Arizona Cardinals ultimate history.

Watch him right here at the top of the screen.

Green Bay Packers are in man-on-man coverage for some ridiculous

reason and he's going to run right by this man right here

and make an incredible play.

Watch this, watch Larry Fitzgerald, with his old self still

getting the job done.

Great play by Larry Fitzgerald

and right here you're going to see another incredible play

by Larry Fitzgerald.

He is right here, he's coming in motion already, he's going

to run a drag route across the field.

Now, he's going to see his quarterback get in trouble

and what is he going to do?

All receivers are taught, come back to the ball

when your quarterback's in trouble and that's what he does.

Houdini over here is making people miss, throws the ball to

Larry Fitzgerald and watch Larry run it like a bull in a china shop.

"Get off me, get off me!"

"What did the five fingers say to the face? Slap!"

As he goes all the way to the five yard line,

Larry Fitzgerald making incredible plays and Bruce Arians,

his head coach, isn't going to forget about him.

He's going to bring him into motion right here,

lined up in the back field where a running back usually would be

and he's going to give him the shovel pass.

This is an incredible play by the Arizona Cardinals.

Larry Fitzgerald getting it in.

What a great game we had between Arizona and Green Bay.

Thanks very much, Osi.

So, Arizona through to the NFC Championship Game where

they would either host the Seattle Seahawks or travel to Carolina.

The Seattle Seahawks,

the reigning back-to-back champions of their conference, the NFC.

Even when you're the number one seeds,

which the Carolina Panthers most certainly are,

you have to be wary when these Seahawks come to Charlotte.

The Seahawks are wild cards but with pedigree.

They have met already this season in Seattle when, with the seconds

ticking away, the Panthers showed some pedigree of their own -

a Cam Newton to Greg Olsen special.

That was then, this is now.

And offence to Jonathan Stewart and a good start to his day.

Inside the 40. Sherman gets to him and brings him down inside the 20.

What a start and welcome back.

You see right guard Trai Turner and

then Mike Tolbert also is going to get the linebacker

in the hole and it opens up a nice lane to start this game.

For Jonathan Stewart, who has missed the last three games,

what a heck of a way to start.

It's Stewart.

Touchdown.

Wilson. Just got it away. There's Kuechly.

Touchdown Carolina.

This time, Kawann Short, he swims.

Justin Britt, left guard, forces the pressure

and an errant throw by Russell Wilson and Luke Kuechly makes

a habit of returning these interceptions for touchdown.

That's his fifth of the season. It's his second touchdown.

Frustration for the Seattle defence

and a lot of conversations going on on the far side line.

A lot of conversation, more than we typically see.

A lot of guys during those breaks trying to figure out exactly

what's going on.

It has been a long time since we've seen Seattle get handled the way

they've been handled here through the first quarter.

Second and goal.

Stuart again leaps,

got it, touchdown.

I don't know if at any point in the second quarter with 14 minutes

to play you'd say, "Wow, this is really an important possession,"

but that's what that is right now for the Seattle offence.

They've got to establish something quick.

Yeah, and as he threw it he's picked off again.

Intercepted by Finnegan.

Mario Addison comes off the edge, he's right around Russell Okung.

He's the one who applies the pressure

and forces another errant throw

that results in an interception.

Carolina converted the turnover into points,

with a Graham Gano field goal making it 24-0.

After Seattle went three and out,

Carolina got the ball back with less than eight minutes left in the half.

Carolina four for five on third down, third and 14.

End zone. Olsen!

Leaping catch for the touchdown!

You think Cam Newton hasn't changed his game?

How about that throw to Greg Olsen?

The ball is just put in a perfect place.

Greg Olsen's been making plays like that ever since he arrived.

Nothing went right for Pete Carroll

and the Seahawks here in the first half.

Everything seemed to go right for Carolina.

Trying to get on the board.

End zone, Kearse.

Touchdown.

And in less than a minute and a half off the clock here

in the second half, the Seahawks are in the end zone and on the board.

On third down, Newton.

In trouble and...

Cleaning up was the rookie Frank Clark.

They were able to make a key stop,

give the ball back to their offence and those are the things

that are going to have to continue for the Seattle team.

They don't get it here on third and 11,

another decision for Pete Carroll.

Blitz off the edge.

Seahawks pick it up.

Lockett in the end zone.

He's got it! Touchdown!

What a catch by the rookie, working on Kurt Coleman.

Seattle climbs right back in it here.

Trying to make it now a ten-point game with a touchdown.

On third down and goal, out to his right.

Now spinning around, in a ton of trouble.

This one is caught for the touchdown!

Kearse!

And Russell Wilson, he's able to buy some time,

and you see the job he does of scrambling

and then allowing his guy to go up and make a play on this ball.

Just a terrific job by Russell Wilson.

Josh Norman trying to stay with him,

but what a finish on that drive to come away with the touchdown.

Third and seven.

Olsen not out there.

Handoff to Tolbert, won't get it.

And it's fourth down.

The clock continues to run, with under 3.5 left.

Seattle about to get it back.

The second half has been fantastic.

But the hole was deep, 31 points at the half.

Wilson, end zone,

Kearse, incomplete.

No flag.

Hauschka will attempt a 36-yarder, he's missed from 55.

Prior to that he was 14-14 in his postseason career.

This to make it a one-score game.

And hope is kept alive.

Down 31-0 on the road against this good Carolina team,

the number one seed.

Russell Wilson, who has not been in a position like that

in his young NFL career, he didn't quit.

Pete Carroll didn't quit, and here they are, in a seven-point game,

but now they need to recover an onside kick.

Good hop.

And it's recovered by Carolina!

It looked like Davis, and it is. Thomas Davis...

..is there behind that initial front.

And the 11-year vet,

who's had some journey, is there to

receive the onside kick drive from Hauschka.

And that was not an easy play for him to make, he had to go get it.

Get the ball and know that Derek Coleman, number 40 for Seattle,

was right there.

And the Carolina Panthers

are headed to their fourth NFC Championship Game

with a seven-point win here at home, over Seattle.

We didn't play as well as I thought we needed to in the second half.

We did things that we were supposed to do and won the football game.

That's the bottom line.

I just think they came out faster than we did. We came out flat.

They was being opportunistic, with Luke Kuechly interception,

then Cortland Finnegan interception.

They just made the plays when they was presented to them.

So hats off to them. Unfortunately, they was the better team today.

You can look at this game as kind of like a microcosm of the season.

We struggled so much earlier in the year earlier to get going.

It took us a long time.

And when we finally did, we caught fire and we got rolling.

Everybody in here feels like we just ran out of time.

There wasn't quite enough time to get this thing done.

We're not worried about the Super Bowl, that's irrelevant.

Right now, we're focused on the Arizona Cardinals.

And, you know...

Great win today, great team win today.

We've just got to put it together, to find a way to win

on Sunday, or Saturday...? I'm not sure when we're playing.

I'd love to do a whole chat about that hat,

but we don't have the time.

And we've done loads on Cam, so let's do something else.

-First of all, Greg Olsen, who is his number one go-to man.

-Absolutely.

And if you have a great tight end, as a quarterback,

that's the perfect outlet. Because you always know where he is.

He pretty much knows the offence as well as you do, and he's versatile.

And I know you want to praise their defence as well

-but at the same time, looking at maybe their one weakness?

-Yeah.

They are a great defence.

They do a great job when they get pressure on the quarterback.

But whenever the quarterback gets outside of the pocket,

he does the damage to them.

It's because they don't do a good job with matching up as

the quarterback scrambles down the field,

because they're used to that ball getting out very fast.

So they're vulnerable to a big play, like we saw against Atlanta,

which was their only defeat in the regular season.

Absolutely, that is their problem.

You cannot give up big plays in the passing game,

and that's where Carolina is extremely vulnerable,

like you said earlier.

Later on in the season - I know we're at the end,

but later on - this is going to come back to bite them.

This, at the time, wasn't the same situation where

they have been vulnerable to a lot of big plays, which is

when they've had a massive lead.

And then, I suppose - and that wasn't the case in this game -

but I suppose then, teams have had to roll out their big plays

and take greater risks,

which then makes them seem more vulnerable, do you see what I mean?

Yeah, yeah. And that's the way you've got to look at it.

They're getting a lot more deep passes down the field,

because you have to. People are behind,

they've to take shots. And some of those work out.

Let's go back to the Arizona game.

When we had Bruce Arians on this show two or three weeks ago

and we asked about the play-offs and Carson Palmer,

he said that he thought Carson Palmer might be nervous going to these

play-offs because he's never had a postseason win, up until this game.

Did he look nervous for you?

That's a man who knows his quarterback.

Obviously, he hasn't played well in play-off situations.

And honestly, he didn't play well in this game.

His defence bailed him out.

Larry Fitzgerald playing the way he did bailed him out also.

A little bit of luck as well, as we can see, again.

He was very shaky. He cannot afford to play like that next week.

Yeah, absolutely.

And when he got that tip pass that went in for the score,

it kind of clicked for him.

He kind of went, maybe I can do this, you know?

But before that he was very shaky,

and that's why he did start going to Larry Fitzgerald.

Cos that's the guy he can depend on.

-He was sensational, wasn't he?

-He's a beast!

LAUGHTER

-He's got it, man.

-Love Larry, love Larry.

And he's done this before,

-in his last run to the Super Bowl.

-Who'll win?

Who'll win this NFC Championship?

Carolina.

It hurts my heart, but I'm going to go with Carolina this week, man.

I'm tired of picking against them.

It's not that I think they're a bad team, it's just that I can't,

I can't with the dab, man. It just gets to me, man.

How can Arizona win, if in any way?

Well, they have to stop the run.

And then they've got to prevent the deep pass,

because that's what they do well.

They're a run team that can get the ball down the field.

And honestly, what they can't allow

is for Carolina to jump out to that big lead.

-The last thing that can happen for the Arizona Cardinals.

-OK.

Thank you. Now, if you want to get involved, just use #RaceToSB50

or if you're new to the sport, #NFLRookie,

with any question you may have.

And last week, Jason was in Cincinnati for the wild card play-off

as the Pittsburgh Steelers came to town.

It wasn't his fault,

but he was on the sidelines when the game got heated.

Blame it on me.

Play big! Play big! Let's go!

Come here! Come here!

I got you! I got you!

We need to get everybody out there.

Like, now.

That's very rude.

That wasn't nice.

What a hit by Shazier on Bernard,

and Gio is not getting up.

Helmet to helmet, defence's receiver.

Jeremy Hill going out on the field.

That's not football, man!

And this is getting a little bit ugly now.

They want a wrestling match!

We're going to give it to them.

Pocket closes, his pass too high. And incomplete for Heath Miller.

-Oh, Vontaze!

-There's a penalty flag!

-Vontaze!

Antonio Brown, the intended receiver.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! AB!

Are you kidding me?

Vontaze Burfict picks up a ridiculous penalty that is going to

put the Pittsburgh Steelers well within field goal range.

And another penalty flag is thrown.

Personal foul, defence, number 24.

15-yard penalty.

He didn't push nobody! He didn't push nobody!

This is crazy.

Self-destruction.

No-oo-oo!

The Steelers are going to send out Boswell

and try to win it right here.

It's on its way!

It's up! It's good!

The Pittsburgh Steelers forge ahead by a score of 18-16.

Pittsburgh progressing then,

but without their number one receiver, Antonio Brown.

We'll see how they got on in Denver shortly,

but we start in Boston. The Kansas City Chiefs went there

as the number-five seeds and the NFL's hottest team,

on an 11-game win streak.

However, in recent Super Bowl campaigns,

New England have become second-to-none.

The New England Patriots,

a name that harks back to the very birth of the nation.

But only in recent times have the Patriots risen to the top.

Robert Kraft, owner since 1994,

has made the Patriots hugely successful.

It wasn't always like this.

The Patriots were founded in 1960.

A gentleman named Billy Sullivan founded the team, and they were

the eighth and final franchise in the old American Football League.

They were kind of a clown show,

they were a little bit of a laughing stock for a lot of years.

There was talk about them folding up, moving to St Louis.

There were days when the stands were empty,

and the team would win one or two games.

And, again, a lot of mockery hurled their way.

To end the ridicule, Kraft needed a winning coach.

In 2000, just one day after being named head coach

of archrivals the New York Jets,

the same man announced he was off to coach the Patriots.

Bill Belichick, he's a historian and he's in his early 60s.

He grew up near our nation's capital in Annapolis, Maryland.

His father was a coach, a college coach, a scouter, a recruiter

and Bill grew up around the game.

When he was a young man,

he just started working for 25 a day, driving around, doing anything.

History's very important to him.

Belichick needed a leader on the field.

He chose a quarterback who arrived without fanfare.

In 2001, they were coming off a 5-11 season,

Bill Belichick's second year as head coach.

They started the season 0-2, Drew Bledsoe got hurt in the second game,

he was the franchise quarterback.

And this little known sixth-round pick named Tom Brady

strolled in and never gave up the job.

Tom was overlooked as a college player -

he wasn't even a starter on his team half the time.

And then when it came to the NFL draft,

there were 199 players picked ahead of him.

That really hurt his feelings.

It kind of made him a man on a mission to prove everyone wrong.

It took a couple of years before he got going here.

15 years later, the Golden Arm.

But not back then.

Only because of an injury did Tom get his opportunity.

When he got the opportunity, he's been lights out ever since.

And the rest is history. They won the Super Bowl in 2001, 2003, 2004,

went to the Super Bowl in 2007, went back in 2011,

lost both of those to the New York Giants,

and then went back last year

and won their fourth against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX.

Since 1994, no team has won more games, more division titles,

more conference titles or more Super Bowl titles

than the New England Patriots.

Thanks to the bye week, Brady's supporting cast of Gronkowski,

Edelman and Amendola are all back from injury.

And these are the Kansas City Chiefs,

unbeaten in their last 11 games.

Third and seven for the Pats, trying to get on the board first.

Four receiver set.

Brady slings it.

Touchdown! Gronkowski!

The Patriots open with a bang.

Look at the placement of the ball, away from Smith,

right to the eye line of Gronkowski.

Reaches out with those big mitts and hauls it in.

On the ensuing possession, Kansas City went on a 17-play drive

that ended with a Cairo Santos field goal.

That made it 7-3, heading into the second quarter.

Second and goal from the 11.

Brady, steps up.

Brady on the move.

Brady looking for the end zone!

Brady, did he get there?

Yes, this is a close one.

In order to score, you have to get the ball over the pylon

or inside the pylon. If it doesn't...

New England is challenging the ruling on the field,

the quarterback out of bounds.

This is really close too.

But watch where the ball is, that's what's important here.

I don't think the ball ever got across the goal line here.

Good call by the officials here.

The ruling on the field stands as called.

It will be third down and goal from the half-yard line.

Watch the quarterback sneak here.

-Third and goal.

-It is a sneak!

And Brady's in, touchdown New England!

You can tell by the way Brady's leaning forward, he's done it

so many times in his career.

He's scored 18 rushing touchdowns, four this season.

And all four have been on the quarterback sneak.

Following the Brady touchdown, Kansas City would go on

an 11-play drive, ending with another Santos field goal.

It was 14-6 heading into half-time.

Knile Davis is in, on a second and eight now for KC.

Smith, plenty of time.

Goes underneath to Knile Davis. First down.

Davis lost the ball!

It popped free at the end of the play.

The Patriots have got it.

1st down at the 16.

Brady, perfect on the drive.

Brady, delivers...

Touchdown! Gronkowski!

It's not often you can fake an all-pro,

but Brady just faked Eric Berry with a pump fake, right there,

and then the soft toss for the touchdown.

Third and seven now for Kansas City,

we're down to 7:48 to play in the third quarter.

To the side of Smith there are four receivers set.

Smith, had time, Smith, trying to avoid it.

Smith emerges.

Looking downfield, Smith throws it up in the air.

Jason Avant!

Oh, what a climb by Avant!

First down, Kansas City.

Alex Smith, a magician!

First and goal for Kansas City.

Chiefs trail 21-6.

West lines up, off to the side of Smith.

Rush is coming. Smith gets rid of it.

To the end zone! Sliding grab, Albert Wilson,

touchdown, Kansas City!

Alex Smith, fantastic throw to Wilson,

and the Chiefs on the comeback trail.

On the Patriots' next possession, Brady led

an eight-play drive that was capped off by a 40-yard

Steven Gostkowski field goal to extend their lead to 11 points.

After forcing Kansas City to turn the ball over on downs,

the Patriots got the ball back, enabling Gostkowski to make it 27-13.

Three minutes to play.

First down for Kansas City, Smith unloads...

Wide open, Albert Wilson!

Trying to get to the goal line, and he's just short,

hit by Malcolm Butler. A breakdown for New England.

But he stayed inbounds, the clock continues to run.

First and goal at the one.

The running back is West, they give it to him.

West clobbered behind the line of scrimmage by Jabaal Sheard.

-And the clock, tick, tick, tick!

-We're down to 2:10 and counting.

They've got to get this off before the two-minute warning.

And they're not going to. No shot. Wasted so much time on this drive.

-Second and goal.

-Watch for the bubble screen here.

Smith, on a pitch...

West! He's got the angle for the touchdown.

So the Chiefs go 80 yards, it takes 16 plays.

It also took five minutes and 16 seconds off the clock.

-It took way too long.

-Patriots trying to end it.

1:08 left.

Brady to throw it.

Oh, ricochets into the hands of Edelman!

How do they do it over and over again?

If that bounces in a different direction, Dan,

Kansas City could be going the other way, looking for the tie.

Edelman in the right place at the right time.

And that first down will do it.

There are players that have great experience and you

see them in the play-offs and they do really well,

and there's players that have great experience

that you see in the play-offs who don't do so well.

You've got to take some of that experience and put it to the side

and just prepare each week like it could potentially be your last.

It is good to get into the first round of the play-offs.

And, you know, we'll prepare for whoever

we're going to play next week.

It is a one-game season

and if you don't bring yourself one night you could be eliminated.

So you've got to always be prepared for the next week.

So, New England waiting on the AFC Championship game.

Their opponents are the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Denver Broncos,

who met in the Mile High City in a repeat of the week 15 game,

which the Steelers had won 34-27.

Pittsburgh were in a bad place before the game had even kicked off.

Their star receiver Antonio Brown was out with concussion

and there were fitness doubts over quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

So after Denver took an early lead

through two Brandon McManus field goals,

few predicted that Pittsburgh would score the game's first touchdown,

second running back Fitzgerald Toussaint giving the Steelers

the narrowest of leads at the end of the first quarter.

This was a tight defensive battle,

both teams only troubling the scoreboard

with a field goal each in the second and third quarters.

So we join the action in the fourth period.

Pittsburgh have a 13-12 lead, and the ball.

Here's a hand-off to Toussaint.

And it's on the ground and recovered by Ware.

WHISTLE

Cody Wallace tried to fight for it.

Looked like Ware had it. It was Roby who charged it out of his hands.

And it's a Denver recovery.

Toussaint was just untouched

for the first six, seven yards of that run.

Then Roby came up and knocked it out.

First turnover of the game from either side.

Good field position for the Broncos' offence.

Manning 19 out of 35. 184 yards.

Here they come blitzing again for the second.

The pass is caught by Fowler who breaks off the tackle from Allen.

And he's down at the 35.

Benny Fowler for 31.

Beautiful throw on the inside, bends it across.

Boykin goes for the knock-down, misses it, Allen misses the tackle

and it was another unique rush.

Peyton Manning never saw a safety coming free.

If he had held on to it a second more, it would have been a fumble.

No huddle here at second and six.

Now he decides instead of the gun, they'll take it direct from Paradis.

And Sanders with a stick-on to pick up the first down.

And look how far they are off.

Cockrell so far back, Peyton Manning says

to heck with the run, let's throw the quick screen outside.

Oh, they're going to hurry up.

Yeah, they're running right to the line.

Back at Anderson.

Anderson fights for it

and he's across for the touchdown!

Well, there was contact.

Looked like it was going to get stopped initially.

Boykin hit him in the backfield, couldn't stop him.

Now they'll go for two, no doubt.

Same formation,

except this time they've got the back in the backfield.

Moving into his slot, stacked three to the right.

Good play. Thomas has the two.

Here we are at fourth down, fourth and five with

Tomlin and the Steelers.

You have the tight end and the running back

both in there for protection, to get Roethlisberger a little more time.

They get to him and Roethlisberger tries to shuttle it

to Gilbert, but it's picked up by Miller

and the play is ruled down while Miller celebrates.

It's not going to be a touchdown and Denver takes over on downs.

A 45-yard Brandon McManus kick enabled Denver

to extend their lead to 23-13 with less than a minute remaining.

But Pittsburgh raced down the field, scoring a 47-yard field goal

to make it a one-score deficit.

The Steelers would need to recover an onside kick

to give themselves one last chance.

The coach is in from the side and here's the kick.

Touched by a Pittsburgh player

and the recovery by Anderson back at the 39.

I thought that Pittsburgh player touched the ball too soon.

-I did, too. I thought it was about nine yards out.

-Yeah.

Believe it was Sean Smith. CJ Anderson ends up with the football.

Broncos and Patriots are going to battle for the AFC Championship

next Sunday here in Denver.

You're going to be hearing all the talk again about Brady-Manning.

It's very satisfying to win, to beat the Steelers in a play-off game.

Those guys over there are battle-tested.

They've been in a lot of big games.

But you have to be a good team to win these play-off games

and you have to win as a team.

And so defence did a great job holding them

and offensively, we just did enough to win.

It's tough. It is emotional for everybody

because everybody appreciates everybody else's efforts.

Only one team ends the season the way they want to.

And like I said, just proud of everybody's efforts.

We overcame so many things this year to get to this point.

Just makes you proud and, you know, you just want to keep going.

Goodness me, there have been some outfits around this weekend!

We heard there, the talk will all be Brady-Manning.

And yet, listen to some podcasts, read some articles,

there's a debate about whether it should be Manning or Osweiler

to start for the Broncos.

That's just ridiculous, man. There's no debate about that.

He wasn't imperious, Peyton Manning, in that game, by any means.

No, he wasn't, but he won the game.

And like my good friend Herm Edwards always says,

you play to win the game and that's exactly what the Broncos did.

And yet when the Broncos beat the Patriots earlier on in the season

in week 12, Osweiler was the starter.

There we can have a look at CJ Anderson's touchdown.

Will that play any part in Gary Kubiak's mind, the head coach?

I mean, they obviously have to run the ball, cos that's what they do,

but we're talking about a different New England team

that did not have their weapons offensively

so this is going to be a completely different game.

Explain to people watching how the Patriots have made

five AFC Championships on the trot in a sport that is meant to be

about parity, and structured in such a way

that one team cannot dominate. It's remarkable!

It is, but they have all the tools in place.

They've got a genius head coach, they've got a great quarterback

and they've always played consistent defence.

Exactly, man. The one thing that they don't do

is they will never beat themselves.

You are going to have to beat the New England Patriots.

They don't have turnovers,

the quarterback doesn't make stupid mistakes,

they don't fumble the football, very well coached football team,

and that is why they have been so consistent the entire time.

Kansas City will be kicking themselves

-that they didn't manage the clock better, won't they?

-Yeah.

KC, they had a chance

but you've got to play an excellent game to beat those guys.

They had their run. They had a nice 11-game winning streak.

They weren't going to beat the Patriots.

They had a nice winning streak but they were more than a winning streak!

No, they were not going to beat the New England Patriots

and we all knew that, sitting up here.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

We do know that because we have seen the games.

Will this boil down, then, looking ahead to the actual game,

will this boil down to Broncos' defence against Brady?

-Or is there more to it than that?

-Yes.

Yes, it'll boil down to that?

It will, because that's where they are the best.

They are the best defence in the league,

and they can get after Tom Brady, which they're going to have to do,

but they just find a way to mix things up on offence

that confuse other defences - that's what they do.

Yup, New England does, but the way to beat them,

-pressure on the quarterback.

-Broncos or Patriots?

-Broncos.

-Yeah, but...

-Oh, they're in agreement! Yes?

Pressure on the quarterback, but what they do to beat that...

He just asked you Broncos or Patriots. That's all he asked you.

-And I'm Patriots!

-Oh, no way. No way.

They are not in agreement! Got there in the end.

As the AFC Championship Game will be the 17th time

Brady has gone head-to-head with Manning,

here's the lowdown on the two of them.

On my high...

Ladies and gentlemen, you have just witnessed NFL history.

So the race to Super Bowl 50 has reached the Conference Championship

so we are effectively at the semifinal stage.

In the AFC, the top two seeds face each other -

Denver entertaining New England.

Over in the NFC again, the top two seeds,

Carolina as number one hosting the Arizona Cardinals,

their last meeting the 2014 wild card playoff which the Panthers won 27-16.

Let's take a little bit of a look at social media.

The NFL rookie question from Shane,

"Are there anything similar to red cards to control discipline?"

Yes, that would be getting ejected from the game,

and if you get ejected in the second half

you can lose a part of the first game.

-OK. Ever been ejected?

-I never got caught!

-Ha-ha!

There's a great relationship between Leicester City

and the Carolina Panthers developing.

Graham Gano wearing a Leicester shirt in the locker room before the game.

Right, we are just two games from Super Bowl 50.

Nat Coombs and Mike Carlson

will have coverage of the AFC Championship Game from 7:30pm

on 5 Live Sports Extra,

and then they'll switch to 5 Live for the NFC Championship Game

from 11:30pm with commentary from Darren Fletcher.

That's all from us this week. What do the five fingers say to the face?

Slap!

Or, alternatively, goodbye. See you next week.

What a nice guy!

Margins of victory, seven points here,

seven points here,

seven points here.

Somebody then got the maths wrong.

Six points here.

It was close all the way, but victories for the teams that

had rested, the teams that had home field advantage, advantages

earned in the course of the regular season, privileges won the hard way.

There is home advantage to come for the Denver Broncos

and the Carolina Panthers.

Does it matter?

What will count, as those that remain all hit the home stretch?

Make way.

They're coming through in the race to Super Bowl 50.