On Sunday’s slate of games, Green Bay conquered the NFC’s one-seed and Kansas City lost in a nail-biter at home.
Green Bay vs. Dallas
Dallas came in as the favorite to win the NFC in 2016, throughout all the 2016 season, controversies about the team’s starting QB became a norm, week-in, and week-out.
After naming Prescott their starter for the divisonal round, him and rookie back, Ezekiel Elliott, came out soft. They went down 21-3 before the half ended.
But Prescott, along with his talented offense attempted their comeback against the MVP candidate, Aaron Rodgers.
The home crowd was active all night, as the Cowboys saw their deficit dissapear from 18 to a tie game with 4:08 left in the 4Q off of a seven-yard Dez Bryant TD catch.
This is when Rodgers went to work.
Rodgers drove down the field on the Cowboys’ defense and got Mason Crosby just in range to hit a 57-yard field goal that put them up three.
With a 1:33 left and one timeout, Prescott drove down and also put his kicker in field goal range. Bailey hit the 52-yard field goal and left the Packers :35 on the clock.
With 20 seconds left, on third down, Rodgers pulled off one of the greatest throws you’ll ever see.
Hope you like my photo of your huge catch! Wow @JaredCook89 no bigger play than this for @packers vs @dallascowboys #GBvsDAL pic.twitter.com/TKoD2fq8JK
— Dan Powers (@powrpics) January 16, 2017
Rodgers found Jared Cook 36 yards down the field, to give Green Bay a first down and gave Crosby his second 50-plus yard field goal in under two minutes. Crosby hit the 51 yarder to end the magical season for Dallas and their rookie duo.
The internet wasted no time until unleashing memes upon the Cowboys’ fanbase.
Live look-in at the Cowboys bandwagon: #GBvsDAL pic.twitter.com/wSQKPd0BWJ
— NOTSportsCenter (@NOTSportsCenter) January 16, 2017
Green Bay will look to move their win-streak to nine in their match-up next weekend against Atlanta. That game will be the final game in the Georgia Dome as Atlanta will move next door into their new stadium, opening next season.
Pittsburgh vs Kansas City
Kansas City snuck into the two-seed in week 17, giving them the bye-week during wild card weekend. This game was moved from their 1:00 PM start to an 8:30 PM start, due to weather conditions.
The Steelers routed Miami last weekend, while the team had their entire trio was healthy. Big Ben, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown all played big roles in today’s game.
Le’Veon Bell pushed for 170 yards on 30 carries, but couldn’t get in the end zone. Not one Steelers’ player got in the end zone on the day. Chris Boswell went 6-for-6 on the day, scoring every point for Pittsburgh.
A late score, down eight, for Kansas City gave them hope before attempting their two-point conversion with 2:43 remaining.
On the attempt, Alex Smith found Travis Kelce in the endzone to tie it up. But the play was called back, after an Eric Fisher hold, pushing them back ten yards.
They missed the attempt, and they were left down 18-16, leaving their Superbowl hopes to die, in front of their home crowd.
PITTSBURGH HOLDS ON!
Steelers take down the Chiefs in Kansas City and advance to the AFC Championship game. pic.twitter.com/tG3NiFgE7i
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 16, 2017
The Steelers will play New England to battle it out in the AFC Championship in Foxborough.
Conference Championship schedule:
Sunday, January 22:
Green Bay Packers vs Atlanta Falcons 3:05 PM
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New England Patriots 6:40 PM
