Observations from a snowy weekend of football

In the name of research, I spent a snowy weekend in front of a fire watching the NFL playoffs. Every job has its hardships. The time was well-spent, because there was much to be learned from the experience:

 • Don’t tick off Tom Brady.

As the world’s love/loathe affair with Tim Tebow escalated, Tom Brady became something of a sidebar story.

That had been a bit of a theme this season, while Aaron Rodgers had a better passer rating, Drew Brees had more yards, and even Detroit’s Matthew Stafford had more touchdown passes.

But Tebow?

Brady said that New England’s meeting with Denver was emotionally intense solely because it was a playoff game. Nothing more. He cited no extra personal incentive to remind the nation’s sporting public that he’s not only relevant but at the top of his game.

Although it certainly looked as if the Patriots quarterback, two-time league MVP, and noted supermodel spouse didn’t enjoy being an afterthought in the pregame hype.

Brady needed less than two minutes to throw the first of his five first-half TD passes (finishing with a postseason record-tying six).

New England won, 45-10, although it might have been twice that bad if Brady had been free to push the matter. But he made his point. Lots of them, in fact.

 • Maybe defenses still win championships after all.

As much as this has been a season of offensive excess, with three passers exceeding 5,000 yards, the four teams meeting this weekend for conference championships feature a split between teams noted for defense (Baltimore and San Francisco) and for offense (New England and the New York Giants).

And the two highest-scoring teams during the regular season, Green Bay (560 points) and New Orleans (547) have been ousted.

Two lessons from their demise: Don’t rest your QB. Rodgers had one of the all-time best seasons for a quarterback, but sat out the regular-season finale before the Packers had a first-week bye as the NFC’s top seed.

When he faced the Giants, he had his worst game of the season (78.5 passer rating) and looked rusty and a bit out of sync as he missed open receivers on a few critical plays.

And if you’re playing the Saints, getting them on the West Coast is a boost. San Francisco’s narrow win Saturday over the Saints – in a memorably competitive and exciting game – was the second consecutive season the Saints have been topped on the road by an NFC West team. The 7-9 Seahawks stunned them in Seattle after last season.

 • If you don’t have a productive tight end … get one. They can create nightmare coverage matchups.

New England’s Rob Gronkowski had 10 catches for 145 yards and three scores against the Broncos, while fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez had a combined 116 yards rushing and receiving.

San Francisco’s Vernon Davis was even more impressive, with 180 yards and two TDs on seven catches. He had to be that good to compensate for the effort of New Orleans’ Jimmy Graham (five catches, 103 yards, two TDs).

Gronkowski had 18 touchdowns in the regular season. For context, the Seahawks had 15 touchdown receptions as a team.

With those numbers in mind, it may be insensitive to point out that the Seahawks got zero TD receptions from tight ends this season, with John Carlson suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in training camp, and ex-Pro Bowl free agent Zach Miller used mostly as a blocker to bolster the rushing attack.

 •  Go Giants and Ravens.

If you’re a Seahawks fan trying to work up a lather for this weekend’s games, wins by New York over San Francisco and Baltimore over New England would be rewarding.

Seattle played one of its best games of the season on Oct. 9 when it topped the Giants, 36-25, on the road. On Nov. 13, it topped Baltimore, 22-17, at home.

Having defeated both Super Bowl teams would bring some solace after the Sea-hawks’ 7-9 season.

Dave Boling: 253-597-8440 dave.boling@thenewstribune.com