Divisional playoff weekend in the NFL

Quick thoughts on the second round of the playoffs.

49ers 36, Saints 32

What a thriller. I don't know if I've ever been entertained by a four-minute strech of football as I was by the conclusion to this one. But as great a day as Saturday was for the 49ers, I'm not sure it was the kind of statement-making victory about their for-realness that I'd envisioned. Drew Bress passed for 462 yards on them. If they don't force five turnovers — and a lot of that statistic is a credit to them, but some it is luck — then the try-to-win-a-pseudo-shootout-behind-Alex-Smith formula doesn't have a happy ending. Give Smith a ton of credit for making it work this time. The reality is that it took Smith's biggest passing and rushing day of the season for the 49ers to eke out a four-point, last-second win. I'll guarantee you that's not the game plan coach Jim Harbaugh drew up, though I'm sure he'll take it.

Patriots 45, Broncos 10

The universe makes a bit more sense now than it did before Saturday night. I thought the great, extremely accurate quarterback would win out over the limited, inaccurate one ... but, for obvious reasons, I wasn't exactly overconfident in that. At least I wasn't until the Patriots built a 14-0 lead by the time the game was just over eight minutes old. It was as dominant an effort by the New England defense as by its offense, though I think the quarterback play of the Broncos had something to do with that. Think Pittsburgh defensvie coordinator Dick LeBeau would like a do-over on his Round 1 approach after watching what a more conservative Patriots did to Tim Tebow?

Ravens 20, Texans 13

My Texans-will-give-the-Ravens-a-game prediction looked dead in the water when the Ravens took a 17-3 lead with the first quarter still not over. Then the Texans defense stepped up ... and Joe Flacco stepped down. Flacco's performance was one of the worst that merited a 97.1 quarterback rating I've ever seen. In fairness to him, I didn't think offensive coordinator Cam Cameron did Flacco or the Ravens any favors, waiting until too late in the game to try to get Ray Rice going and later dialing up (incomplete) passes on second and third downs with the Ravens protecting a late lead and the Texans down to using their timeouts. If Texans QB T.J. Yates hadn't played like the rookie fifth-round draft pick that he is, there's an excellent chance the Ravens would have blown this one.