-Saturday-

Seahawks 23, Saints 15

The passing game is a potential concern for Seattle moving forward. Russell Wilson missed on multiple routine throws, including a slant to Golden Tate where Tate spun Keenan Lewis around off the line of scrimmage and was wide open. Some possible good news for Seattle’s aerial attack, however, is the whole new element that Percy Harvin brings to their offense. His ability to win one-on-one situations as a third down target makes it a lot easier for the offense to convert.

Marshawn Lynch obviously had a huge day, and will be key to "out-physicaling" the 49ers next week. On the defensive side, the Seahawks straight-up dominated for three quarters, and the game probably shouldn’t have been as close as it was. For starters, Seattle took Jimmy Graham out of the game. Last time these teams played, it was largely KJ Wright who did the honors on Graham, but because of Wright’s injury the Seahawks largely used defensive backs on him last Saturday. Even though Graham is bigger than every defensive back he was matched up against, guys like Walter Thurmond III, Jeremy Lane, Byron Maxwell, Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas still were able to be physical and even cover Graham one-on-one at times.

And even though Seattle’s run defense wasn’t perfect at times, the fumble Michael Bennett forced from Mark Ingram as well as strong games by Bobby Wagner and Kam Chancellor were good enough, as the Saints were forced to abandon the run down 16-0 heading into the fourth quarter.

Near the end of the game, the Seahawks had multiple opportunities to close it out when Drew Brees' passes hit both Chancellor and Thomas right in the hands, but nether were able to come away with the turnover, the latter actually deflecting off of Thomas’ hands to Robert Meachem for a long gain. In the end, Seattle was fortunate to overcome these mistakes, as well as a Golden Tate drop on an onside kick that New Orleans recovered, and come away with the win.

***

New Orleans clearly came out with a run-first game plan, and executed it well for the most part. Their defense also did a decent job to start the game, limiting the Seahawks to two field goals instead of touchdowns and containing Russell Wilson with Cam Jordan and the defensive line. However, Mark Ingram’s fumble, which turned into a Seattle touchdown on the ensuing drive, proved to be crucial in the game, and missed tackles by the Saints’ linebackers and secondary on Marshawn Lynch proved to be the team’s undoing.

Marques Colston had a really nice game, but my question is: how come Brees didn’t give Jimmy Graham more chances downfield? There were times when Graham appeared to be covered by much smaller players, so why not give your All-Pro tight end a shot?

Patriots 43, Colts 22

Yes, T.Y. Hilton made some big plays en route to his 100+ yard day. But he only had four catches, no touchdowns, and was much less impactful than his 200+ yard, 2-touchdown day against the Chiefs in the Wild Card Round. New England put Aqib Talib on Hilton quite a bit, and also had Steve Gregory doubling Hilton over the top. Belichick didn’t quite give Hilton the Gonzalez treatment or have a linebacker beat up the slight receiver at the line snap after snap like I thought he would, but it ultimately proved effective for the Patriots.

Speaking of effective, wide receiver/special teamer Matthew Slater lining up at tight end and walling off LaRon Landry perfectly on LeGarrette Blount’s first touchdown run was simply exquisite. The run game with Blount and Ridley, whose paths were paved by an offensive line that was just mauling people, was pretty to watch.

***

We knew Indianapolis’ run defense wasn’t good, but to get run over despite putting eight men in the box was pretty degrading. The secondary wasn’t up to the task either, with Vontae Davis having a poor game in coverage and LaRon Landry having a bad all-around night.

Breakout linebacker Jerrell Freeman is nice to have in coverage and in space, but his lack of ability to take on blockers and play the run well was all too evident in this game. On the bright side for Indianapolis, Anthony Castonzo had a solid night and did a good job on the talented Chandler Jones. And even though people seemed to be enamored with Andrew Luck (and he is surely talented with high potential), seven interceptions in two postseason games is a serious issue.

-Sunday-

49ers 23, Panthers 10

While the Panthers defense started off strong, exemplified by Charles Johnson blowing up Frank Gore on the first play of the game, the ineffectiveness of their defensive line for the remainder of the game exposed the secondary and doomed Carolina.

There was also a period of bad discipline where Carolina gave up some yards, took some penalties, and eventually gave the 49ers a lead the Panthers would never take back. On offense, Steve Smith got off to a strong start, including a 31-yard touchdown catch on a beautiful Cam Newton pass, but his injury appeared to limit his production for the rest of the game—this exposed the lack of depth of offensive playmakers on the Panthers’ roster, and Carolina was shut out in the second half.

***

The 49ers' offensive line did a fantastic job for the most part on Greg Hardy and Charles Johnson, which was the key to the game. Colin Kaepernick again showed a tendency to stare down his receivers, but Anquan Boldin was so open on most of this catches that it didn’t matter. Watch for this to play a factor against Seattle’s defense next week, though.

On defense, San Francisco’s front seven dominated, holding Carolina’s running backs to 33 rushing yards combined, and their secondary basically shut out the Carolina receivers aside from first half Steve Smith.

Broncos 24, Chargers 17

Peyton Manning’s numbers for this game may not look other-worldly, but he played well enough to put up at least 40 points for Denver. One of his passes bounced off Eric Decker’s chest in the end zone and was intercepted by Donald Butler, and another would-be touchdown hit Wes Welker in the chest and fell incomplete.

Denver also ran the ball quite well, which was foreseeable because of San Diego’s inconsistent defense against the run combined with the fact that most teams play a lot of two-deep safeties against Peyton Manning. On defense, the Broncos’ front four got great pressure on Philip Rivers throughout the game even without Von Miller, getting contributions from bargain players Shawn Phillips, Malik Jackson and Jeremy Mincey. Denver’s pass defense was also solid until Chris Harris got hurt and left the game with a knee injury, which turned out to be a torn ACL and is a huge loss for the Broncos going into next week’s game against the Patriots.

***

If the Chargers would have put the game in Philip Rivers’ hands earlier, they might have had a legitimate chance to win the game. And with Ryan Mathews injured and out of the game after the first few series, I still am not sure why Rivers was limited by the play calling until the second half.

Eric Weddle didn’t have the best game, and had multiple atypical missed tackles on Sunday. He also had trouble at times guarding Julius Thomas, and when a team’s best players don’t play well, it is hard to win against anyone.

Reach Staff Writer Andrew McKagan here or follow him.