It is supposed to be the best day in football. It is the third weekend in January, when the NFL provides both the NFC and AFC Championship games. It usually commands the attention of millions who just want to kick back, raise their feet in their favorite recliner and watch four of the best teams in the league battle four hours on end to the closing minutes — if only it could be that simple.
I mean, who else thought both games on Sunday were going to be decided by no less than 19 points?
Yeah, me neither.
However, we shouldn’t have expected anything different. So far this postseason there have been 10 games and most of them were won by large margins. I’m no mathematician, but seven of 10 playoff games decided by a total of 139 points, an average of about 20 points per game, can’t be good for business in the NFL.
However, there have been bright moments, at least for the cities of Atlanta; Foxborough, Massachusetts; and Bloomington. Besides that the excitement has been lacking.
Wait, huh? Bloomington?
On Sunday evening, running back Tevin Coleman and his Atlanta Falcons faced off against the Green Bay Packers and offensive lineman Jason Spriggs in a battle of former IU greats. Both were named All-Americans in their time as Hoosiers, and the winner Sunday would earn a spot in the sport’s biggest game. Coleman’s Falcons came out on top, and the second-year running back joined the likes of Doug Crusan, Bob Skoronski, Trent Green, Antwaan Randle El, Tracy Porter and other former Hoosiers as Super Bowl participants.
In fact this will be the second consecutive year a former IU football player will have a chance to call himself a world champion. Last season, wide receiver Cody Latimer got a ring after his Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers, 24-10, in the 2016 Super Bowl.
No disrespect to Latimer, but Coleman is a little more involved in Atlanta’s personnel than Latimer was in Denver. On Sunday against the Packers Coleman rushed for 29 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 35 yards. During the regular season Coleman had 11 touchdowns, and he has added two more in the playoffs.
In Atlanta’s 11 wins this season Coleman accounted for 10 touchdowns, but in the five games they lost, Coleman only scored once.
Get Coleman into the end zone and good things tend to happen for the Atlanta Falcons. He brings such explosiveness out of the backfield and in his route running that it makes him rather difficult to defend.
IU has produced some serious NFL-caliber talent the past couple of years. With backs like Coleman and the Chicago Bears’ Jordan Howard, who was second in the league behind Ezekiel Elliot in total rushing yards this year, the Hoosiers are starting to become known for their running backs. With Devine Redding announcing he is declaring for the NFL draft earlier this year, this is the third year in a row the Hoosiers have had a running back leave after their junior season.
Fast forward to Super Bowl Sunday. Everyone knows Patriots Coach Bill Belichick is pretty good at developing schemes to shut down the opposing team’s best player. You know he will be focused on the names of Matt Ryan and Devonta Freeman, but I really believe Coleman could be the one to slip through the crevasses of Belichick’s brain — if that’s even possible — and be a difference-maker in the game.
Of course everyone will be throwing their money on the Patriots, and many will deem them the favorite. I know not many people will look at Coleman and think he could play a big factor in this game, but if he can get in the end zone, watch out — the odds will turn in Atlanta’s favor.
eliarnet@umail.iu.edu
@arnett35
