As we've done all year, here are our Game Recaps for this week. We're down to just two teams and it's looking like a great Super Bowl. Congrats to the Falcons and Steelers for fantastic seasons and good luck to the Eagles and Patriots in the big game.

Joe

Atlanta Falcons 10 at Philadelphia Eagles 27

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Atlanta Falcons

QB Michael Vick struggled throwing the ball throughout the game. The Philadelphia defense kept him in the pocket not allowing him to make big plays with his legs. Vick appeared to struggle with the playing conditions as he threw numerous softer touch passes that hung up in the wind.

RB Warrick Dunn and the Falcons were able to break several decent runs averaging nearly 4 yards per carry, including a 10-yard touchdown in the second quarter. However, in short yardage situations backup RB T.J. Duckett struggled to find a hole or move the pile.

The Falcon defensive line was able to sack QB Donavon McNabb only twice. McNabb was afforded an abundance time to sit in the pocket and survey the field. Combined with the injury to CB Kevin Mathis, this was a recipe for failure.

Philadelphia Eagles

QB Donavon McNabb out-vicked Michael Vick. McNabb scrambled out of the pocket and picked up multiple first downs when his targets were covered down field. McNabb was efficient and sharp executing a short passing game, while taking just a few shots down field.

RB Brian Westbrook got off to a slow start in the first half (6 touches), but the Eagles leaned on him during the second (14 touches). Westbrook ran low and hard breaking tackles.

TE Chad Lewis picked up the big play slack that the Eagles were missing with WR Terrell Owens on the shelf. Lewis scored two short touchdowns and led all Eagle receivers in targets (6).

WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW

Atlanta Falcons

QB: Michael Vick (11-24-136 INT passing, 4-25 rushing) Vick struggled in several aspects of this game. He threw quite a few questionable balls on top of his interception. Further, he left lots of balls hanging (floating) instead of driving the ball into open receivers. In the first quarter Vick was able to scramble for 2, 2, 9, and 13 yards. He wasn't able to escape the pocket again for the remainder of the game. The lasting image of Vick from this game will be him hopping around in the pocket looking for somewhere to run to instead of keeping his vision down the field. For some odd reason, the Falcons opted not to roll Vick out to either side after the first quarter.

RB: Warrick Dunn (15-59 TD rushing, 1-4 receiving on 2 targets) Dunn was particularly effective when the Falcon's ran stretch plays to either side of the field. It gave him a chance to cut up field when he had a hole. Dunn's 10-yard touchdown pulled the Falcon's to within four points just before halftime. Both of Dunn's passing targets and only reception came late in the game.

TJ Duckett (7-14 rushing, 0-0 receiving on 0 targets) Duckett's first four carries went for 2, 0, 5, and -1 yards. He didn't get much of a chance to get rolling in the game. As the Eagles pulled away the game plan changed to exclude Duckett.

WR: Peerless Price (2-37 receiving on 3 targets) Price may be the number one wide receiver on this team, but his presence in this game was hard to notice. His only target in the first three quarters was a 14-yard reception.

Brian Finneran (1-29 receiving on 2 targets) On his lone reception, Finneran was wide open on a long crossing route in what appeared to be a busted coverage.

Dez White (1-7 receiving on 2 targets) White started the game across from Price. White was targeted on a longer pass in the first quarter that drew a pass interference flag. His only reception was late in the game in what amounted to garbage time.

Michael Jenkins (1-7 receiving on 3 targets) Jenkins first target and lone reception came in the third quarter.

TE: Alge Crumpler (4-49 receiving on 11 targets) Crumpler was Vick's first and second look on almost every pass play. Vick tried to force the ball into Crumpler on several plays when things broke down. This was easily the case when Vick threw an interception in Crumpler's direction in the third quarter. Crumpler took a huge hit from FS Brian Dawkins after catching a 31-yard pass from Vick. Crumpler gingerly left the field. The reception set up the Dunn touchdown run and pulled the Falcons to within four points.

K: Jay Feeley (1-1 XP, 1-1 FG 23)

Pass Defense: The Falcon front four struggled to pressure QB Donavon McNabb. DL Kearney and Smith were able to sack him once each, but more often than not McNabb was able to take his time and patiently scan the field looking for a receiver. SS Bryan Scott had a McNabb pass hit him squarely in the chest and dropped it. On 3rd and 10 during the first Philadelphia drive CB DeAngelo Hall was flagged for hands to the face as QB Donovan McNabb was throwing an incomplete pass to the other side of the field. The penalty extended the drive and allowed the Eagles to jump out to a 7-0 lead.

Rush Defense: The Falcons had trouble tackling. RB Brian Westbrook broke numerous tackles after initially breaking through the line of scrimmage. Atlanta bottled him up on his first few carries, but then allowed Westbrook to break a long run for 36 yards up the right sideline. Time and time again the Eagles picked on the left side of the Falcon defense. Westbrook had three consecutive carries in the third quarter (all off right tackle) that went for 8, 12, and 11 yards.

Philadelphia Eagles

QB: Donavon McNabb (17-26-180 2TD passing, 10-32 rushing) McNabb did a nice job with his Michael Vick impression. He had scrambles in the game for 8, 6, 8, 2, 6, and 6 yards. When he did throw the ball McNabb didn't seem to have the same troubles that Vick did. McNabb was accurate and efficient in executing the short passing game. McNabb only threw the ball farther than 10 yards three times in the game. McNabb threw 12 targets to his running backs, 11 targets to his tight ends, and only 7 towards his wide receivers. In the third quarter McNabb had one head-scratcher pass towards RB Dorsey Levens. He hit SS Bryan Scott square in the chest with a floater, but luckily Scott dropped the ball.

RB: Brian Westbrook (16-96 rushing, 5-39 receiving on 7 targets) Westbrook started the game on shaky ground. His first two rushing attempts went for 0 and 0 yards, and then he dropped his first target. It hit him in the hands, but he was leaping on the sideline and would have been a nice reception. However, shortly after this Westbrook broke a long run off right tackle for 36 yards setting up the Levens touchdown run. In the second quarter Westbrook had only two touches. One was a 9-yard carry. The other was a 6-yard reception. In the second half the Eagles made Westbrook the featured aspect of their offense. He had 10 carries and 4 receptions. For a smaller running back, Westbrook was surprisingly able to break a few tackles running low and with good power.

Dorsey Levens (6-18 TD rushing, 2-2 receiving on 5 targets) Levens replaced starting RB Brian Westbrook on short yardage situations, and for most of the second quarter. Levens opened the scoring in the game when he gave a second, and then a third effort from 5 yards out for the touchdown. He did a nice job of keeping his feet before one of his linemen pushed him in from behind.

WR: Greg Lewis (2-65 receiving on 3 targets, 1-10 rushing) Lewis pulled in a 45-yard bomb from QB Donavon McNabb in the second quarter. The cornerback had excellent position on the play, but the ball got hung up in the wind and was short. Lewis made a nice adjustment coming back to the ball.

Freddie Mitchell (2-20 receiving on 2 targets) Mitchell started in place of the injured Terrell Owens. Mitchell was pretty much invisible until the Eagles first possession of the second quarter when he was flagged for an illegal shift. However, he came right back with a 13-yard reception on 3rd and 11 that helped set up the first Lewis touchdown.

Todd Pinkston (1-13 receiving on 2 targets) Pinkston's only reception of the game came on the first play from scrimmage for the Eagles. Pinkston's other target was in the third quarter on a deep ball.

TE: Chad Lewis (4-20 2TD receiving on 6 targets) Lewis made a fantastic grab on his first touchdown on the right edge of the endzone. The play was reviewed, but evidence was not found that he didn't make the catch. Lewis barely appeared to get both feet in extending over the sideline to make the grab. His other touchdown iced the game at the end of the fourth quarter from two yards out. McNabb had tons of time to stand tall in the pocket and Lewis sat down in the open part of the zone.

L.J. Smith (1-21 receiving on 5 targets) Smith caught his 21-yard reception by sitting down in an open hole of the Atlanta zone. He took the pass down to the 5-yard line setting up the Levens touchdown run. Smith was targeted twice on attempted tight end screens, but the Eagles did a poor job of executing each play.

K: David Akers (3-3 XP, 2-2 FG 31 34) Akers was perfect in the game, but missed an opportunity for a third field goal when the Eagles attempted a fake field goal.

Pass Defense: The Eagles were able to sack QB Michael Vick four times, but more importantly they didn't allow Vick to make plays with his legs. The allowed Vick to escape four times in the first quarter off of rollouts and bootlegs, but after that Vick didn't gain another yard rushing. FS Brian Dawkins intercepted a Vick pass early in the third quarter that led to an Eagle field goal. The interception was more of a terrible thrown than it was a great play by Dawkins.

Rush Defense: Rush defense? Pass defense? When QB Michael Vick drops back to pass it can turn into rush defense half the time anyway. In terms of the Atlanta running backs, the Eagles weren't able to shut down RB Warrick Dunn, but Dunn wasn't able to cause enough damage on his own to be the difference in the game. RB T.J. Duckett was a different story. The Eagles were tough in short yardage. They held on a 3rd and 1 early in the game, and were also stout on the goal line when the Falcons had to settle for a field goal.

New England Patriots 41 at Pittsburgh Steelers 27

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

New England Patriots

Tom Brady was his efficient self, completing 14 out of 21 passing attempts for 207 yards. He completed 2 deep passes to Deion Branch and effectively spread the Steelers' defense. One was for a 60 yard touchdown pass, his first completion of the game. Another for 45 yards preceded his screen pass for a 9 yard touchdown to David Givens.

Corey Dillon found limited running room against the Steelers. He gained 73 yards on 24 carries for a 3.04 ypc number. His longest rush was for 25 yards where he scored a touchdown.

Deion Branch turned in a multifaceted game scoring both a receiving and a rushing touchdown. He led the Patriots' receivers with his 4 receptions for 116 yards catching every pass that came his way. David Givens was Brady's favorite target with 10, and managed to catch half of them for 59 yards and a touchdown as well.

The Patriots' defense was what gave the New England the edge in this game. Recording 3 interceptions, one returned by Rodney Harrison for a touchdown and a fumble recovery.

Pittsburgh Steelers

In a game where offensively the stats incredibly mirrored each other, the difference came in the turnovers. All of them given up by the Steelers.

In the first half, two interceptions thrown by Roethlisberger and an uncharacteristic fumble by Jerome Bettis led directly to 17 points of the 24 points scored in the first half by the Patriots.

Ben Roethlisberger led the Steelers to score on 4 of their 5 possessions in the second half. And he completed touchdown passes to both Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress. Ward turned in a great game with 5 receptions for 109 yards. But in the fourth quarter Roethlisberger threw his third interception, effectively ending any momentum that Pittsburgh had.

For the most part, the Patriots were successful in shutting down Jerome Bettis and the Steelers running game. But Bettis did score a 5 yard touchdown and like Dillon, his longest rush went for 25 yards.

WHAT YOU OUGHT TO KNOW

New England Patriots

QB: Tom Brady (14-21-207, 2 TD, 2 for -2 rushing) Tom Brady's first passing attempt was a 60 yard touchdown pass to Deion Branch. It was Brady's longest pass of the season. A second deep pass to Branch for 45 yards set up his 11 yard screen touchdown pass to David Givens. Brady was vintage Brady: efficient and effective.

RB: Corey Dillon (24-73, 1 TD rushing, 1-5 receiving on 1 target) Corey Dillon made an 8 yard run to finish the first half for the Patriots. It was his longest run up to that point. Dillon found his first room to run for any yardage at all in the third quarter, when he ran in 25 yards to score a touchdown. With the exception of the TD run, he found the going pretty tough against the Steelers defense.

Kevin Faulk (3-20 rushing, 0-0 receiving on 1 target) Kevin Faulk gained 17 yards on his first rushing attempt of the game.

WR: Deion Branch (4-116, 1 TD receiving on 4 targets, 2-37, 1 TD rushing) Deion Branch caught all of the targets that came his way. Branch made a great 60 yard touchdown reception during the opening quarter. He made a second deep reception for 45 yards. He also contributed to the rushing game, gaining 14 yards on an end around carry, the first offensive play for the Patriots. In the fourth quarter on another end around carry, Branch ran in 23 yards to score a touchdown.

David Givens (5-59, 1 TD receiving on 10 targets) Givens was Brady's favorite target with nearly half of his passing attempts coming to Givens. He had a pass knocked loose after a hard hit. Givens made a 9 yard touchdown reception on a screen pass to the outside where he ran in untouched to score. Givens made a catch and fumbled the ball which was recovered by Pittsburgh. The play was challenged and reversed as Givens had his knee down before the fumble and the Patriots maintained possession of the ball and gained an additional 15 yards from an unnecessary roughness penalty on Clark Haggans. On another challenged play, Givens made a catch and fell down. He wasn't down by contact and had the presence of mind to get up after flipping over and run for additional yardage. The play was challenged by Pittsburgh and overturned as Givens did not have control when the ball hit the ground. The Patriots were then forced to punt.

Troy Brown (1-11 receiving on 1 target) Troy Brown made his only catch in the fourth quarter.

David Patten (1-8 receiving on 3 targets) Patten was not a real factor in the game. He made his reception in the second quarter.

TE: Christian Fauria (1-9 receiving on 1 target) Christian Fauria made his first reception for 9 yards in the second quarter. Fauria recovered the onsides kick attempt by the Steelers that wrapped up the game for the Patriots.

Daniel Graham (1 for -1 receiving on 1 target) Daniel Graham made one reception for a loss of one yard during the first quarter.

K: Adam Vinatieri (2-2 FG, 5-5 XP) Adam Vinatieri made a 48 yard field goal attempt on the Patriots' opening drive. In the fourth quarter he made a 31 yard field goal attempt.

Pass Defense: The New England defense was crucial in this win over the Patriots, forcing the turnovers that determined the outcome of the game. Eugene Wilson pulled in two of Roethlisberger's interceptions. Rodney Harrison intercepted Roethlisberger and returned it for a touchdown. Roethlisberger only completed 14 of his 24 passing attempts. And his second touchdown came near the end of the game when the Patriots' defense was playing soft.

Rush Defense: The Patriots allowed a total of 163 rushing yards. 64 of those yards and a touchdown were to Jerome Bettis. They were able to contain Bettis for the most part, except for one long run of 25 yards. Mike Vrabel recovered Jerome Bettis' fumble on a fourth down conversion attempt for the Steelers.

Pittsburgh Steelers

QB: Ben Roethlisberger (14-24-226, 2 TD, 3 INT, 5-45 rushing) Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception during the Steelers' first drive on his first passing attempt. The pass was thrown too high and was tipped by Randle El, the intended receiver. Roethlisberger threw a second interception returned by Rodney Harrison for a touchdown. The first drive of the second half was much more productive for Roethlisberger. He completed both of his passing attempts to Antwaan Randle El for 46 yards that led to the rushing touchdown. The next drive on a fourth and 5 attempt, Roethlisberger scrambled and found Hines Ward for a 30 yard touchdown pass. He threw his second touchdown pass for 7 yards to Plaxico Burress near the end of the game. There were reports that his thumb was bothering him and that the Steelers might insert Tommy Maddox, but that never materialized. Roethlisberger's interceptions were the difference in the game.

RB: Jerome Bettis (17-64, 1 TD rushing, 1 fumble lost) Jerome Bettis fumbled and lost the ball on a fourth down conversion attempt. Bettis ran in easily to score a 5 yard touchdown during the Steelers' first drive of the second half. He made a fantastic run to gain 25 yards near the end of the third quarter. Like Corey Dillon, he found the going tough against a strong defense.

Duce Staley (10-26 rushing) Duce Staley gained 4 yards on his first carry of the game, near the end of the first quarter. He continued to get carries throughout the second quarter, but none through the second half of the game.

Verron Haynes (5-28 rushing, 1-14 receiving on 1 target) Verron Haynes saw most of his carries and his one reception when there was only 2 minutes left in the game.

WR: Hines Ward (5-109, 1 TD receiving on 8 targets) Hines Ward made a 19 yard reception on a sharply thrown pass. He also made a 28 yard reception during the second quarter. Ward scored a 30 yard touchdown in the third quarter. At the very end of the third quarter, he made a 26 yard reception on a play action pass that led to a field goal.

Plaxico Burress (3-37, 1 TD receiving on 6 targets) Plaxico Burress made a great 16 yard reception on a play action pass to make a third down conversion. Burress was targeted in the end zone, but the ball was thrown high and he wasn't able to make the catch. He made a 7 yard touchdown reception with very little time in the game.

Antwaan Randle El (3-52 receiving on 4 targets) Antwaan Randle El was the target on Roethlisberger's interception. He made a great catch to gain 34 yards which led to Bettis' touchdown run.

TE: Jerame Tuman (1-8 receiving on 3 targets) On the same drive that Tuman made his only catch of the game, he was the intended target for Roethlisberger's interception that was returned by Rodney Harrison for a touchdown.

Walter Rasby (1-6 receiving on 1 target) Rasby made a 6 yard reception in the third quarter.

K: Jeff Reed (2-2 FG, 3-3 XP) Jeff Reed made a 43 yard field goal attempt to score the first points for the Steelers. He made a 20 yard field goal at the very beginning of the fourth quarter.

Pass Defense: Like Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady only completed 14 of his passing attempts. The Steelers got a limited amount of pressure on him. Joey Porter and his college roommate Clark Haggans both recorded sacks on Brady during the third quarter.

Rush Defense: The Steelers allowed 126 rushing yards total to the Patriots. As well as two touchdowns, one by Jerome Bettis the other on an end around rush by Deion Branch.