Tuesday 24 January 2017 10:31, UK
And then there were two.
The other 30 NFL teams will be sitting on the sofa like the rest of us on Sunday February 5 as the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons battle for Super Bowl glory.
Here are six storylines that caught my attention as the champions of the AFC and NFC were crowned at the conclusion of two very dominant performances on Sunday night.
Tom Brady has already secured his NFL greatness with six Super Bowl appearances and a quarterback-record four wins in the big game. So he is entering 'build him a statue' status now after leading New England to a 36-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.
Brady threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns, spreading the ball around to nine different receivers and now stands just one victory away from the top of the quarterback mountain.
If he can find his way past the Falcons in Houston, he will break a tie with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw with four Super Bowl wins. That really would put the cap on a Hall of Fame career, that does not appear to be coming to an end any time soon.
We had heard for several weeks how Aaron Rodgers was "in the zone" and closing in on a second Super Bowl appearance. Instead, Atlanta's Matt Ryan stole the show in a 44-21 win, throwing for 392 yards and four touchdowns en route to his first visit to the big game.
Ryan looked in top form as he threw passes to eight different receivers and he even ran in a score, which is a rarity for this not-so-fleet-footed signal-caller. He certainly benefits from outstanding talent around him but deserves a great deal of praise for Atlanta's run to glory.
This was a big playoffs for Ryan, who came in with a post-season record of one win and four losses. He stands just one victory from making history and if he can slay the NFL's most successful quarterback in the process, that would significantly enhance his own legacy.
Julio Jones looks like a grown man who has joined a game that is being played by seven-year-olds in the local park. He beasted Green Bay Packers defensive backs on Sunday night.
The Packers tried to maul Jones at the line of scrimmage and were simply holding on for dear life at times. It made no difference. This is a tight end-sized receiver who cannot be stopped, and he caught nine passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns on his way to the Super Bowl.
Jones is going to present quite the challenge for Bill Belichick in Houston, and how New England deal with him will be one of the huge chess matches in the game.
When the Patriots signed Chris Hogan to their squad in free agency last spring, it was deemed to be a classic Belichick move, adding a whip-smart veteran who does things the right way and constantly finds a way to get open.
Hogan has been a fitter and more explosive Danny Amendola in New England and on Sunday he exploded for Julio-like numbers of nine catches for 180 yards and two scores.
Adding smart, disciplined and reliable veteran talent like this each season is another reason why the Patriots are regularly contending for Super Bowl honours.
Both these Super Bowl teams have very good defences. The Patriots led the league in scoring defence in 2016 and only conceded their second touchdown to Pittsburgh in garbage time on Sunday night.
Well-disciplined and smart, the Patriots are the perfect example that being in the right place at the right time is way more valuable than having a defence filled with athletic monsters, even though their players are no slouches when it comes to moving around the field either.
And the Falcons have morphed into an aggressive, young, fly-to-the-football group in the second half of the 2016 season. Brady and Ryan garner plenty of headlines, but these two units will have a big say in the securing of the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
The Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers are not about to go into a huge slump. Rodgers said after Sunday's game that the Packers need a re-load and not a re-build. They simply ran out of bodies on offence in the NFC title game, were paper thin in the secondary and showed up some weaknesses on that side of the ball.
As for the Steelers? It hurt to lose Le'Veon Bell and they missed opportunities to score touchdowns in New England. But the defense is showing signs of waking up and any offence that has Bell, Antonio Brown (who was a non-factor) and Ben Roethlisberger is going to be competitive.
Both teams have a shot at advancing deep into the playoffs next season.
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