Handing out Grades to Every Defense on NFL Conference Championship Weekend

In the NFL's Conference Championship games this past weekend, defense was a prominent force on the grid iron. While offense is usually the main attraction, these games were highlighted by each team's defensive schemes.

Neither game was a shootout, as each title game had both teams neck-in-neck till it was all said and done.

Here are the grades for each team's defense following their Conference Championship games.

AFC Championship Game:

New England Patriots

Coach Bill Belichick is not known for having a strong defense this year. For the season, his team ranks 31st in passing yards allowed—293.9 per game. They are a little better at stopping the run, but still they sit at 17th with 117.1 yards per game.

It is tough to say though whether or not the defense was great.

From the first look of things, they only held the Baltimore Ravens to just 20 points (including a missed game-tying field goal by Billy Cundiff).  

They have been a strong offensive team this season, but they are only averaging 23.6 PPG. So the Patriots kept them on par considering the missed field goal.

It is when we get into the nitty-gritty of the details that we can see the Patriots played the defense that was expected of them.

Ravens' QB Joe Flacco did tear them up, throwing for 306 yards while completing 22 of his 36 attempts. He also had two touchdown passes while only throwing a single pick. 

The interception came at a pretty important time in the game, as the Ravens were driving down field in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter just have after the Patriots had taken the 23-20 lead with a Tom Brady rushing touchdown.

The Ravens were on the Pats' 46 after making their way from their own 20. The drive was looking good, but the ability of defense to stop it with an interception was a huge play in this game.

The running game was held in control. While the Ravens did accumulate 116 yards on the ground, the Patriots' defense was at least able to hold playmaking running back Ray Rice to just 67 yards on 21 carries.

Their ability to shut him down really helped in stopping this Ravens' offense from doing much.

Grade: B+

Baltimore Ravens

While the Ravens were on the losing side of the ball this game, no one can deny that the defense really did their part in this one.

They held Brady to zero touchdowns while throwing two interceptions on just 239 yards. That is ways away from what he did against the Denver Broncos where he threw six TDs as well as 363 yards.

The team also held the Pats to just 23 points, which was nine points less than their regular season average, and almost half of what they put up against the Broncos in the Divisional round.

This also was once again a vintage performance by the rush defense, allowing them to only gain a total of 96 yards on the ground. They held BenJarvus Green-Ellis to just 68 yards and a touchdown while the rest of the team struggled to make anything else happen on the ground.

Brady did get his score in with a rushing touchdown in the third quarter, but besides these two scores everything else came off of Stephen Gostkowski's foot (3/3 FG, 2/2 XP).

Cornerback Jimmy Smith kept the team in the game late in the fourth quarter as he picked off Brady right after Ravens' QB Flacco threw one of his own. The offense was unable to make anything happen as they failed to convert on fourth down at the Patriots' 33.

The defense once again stopped the Patriots with 1:44 still left on the clock, which led up to the missed field goal by Cundiff. You can't say the defense didn't do their part.

Players like linebacker Ray Lewis and safety Ed Reed played great games as expected, but the offense just couldn't finish the job that the defense began.

Grade: A-

NFC Championship Game:

San Francisco 49ers

For the 49ers, the ability to get this far into the season was relied heavily on their defense. They were one of the best defensive teams in the league and they just didn't really look completely like themselves on championship Sunday.

First of all, the rushing defense was spot on. This team was the best in the league, only allowing their opposition to get 77.3 yards per game this season.

They did a great job in stopping the dual threat that is Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw, holding the two to just 87 yards. Neither man managed to score, making the challenge even greater to QB Eli Manning.

Manning responded, completing 32 of his 58 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns. He had no picks for the game, once again having yet another dominating performance in the post season.

This result was somewhat worse than what they have managed to do all season, as teams have typically thrown for just 230.9 yards per game on them.

The team did nothing unexpected though, as last week they allowed New Orleans Saints' QB Drew Brees to throw for 462 yards and four touchdowns in the divisional round.

While many thought Manning was an easier opponent, many seem to forget that he too nearly threw for 5,000 yards this season.

This game was close, but the 49ers could have easily won this game if their pass defense would have shown up.

Sure, giving up just 17 points during regulation is nothing to complain about, but they could have stopped that TD pass to Manningham in the fourth quarter.

Manning was just finding a way around them.

The defense was able to get into the backfield several times, recording six sacks on No. 10.

They did hold the Giants to just 7 of 21 on third down attempts, which was really all you could ask for. Unfortunately, one of those conversions was the previously mentioned touchdown pass.

Grade: B

New York Giants

After stopping Aaron Rodgers and the 15-1 Green Bay Packers in last week's divisional round, the G-Men looked strong yet again in their game against the 49ers this past weekend.

With their opposition coming off a 36 point game against the Saints in their divisional round match, it was clear that it was going to be tough to stop quarterback Alex Smith and his favorite target, tight end Vernon Davis. Not to mention that even running back Frank Gore can make some serious noise as well.

Well, the Giants were out to prove to the world that their play at Lambeau was not a fluke, and they did just that at Candlestick Park.

After Smith had a four touchdown performance for 299 yards against the Saints, they managed to hold him to just 196 yards and two scores.

The team had no interceptions, but they did force two fumbles on special teams as kick returner Kyle Williams managed to lose two of them.

While the team did hold Gore to just 74 yards, he did a pretty fine job considering he got the rock only 16 times.

Smith was actually able to find a lot of room on the ground, putting together a string of six carries that totaled 42 yards. 

The main threat for the Giants, which they couldn't stop, was Davis. For this game, the big tight end had just three receptions, but they were good for 112 yards and two touchdowns.

Luckily they were able to hold the team off late, otherwise this one could have easily gone the other way.

They stopped the 49ers on their first drive in overtime, and if it wasn't for a fumble by Williams on the punt return who knows how this game would have turned out.

Grade: B+

Jeff Chase is a featured columnist for the Chicago Cubs and Arizona State football.