NFL playoffs 2017: Scores, highlights and more from Sunday’s AFC, NFC Championship games

The Falcons and their juggernaut of an offense destroyed the Packers, 44-21, in the NFC Championship in what was the final game in the Georgia Dome.

And Falcons owner Arthur Blank celebrated the hell out of his team’s first trip to the Super Bowl since 1999.

On Sunday, Julio Jones became the first player in NFL history to post multiple 150-yard, two touchdown games in the postseason. He did so by using his unique, and devastating, combination of size, speed, and preternatural body control to make exceptional catches and masterful touchdowns.

How does he make the dramatic, game-changing plays that he does on such a consistent basis?

Star wide receivers like Antonio Brown want opportunities to get in the end zone for their team. That isn’t surprising, and it’s understandable.

In the second quarter of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ AFC Championship loss to the New England Patriots, DeAngelo Williams scored a rushing touchdown. According to NFL Network’s Aditi Kinkhabwala, wide receiver Antonio Brown “pouted” after the play.

On his weekly radio spot on Pittburgh’s 93.7 The Fan, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said he is considering retirement.

“I’m going to take this offseason to evaluate, to consider all options,” Roethlisberger said. “To consider health and family and things like that, and just kind of take some time away to evaluate next season, if there’s going to be a next season.”

ATLANTA — The city of Atlanta has an identity complex. It long has. It thinks it’s big time. Its push in cultural and economic growth makes Atlanta a jewel, natives insist.

But cities with broader shoulders like New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco shrug and wink, like a gentle pat on a pet’s head.

The Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots were the only two teams that didn’t disappoint during the 2017 NFL playoffs. Phrasing there is key. The flip side would be that a lot of teams impressed, but that doesn’t feel right, not when so many teams that won in blowouts went out and got blown out themselves.

It’s hard to remember a playoffs so devoid of exciting games. All but two games were decided by 13 points or more, for an average winning margin of 17.5 points. The best game was the Green Bay Packers’ epic divisional win against the Cowboys in Dallas. They followed it up by getting beat as thoroughly as any team in the playoffs, 44-21, by the Falcons in the NFC Championship.

Chris Hogan played one year of college football. He had 12 receptions for 147 yards for three touchdowns over the course of a full season.

Chris Hogan has played in one AFC Championship. He had nine receptions for 180 yards and two touchdowns over the course of 60 minutes.

Tom Brady is trying to keep warm on the sidelines of the AFC Championship in this little big number.

Of course, we cannot confirm that this is Brady and not eight children stacked on top of each other pretending to be an adult professional football player.

The New England Patriots defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 36-17 in the AFC Championship. The game took place in Foxborough, and the Patriots will advance to Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas. Here are five things you should know about this game.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had a lot of success against the Steelers in his career, especially since head coach Mike Tomlin came to Pittsburgh in 2007.

In October, the Patriots acquired linebacker Kyle Van Noy and a seventh-round pick from the Detroit Lions for the cost of a sixth-rounder. In the AFC Championship, the former All-American came up with a key strip that helped New England take a 33-9 lead over the Steelers.

One team’s trash became Bill Belichick’s treasure — and it’s not the first time the Patriots have rehabbed a formerly prized prospect on their road to a Super Bowl.

The New England Patriots are the early 3-point betting favorites over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51, per Jeff Sherman of Westgate Las Vegas Superbook.

Super Bowl 51 is a matchup of two of the top three scoring offenses in the league, with Atlanta atop the NFL at 33.8 points per game, seventh-best in NFL history, and New England third at 27.6 per game. The Patriots are tops in scoring defense, allowing just 15.6 points per game, while the Falcons allowed 25.4 points per contest, No. 27 in the league.

The Patriots and Falcons are set to face off in Super Bowl LI, with the Patriots looking to force Commissioner Roger Goodell to hand Tom Brady the Lombardi Trophy after handing him a suspension for Deflategate. It kept Brady out of the first four games of the season, and the Patriots are looking for revenge.

Sunday night, Wilson tweeted out a photo of some deflated footballs, showing that the footballs for the Super Bowl are made by their company.

In case you haven’t heard yet, the Patriots are on their way to their seventh Super Bowl in the Brady-Belichick era, after beating the Steelers 36-17.

Tom Brady was pleased with the victory, and seemed calm, cool, and collected with yet another Super Bowl appearance.

The Patriots are headed to their seventh Super Bowl appearance under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. In their cast of characters, there are some new faces, like Martellus Bennett.

After the win, Bennett made sure to have fun in celebrating, so with his championship hat on, he went over to the cheerleaders, grabbed some pom poms, and danced to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

The Atlanta Falcons are heading to Super Bowl LI after beating down the Green Bay Packers, 44-21, in the NFC Championship on Sunday. They played their last game ever in the Georgia Dome, but Sunday’s game wasn’t technically their last home game of the season. They will be the home team in Houston on Feb. 5 when they play the New England Patriots.

Being the road team is a familiar feeling for the Patriots. The last time they were in the Super Bowl two years ago, they were also considered the away team. They wore white jerseys and beat the Seattle Seahawks 28-24.

The Patriots secured their ninth trip to the Super Bowl on Sunday after knocking off the Steelers 36-17 in the AFC Championship.

In the postgame, Jim Nantz tried shaking hands with Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who instead opted to hand the trophy back to Nantz. He then looked to pass it off to Bill Belichick, who looked like he wanted no part of the trophy, but ultimately took it when called on by Nantz.

Just one game is left in the NFL season and it will decide the final two spots of the first round in the 2017 NFL Draft. But the other 30 spots are locked in after the Atlanta Falcons defeated the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship, and the New England Patriots beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship.

Green Bay got hot in the latter half of the season, but has holes to fill in the offseason. The team struggled to find a consistent face at running back and dealt with a lack of depth at cornerback and wide receiver when injuries ravaged both positions.

Final score: Patriots 36, Steelers 17

For the seventh time in the Brady-Belichick era, the Patriots are in the Super Bowl. They’ll face the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Feb. 5 in Houston, Texas. Hopefully it’s not a blowout like most of the playoff games were this year.

The Patriots are going back to the Super Bowl for an NFL-record ninth time.

Tom Brady threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns, and Chris Hogan set a franchise postseason record with 180 receiving yards to carry New England to a 36-17 victory at Gillette Stadium. The win sets up a date with the Falcons in Super Bowl LI and will give the Patriots a chance for the fifth NFL title in franchise history.

The NFC champion Atlanta Falcons will face the AFC champion New England Patriots at Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 5.

The Falcons and their league-leading offense are back in the Super Bowl for the first time in 18 years after thoroughly defeating the Packers, 44-21. Quarterback Matt Ryan has brought his MVP caliber play with him to the postseason. In two games, he’s thrown for 730 yards and seven touchdowns with no interceptions. Ryan’s regular season rating average of 117.1 is up to 132.5 in the playoffs.

For the seventh time in the last 16 seasons, the New England Patriots will play in the Super Bowl. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick will look to become the first to ever win five championship rings after the Patriots defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers, 36-17, in the AFC Championship.

It was one of the best postseason performances of Tom Brady’s career, as the 12-time Pro Bowler finished with 384 yards, three touchdowns, and no interceptions. In seven career meetings against the Mike Tomlin-led Steelers, Brady has now thrown 22 touchdowns without a single interception.

The Patriots are beating the Steelers 36-17 in the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship game, and it appears they’ll be facing the Falcons in Super Bowl LI.

This postseason, Roger Goodell has yet to make an appearance in Foxborough. He went to Seattle for the Wild Card Round, and was in Atlanta for the NFC Divisional Round. That led people to think that he would be in New England for the AFC Championship, but he opted for Atlanta a second consecutive week.

Just as it was announced during the AFC Championship that Tom Brady had tied Joe Montana’s postseason record with nine games with three or more touchdown passes, something serendipitous happened.

A snot rocket. Not even a particularly well-executed snot rocket, either.

The Patriots are looking well on their way to an appearance in Super Bowl LI, and part of their success is because of plays like the one LeGarrette Blount made in the third quarter.

With a first-and-10 on the 19-yard line, Blount carried seven Pittsburgh defenders to the goal line on a run that you typically only see in movies. He nearly made it to the end zone, before being stopped short.

Facing an important third-and-1 near midfield, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady dialed up his own number and crashed through the line on a QB sneak. Seconds later, Steelers defenders began to frantically motion they had the ball.

Brady was ruled down on the field, leading Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin to throw his challenge flag not once, but twice. As the replay was broadcast through the stadium, the Steelers’ offense prepared to take the field. Most of the angles of the play were inconclusive: