NFL Wildcard Weekend

Written while watching Alabama trailing by 11 late in the fourth quarter after falling behind 21-0 which was my least expected moment of the bowl games. Well, except two teams in the Sun Bowl averaging 30 points a game and finishing with a 3-0 game. Didn't they practice before going to the game? Since beating Alabama made Florida the number one team, doesn't this mean Utah should now be the number one team since they are the only undefeated team left?

I do have another thought about the Sugar Bowl. I had mentioned before how strange it is that BYU (the Mormon school) was playing in Vegas. Well, Utah isn't a Mormon based university but considering almost two thirds of the state are Mormons, a good chunk of their fan bases is also Mormon. That means the two schools with the with non-drinking religious fan base were sent to Vegas and New Orleans.

But onto the NFL. It constantly amazes me how many teams lay an egg when the playoffs are on the line. The most obvious example would be Dallas. Win and you're in. Lose by 36 and you're out. Dallas didn't even show up. Denver just needed a win to get in. Lost by 31. Chicago needed a win (and some help) to get in. Lost to Houston. Tampa was in the same shape and lost to crappy Oakland. At home. Even teams that got wins weren't all that impressive. Carolina wins and gets a bye. Needed last second field goal to beat New Orleans. If Carolina had lost, an Atlanta win would have given them the bye. They were losing late to that pathetic Rams before getting the win. Minnesota didn't know Chicago was going to lose to give them the division. Yet, with a win needed, they were taken down to the wire by the Giants' backups.

Atlanta at Arizona
Actually a tough call here. Common sense tells me that Atlanta should win. The Cardinals suck on defense. They have no running game to speak of. Of their last ten games, the only teams they beat were Seattle (twice), St. Louis (twice) and San Francisco. They also lost at New England by 40. In that same time, Atlanta beat playoff teams Minnesota, San Diego and Carolina. Still, I'm not ready to write off the Cardinals yet. Maybe I still have nostalgia for Kurt Warner's days in St. Louis when the Greatest Show On Turf was so fun to watch. However, there's other reasons to give the Cardinals a shot. Atlanta wasn't as good on the road as at home. Even wins were harder to get. Arizona only had two home losses and one was a tight game against the defending Super Bowl champs. Still, the other loss was to the Vikings by three touchdowns in their last home game. Kind of makes you worried. Two wins in their last six games is also a concern. I just get the gut feeling that the Cardinals are going to take it. So, put all your money on the Falcons. The added benefit is I'm sure Dave Spitzer will take picking against Atlanta personally.

Indianapolis at San Diego
This is another game where it seems obvious on the surface that the Colts should win. The Chargers are 8-8 and needed to win their last four games just to win a crap division. They're facing a 12 win Colts team that has won 9 straight. Still, it makes you wonder. The Colts won the games but they weren't exactly dominant in their wins. Outside of that, they only have two of those nine wins by more than a touchdown and one was the last game of the season between backups. The other was the Bengals who suck. The Chargers three losses since their week 9 bye were to playoff teams and all were close. But they did have two really close wins over Kansas City who suck. Still, if you go back over the past few years, the Chargers have matched up well with the Colts. And I know a lot of Colts fans so I wouldn't mind talking some trash about them getting beat. However, there is an x-factor. LaDanian Tomlinson may not play. Since Indy sucks against the run, that could be major. If he plays, I think the Chargers pull off the upset.

Baltimore at Miami
It was pretty funny to me that pundits were debating whether the Packers were better off without Brett Favre since the Packers record got worse while the Jets got better. Still, Favre played like crap to finish the season and the Dolphins knocked them off to take the division. Maybe the question should ask if the Jets were better off with Favre over Chad Pennington. This playoff game is between two teams out of nowhere to make the playoff, but Miami is obviously the biggest surprise since they won 1 game last year and increased that to 11 this year. With Chad Pennington who was released by the Jets after trading Favre. Now, Baltimore wasn't as big a differential, but they only won four games last year. That kind of skews things because it means their schedule didnt' include too many playoff teams. This means the Dolphins played only three playoff teams with a win over the Chargers and losses to the Cardinals and the Ravens who they are playing now. The Ravens did play six playoff teams, but they lost five of them with the only win over the Dolphins. So the real question is whether the Dolphins are better now than they were in week seven. I think they are and will be playing in the second round of the playoffs.

Philadelphia at Minnesota
Philadelphia had the longest odds of making the playoffs going into the last week. They beat Dallas and watched Tampa and Chicago lose to give them the last wildcard spot. Minnesota could have lost the last week and still won the division after Chicago lost. I'm taking Philadelphia. With their top defensive tackles banged up, I don't trust anyone on the Vikings team (or coaching staff) except Adrian Peterson. I don't think he's enough.