Wildcard Recap

Well, went 3 for 4 in my Wildcard picks. Wasn't too surprised by any of the outcomes. I think New England needs to worry about their future, because the Jets have a lot in place for next year and Brady's internet porn predilection isn't a good offseason workout. It's not really a throwing motion. Except maybe in rugby. In the Colts/Chiefs game, I was right about Peyton Manning going into playoff choke mode as he threw three interceptions. Unfortunately I was wrong about poor coaching being even between Tony Dungy and Herm Edwards. Edwards really went into the tank this week. I've seen more imaginative play calling in Pong. Lousy run defenses can be effective by stacking the line if you don't open things up. It was the end of the third quarter before Tony Gonzalez stopped blocking and began running routes. Let me repeat that. The Chiefs second best offensive weapon spent 75% of the game blocking. You're already down 16-0, dumbdick. Why did the Chiefs go conservative? The only reason they were even in the playoffs was because the Bengals spit the bit in week 17. What did they have to lose?

Now, the NFC games were a lot more interesting even if Jared Lorenzen only got in for one play. Peyton's little brother Eli showed him how to really choke in the playoffs. Now, Plaxico Burress almost screwed it up by making great plays on Eli's errant passes. In Eli's defense, Plaxico usually comes up small in big games, so Eli had every reason to believe his choke job would be helped by throwing it to Burress. Still, in the end, the Eagles came back to win it on University of Louisville product David Akers' last second field goal. Akers also went to high school with Jon Connor and the Dancing Fat Guy I met on the plane to Chicago, but he was just some soccer player there.

Speaking of field goals, it's usually helpful to a kicker for the holder to actually hold the ball. Case in point, the last-minute-probable-game-winning-field-goal by Martin Gramatica (of the famous Gramatica Brothers Gourmet School of Dumbass Kickers) didn't quite have the distance for Dallas because Tony Romo didn't actually catch and spot the snap. Kind of a big fall for Romo who was linked with Jessica Simpson and then Carrie Undersomethingorother. Now, he's probably going out with Clay Aiken. After watching Romo's palpable anguish in his postgame interview after killing any chance Dallas had to make the next round of the playoffs, I probably shouldn't enjoy it so much. Except, one, I hate the Cowboys. And two, I've always hated the Cowboys. Keeping Terrell Owens from advancing to the second round was just gravy.