Seahawks 41, Saints 36 - Jason winner, Dre loser - Surely, the most lopsided spread going into the weekend would turn out to be a Wild Card round classic. Much like the Packers headed to Arizona last year, expected to destroy the Cards en route to greater things, the Saints forgot to bring their A-game. Maybe they started to believe the press, that Seattle, the worst playoff team IN HISTORY (a little Bill Walton for ya there), was going to just roll over for the defending champs. A funny thing happened on the way to Qwest Field, namely the Saints left their defense on the plane. Playing as the ultimate Disrespect team, the Hawks saved their best game of the year for the champs, and Matt Hasselbeck looked like a much, much younger version of himself.
Everything looked ripe for the Saints to mount a stunning comeback. Then, this happened. There's not many times I see something in sports that truly stuns me. Not since the David Tyree helmet catch in the Super Bowl did I feel the exhilaration of knowing I was seeing an all-time great play. Marshawn Lynch, Buffalo castoff, underperformer, broke off the most amazing individual playoff effort I'd ever witnessed. If that run had been made at the end of a Super Bowl, Lynch would be remembered forever. This run will come close. Even Mike Mayock and Tom Hammond, relegated to second fiddle announcers, made the play exciting. Their announcing was pretty awful the rest of the game, but much like Lynch, they saved their best for "Beast Mode."
Jets 17, Colts 16 - Jason winner, Dre loser - Dre just couldn't see the writing on the wall this year with his Man-Crush Peyton Manning. This was probably the game of the weekend that I felt the best about, just knowing that the Jets were prime to upset the wounded and floundering Colts. The media started slurping Mark Sanchez immediately after the game, but his play hindered the Jets more than it helped. A true franchise QB would have delivered several death blows much earlier in the game than Sanchez did, and as much as I loved the Jets going into this game, I equally loathe them going to New England this upcoming week.
Ravens 30, Chiefs 7 - Jason winner, Dre loser - I'm wondering if a 911 call was placed somewhere between Chicago and Kansas City. Or maybe that bandwagon that Dre crashed had OnStar. Not satisfied with breaking down the Chefs bandwagon in Week 17, just as I managed to escape it, Dre decided he was going to drive it off the road, through the median, into oncoming traffic, and overturn it into a ditch. Jamaal Charles (or J-Chuck as I call him) gave Baltimore an early scare with a brilliant, and blazing fast, 40 yard TD run early. After that, the wheels came off the Chiefs offense. Matt Cassel threw for a woeful 70 yards. The Cheifs became pick and fumble happy. The Ravens D smelled blood in the water and delivered punishing blow after punishing blow. And for the true football fan: a rematch of Baltimore/Pittsburgh. That's gonna be a fun one to watch, folks.
Packers 21, Eagles 16 - Both winners - Expecting Mike Vick to come up big in a playoff game is asking a lot. Trust me, I'm a Falcons fan. On the other side, knocking on Aaron Rodgers for having never won a playoff game (he's only been in ONE) was equally unfair. Rodgers threw three touchdowns, but the Packers discovered something they'd lacked all season: a running game! James Starks (WHO?) ran for 120+ yards and looked like the anti-Brandon Jackson. He fought for the tough yards and gave Atlanta just enough game film to study to try to defense the newfound Packer running game. Should be an awesome game in Atlanta next week.
Here's how I rate the Division games, in terms of watchability:
- Ravens/Steelers - You hate football if you aren't excited about THIS game.
- Packers/Falcons - All the pub will be focused on the Rodgers/Ryan matchup, and for a change I'm on board with the press.
- Jets/Patriots - I'm Rex Ryan'd out, fully expecting a blowout.
- Seahawks/Bears - Dreadful, dreadful game. Seattle did win in Chicago this season, 23-20.
Playoff Recap: The season ended in a tie, so all that matters now is points. Two points are awarded for every Wild Card win.
Jason (4-0) 8 points - Shoulda gone to Vegas.
Dre (1-3) 2 points - Knows it's not gonna be good when I take lots of dogs.
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