One Wild Weekend



(AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)



The NFL seems to be a more and more a league of trends.  Every year you can pretty much count on one team going from last place in their division to first, or at least, making the playoffs.  You can also count on at least one of the previous Super Bowl contenders not making the playoffs (except this year) and the other one not making it past the Divisional weekend.  The only team in the past ten years to make it to the championship was the 2004 Patriots, who repeated as champ.  Finally, since 2004, you can count on at least two road teams winning in the Wild Card and two winning in the Divisional Series.  This held true except for 2006 when zero roads teams won in the Wild Card and in 2009 when only one Divisional road team won.

This year, if you had to pick two road teams to win in the Wild Card, it would have probably been the Saints and Ravens.  If you would have picked those two teams and the other home teams, you would have gone 1-3 this weekend as only one of those two won and the other two home teams lost.  Of the two “easy” road team picks, the only one to prove us right was the Ravens.  A team expected to compete for the AFC title went into Kansas City and took care of business.  The first half was a hard fought match but the Ravens D took control after halftime and allowed them to run away with a 30-7 victory. 

The other two road teams to win this weekend had games that were too close to pick.  The Eagles had a Week 1 rematch with a Packers team they lost to at home with Kevin Kolb starting.  This time they had Michael Vick for a full four quarters but it didn’t prove to help.  The Packers D was too good and the Eagles D would bend but broke.  As the worst D in the red zone during the season, the Eagles allowed the Packers to 3 for 3 from the red zone on this day as well.  Despite the Packers dominance, the Eagles were right in it until the end.  However, this time there would be no miracle as Vick was intercepted with less than a minute left.

The third road team to win also had to do it in the final minute of play.  With 47 seconds left the Colts lined up with the future Hall-of-Famer, Adam Vinitieri, ready to kick what is only natural for him, a game-winning field goal.  He was perfect putting the Colts up 16-14.  Now it was up to second year QB Mark Sanchez to lead his team down a short field with timing running down for another go ahead field goal.  Somehow Sanchez was able to get his team in position and Nick Folk kicked the game winner with time running out. 

(Kirby Lee/NFL)

 

Finally, the sure pick of the week…the Saints on the road against the 7-9 Seahawks.  The Saints came in as the defending Super Bowl champions and the heavy favorite.  Unfortunately their defense did not join the rest of the team in Seattle.  In the last four weeks of the season the Seahawks did not score more than 21 points in a single game and the highest point total they put out all year was 36.  Against the Saints they scored a shocking 41.   

 Am I shocked by the outcomes?  No (other than the Saints D lying down).  I expected the Ravens to go into KC and win easily and I expected the other two games to be close and coming down to the end.  I think the biggest thing that shocked me was the ineptness of the Colts coaching staff at the end of the game.  With 52 seconds left and on third down they pass the ball for an incompletion which stopped the clock with 47 seconds.  They were well within Vinitieri’s range and could have just run the ball and kicked the field goal with approximately 15 seconds remaining.  Then as the Jets are driving and settling for a long field goal attempt, the Colts coaching staff calls a time out with 30 seconds left allowing the Jets the opportunity to plan a next play and add 20 yards to the field goal attempt making it a chip shot for the win.  Someone should be fired for those blunders today.

Looking ahead we had the Jets at the Patriots and the Ravens at the Steelers in the AFC.  Both games could have easily been championship games and feature four of (possibly) the top 5 teams remaining.  In the NFC we have the Packers travelling to Atlanta and the Seahawks leaving their friendly confines to play the Bears.  As history shows us, two of the road teams may win this weekend.  If I had to pick two now, I’d pick the Ravens and the Falcons.