NFL Wild Card weekend produced three one sided encounters, almost entirely devoid of drama. The fourth game in Arizona however produced more emotion, drama and excitement than any fan could ever have hoped for. While the average score in the other three games was 22, the Packers-Cardinals game went into overtime at 45-45 and a defensive touchdown from the Cardinals on the third play of overtime lifted the roof of the stadium in Phoenix.
At home, I have to fight every week to watch NFL but this game managed to grab the attention of everyone; my father, mother and two sisters. Two teams with highly effective offences and defences that were struggling equals high scoring, high octane football.
I’m not going to begrudge the cardinals their victory; they came out and made that big play in overtime when it was needed, almost immediately after missing a potentially game winning field goal, but I honestly think that it was the Packers that deserved to win. Aaron Rodgers playing in his first ever playoff game threw an interception with his first pass of the game and saw his second get picked up by Arizona after a fumble, both of which the Cardinals turned into two touchdowns. He picked himself up, dusted himself off and completed nearly 75% of his remaining passes for over 400 yards and threw 4 touchdowns. If only the Packers much lauded defence had been able to make one or two big plays, then it would have easily been the Packers marching the New Orleans next week.
That being said I don’t want to take anything away from the unbelievable performance of Kurt Warner. 29 complete passes from 33 attempts for 379 yards and five touchdowns. This gave Kurt a spectacular Quarter-Back rating of 154.1, the second highest ever in the NFL postseason.
As hard as it is, one must look ahead to next weekend. Can any of next week’s games match up in terms of drama? Well, actually, there are a couple candidates....
- Arizona Cardinals v. New Orleans Saints
Two stunning offences led by two of the best quarter-backs in the league, and both teams have been shown to have weak defences. This is gonna be a good ‘un. Despite their problems at the end of the season, I’m picking New Orleans. The week off will have helped them get their house in order and the Cardinals picked up a few knocks in their already porous defence last night. Rodgers was an inexperienced QB who had a few early errors that ended up costing Green Bay the game; Drew Brees won’t be making those mistakes.
- Dallas Cowboys v. Minnesota Vikings
The winner of this will be representing the NFC in the Superbowl. Here you have two very balanced offences, one led by the man having the season of his life, Tony Romo, and the other led by the legend Brett Favre. Crucially both of these teams have defences that have been making plays all season too. This won’t be as high scoring, as the Cardinals-Saints games, but there will still be plenty of drama. I fancy the Vikings to pip it, just. The Cowboys weren’t under any pressure at all against the Eagles, which made their lives very easy. I don’t expect them to get the same treatment from the Vikings who will also have some very, very load home support. I expect the game to be lost by the Cowboys as opposed to being won by the Vikings, if you get my drift.
- New York Jets v. San Diego Chargers
After all the Week 17 drama in the AFC, the playoffs here seem pedestrian in comparison. San Diego seem to have glided into the playoffs without causing any major drama. However star running back LaDainian Tomlinson has had a decidedly below par season, and the Chargers have become reliant on their passing game to find yards. The Jets really impressed me with the way they went about their business on Saturday. They are a tough physical team that run and run and run. Their defence clamped down on OchoCinco so hard that he didn’t get a single reception until the 4th quarter. I fancy the Jets to take this one too.
- Baltimore Ravens v. Indianapolis Colts
The ease with which the Colts made it here was almost embarrassing for the league. They could have easily gone 16-0 except that they decided to rest season MVP Peyton Manning and many other starters. Baltimore showed good hustle with their demolition of the New England Patriots, but you’d want to be a crazy man to think that there is any team in the AFC that can beat the Colts when they are full strength. The Baltimore defence did a number on Tom Brady, getting no less than three interceptions. I can guarantee you, Peyton the Nerd will have studied each of them intensely and that will not happen again. Colts to win.
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