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| The NFL playoffs are officially here! (Google Images) |
The four wild card games were played this weekend to see which teams would move on to play the Broncos, the Patriots, the Packers and the Seahawks next weekend. The first kickoff was Saturday afternoon in Charlotte where the Carolina Panthers hosted the Arizona Cardinals. This was the most painful game of the weekend, as it looked more like a high school varsity matchup than an NFL playoff game.
In his defense, the Cardinals third string quarterback Ryan Lindley hasn't seen much action this year. But only completing 16 of 28 pass attempts for 82 yards (one for a touchdown) is rough, especially considering Arizona was one of the last undefeated teams earlier in the year. But on the other side of the football, the Panthers were the only team to make the postseason with a losing record. The mounted a four game winning streak to end the regular season and edge out New Orleans to clinch the pitiful NFC South at 7-8-1. Cam Newton made more headlines in recent weeks for his near fatal car accident than he has for his football prowess. Saturday against Arizona, Newton was a little better than Lindley, completing 18 of 32 passes for 198 yards, two of which were for touchdowns. Newton was picked off once, while Lindley was intercepted twice.
The majority of the game was like watching the Keystone Kops play football. Each team had three fumbles on the day and Lindley missed a couple snaps. Arizona even managed a safety in the fourth quarter to make this comedy of errors even stranger. But despite these two teams lack of playoff poise, the Panthers managed to pull away in the second half, scoring 14 points in the third quarter to best Arizona 27-16. Now Carolina will travel to Seattle to play the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks. Anything can happen in the NFL and the Panthers could win in Seattle, but a Nikon would be a more accurate "Cam" than Carolina's quarterback against Russell Wilson and the "Legion of Boom."
The second Saturday game was a more evenly matched contest with two teams who have a realistic chance of getting hot and making it to the Super Bowl. The Baltimore Ravens visited Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. The strangest sight in this game was new University of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh on the sideline with his brother John's football team. After three years of wearing red and gold in San Francisco, he looked a little odd in a purple Ravens hat and jacket.
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| Ben Roethlisberger walks to the sideline after his big hit (Google Images) |
The Steelers night was officially over when Roethlisberger was sacked by Courtney Upshaw at the Baltimore 36 and hit his head hard on the turf. He was forced to come out of the game to go through the NFL's concussion protocol and make sure he was uninjured. This meant that Bruce Gradkowski filled in under center and, in three plays, completed two passes for 22 yards and got Pittsburgh's offense to the Ravens'14 yard line. But after an incomplete pass to Martavis Bryant, Roethlisberger returned to the game. His first pass was intended for Antonio Brown, but was picked off by Baltimore's Darian Stewart in the endzone, giving the Ravens' possession with three minutes left and sealing the Steelers' fate.
Now, after beating Pittsburgh 30-17, the Ravens will head north to face Tom Brady and the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. This should be a good matchup because, while New England has been lights out at points this year, they were routed by the Chiefs in Kansas City back in week four of the regular season. On top of that, we also saw the Ravens' offense come to life against the Steelers, so this divisional matchup should work out to be a really good game.
What's better than two games on Saturday? Two more games the following Sunday! The first contest on tap was the Cincinnati Bengals matchup against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium (otherwise known as "The Drum"). Much like the Cardinals, the Bengals began 2014 as an undefeated, competitive team. But they too have fallen on harder times, one lowlight being their week 6 game against Carolina that ended in a 37-37 tie because Cincy's kicker Mike Nugent missed a 36 yard chip shot that could've won them the game.
Sunday, their game against Indy was just as disappointing, maybe even more so than that Carolina debacle. Bengals QB Andy Dalton completed just 18 of 35 passes for 151 yards en route to a 26-10 victory by Andrew Luck and the Colts. While Luck is now 3 -0 in first round post season games, the Bengals have now become the first team in NFL history to lose four consecutive first round playoff games. In their defense, the Bengals were forced to play without the services of star wide receiver because of a concussion. Also on the sideline with back problems was Bengals' tight end Jermaine Gresham. They combined for 1,051 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns in the regular season so clearly both of these men were missed.
Yes the Colts won their wild card game last season when the Kansas City Chiefs decided to hand them a 21 point lead after halftime. Yes they just beat a down and out Bengals team. Yes we are all in for more than our fair share of headlines and puns involving Luck's last name and how hot the Colts are. But now Indy travels to Mile High Stadium to take on ex- Colts quarterback Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. Manning is known as one of the greatest play callers in NFL history, making Luck's job very difficult. However, Manning is also known as someone who chokes in post season games (the safety on the first play of the Super Bowl last season?) so the Colts might stand a chance. This matchup will definitely be one to watch.
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| Apparently running through a receiver isn't pass interference (Google Images) |
The final game of the weekend between the Lions and the Cowboys was the easily the most controversial. The league is still coming out with apologies to the players in Detroit for calls that it should or shouldn't have made. Dallas trailed the entire game on the heels of Lions QB Matthew Stafford's 28 completions for 323 yards, but Detroit's 20-14 lead would soon be erased with a blown call that this game will be known for. With 8 minutes left, Dallas linebacker Anthony Hitchens was flagged for a fairly blatant pass interference call on Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew (see video and Pettigrew's thoughts on this "ridiculous" play here. h/t nfl.com). However, the flag was picked up very late by the refs and no explanation was given as to why there was no foul. The pass was ruled an incompletion and forced Detroit to punt two plays later, enabling Dallas to mount the drive that won them the game. Stafford was mic'd for sound during Sunday's game and is heard to yell "home cookin'!" after Dallas took the lead. You can watch Stafford's rant here (h/t Deadspin.com).
Then, as if just to add insult to injury, the league announced Tuesday that the refs missed a hold committed by Dallas offensive guard Ronald Leary against Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, which came on a critical fourth down that could have kept the Lions' hopes alive. This game was shades of the 2012 referee lockout that resulted in replacement officials blowing multiple big calls on an almost weekly basis.
So with all of this controversy, we head into the divisional playoff games this weekend. The Ravens kick things off in New England at 4:35pm Saturday on NBC, followed by the Panthers playing in Seattle at 8:15pm on FOX. Then on Sunday the Cowboys play the Packers in Green Bay at 1:05pm on FOX, followed by the Colts taking on the Broncos in Denver at 4:40pm on CBS.
Unlike in the Cowboys game on Sunday, let's all hope that the best team's come out on top in these crucial matchups.
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