The Playoffs are Poop

Indianapolis Colts 15 Baltimore Ravens 6
The Colts defense did it again. The defense that gave up almost 400 yards on the ground to the Jacksonville held another good ground game in check. They also picked off Steve McNair twice, in crucial situations. Peyton Manning hasn't played well throwing 5 INTs and only one touchdown in the two playoff games. But he’s winning for a change, which is nice.
A huge turning point in the game came in the fourth quarter when Ed Reed picked off Peyton Manning. It turned out not to hurt the Colts because it was 3rd and long and the pass resulted in the same change of field position that a punt would have. And Steve McNair gave the turnover right back. The problem was, Reed lateraled the ball before he went out of bounds which could have resulted in a long return, but a whistle blew the play dead.
At that point you knew the Ravens needed a big play because their offense just wasn’t getting it done against the suddenly stout Indianapolis defense.

New Orleans Saints 27 Philadelphia Eagles 24
Probably the best game of the playoffs so far. The Eagles killed themselves with penalties particularly the false start that cost them a big first down with 2 minutes to go. Instead of going for it on 4th and 15 Andy Reid took the chickenshit way out and punted; and never got the ball back.
The game was dominated by the running backs; McAllister and Bush combined for almost 200 yards rushing and Westbrook had a great game also, including a great 62 yard touchdown run.
The Eagles just couldn’t stop the run and that was their undoing as the Saints ran it down their throats for 5 minutes in the fourth quarter.
One other highlight, the early hit by Sheldon Brown on Reggie Bush. Impressive that Bush returned and played so well.

Chicago Bears 27 Seattle Seahawks 24
The Bears escaped with a win and surprisingly, the problem was the defense, not Rex Grossman. Rex threw one TD which really wasn’t his fault. The other turnover, the fumble that set up the Seahawks second touchdown was more symptomatic of Grossman’s troubles. He refused to take a sack and ended up fumbling the ball away.
Another great turn of events (similar to Seattle-Dallas) occurred at the end of the third quarter.
With the score 24-21, Chicago was in great position to score the go ahead touchdown.
Then Seattle stopped them and forced a field goal opportunity. Advantage Seahawks.
A false start penalty gave Chicago a first down. Advantage Bears.
But Chicago couldn’t get it across and seemed likely to settle for the game-tying field goal.
Until Rex Grossman threw an interception. Advantage Seahawks.
But on the first play Matt Hasselbeck gave the interception right back. Advantage Bears.
Starting at the 32 Chicago couldn’t move the ball and chickenshit Lovie wouldn’t give Gould a crack at a 49 yard field goal, so they punted. Advantage Seahawks.
Chicago’s defense forced a three and out and Devin Hester, the Windy City Flyer, returned the punt 62 yards for a touchdown. Advantage Bears.
But Ricky Manning Jr., the Denny’s Destroyer, committed an illegal block penalty (it was a good call, and it did help spring Hester) and the return was called back. Advantage Seahawks.
All of that happened within 5 minutes of game time. But the Bears drove it down for the game tying field goal and won in overtime after taking the shackles off Grossman; he threw a 30 yard pass to Rashied Davis to set up the field goal.

New England Patriots 24 San Diego Chargers 21
Another great game in a weekend of great games. And though it didn’t go down exactly like I said it would Marty Schottenheimer did make some key mistakes while the Patriots capitalized on some opportunities.
First of all, if any other QB had played the way Tom Brady did yesterday, (say Peyton Manning or Rex Grossman) he’d be getting ripped. But Brady deserves a little slack because of his track record and his drive at the end of the game.
The Patriots drive at the end of the first half was huge psychologically to be down only 4 instead of 11.
Then in the third quarter the Chargers really started to unravel. The Pats were able to get a field goal to cut the lead to one thanks to these mistakes: a muffed punt by Parker, an illegal contact on Drayton Florence and then disastrously, a 15-yard penalty on Florence for a head butt.
And that was followed by a Rivers interception (Tomlinson should have gotten at least a 5-yard face mask penalty), but the Patriots couldn’t convert.
The Chargers drove all the way down the field, killed 5 minutes, scored a touchdown, took an 8 point lead and it looked like they had put the game away.
And then on fourth and five Brady threw his third interception of the game and Marlon McCree made a huge mistake – KNOCK IT DOWN!
He never should have caught the ball. It was fourth down. As you know he got stripped by the great Troy Brown (Robert Horry of the NFL), Marty Schottenheimer wasted a time out and Tom Brady took over. 7 yards, 12 yards, 9 yards, touchdown. And then a direct snap to Faulk for the 2 point conversion? Think Marty had the onions for that?
And when Brady got the ball back it was more of the same, setting up the game winning field goal with a 49 yard pass to Caldwell.
But San Diego had one more chance but didn’t have enough time due to the wasted time out because of a challenge, and another wasted TO after an injury time out. Also they used 25 seconds to get to the line after a 14 yard gain and another 15 seconds to get to the line after a yard gain to spike the ball. One more TO would have made a world of difference.