Playoffs!

An exciting first round with a few surprises but all four home teams won and I gave you 3 of 4 winners and also went 3 of 4 against the spread.

Indianapolis 23 Kansas City 8
I must say I was shocked that the Colts defense played this well. It would have been surprising for any team to shut down Larry Johnson that way, but for the Colts to do it; that was unfathomable. But it happened. I saw it with my own eyes. First drive, two carries for two yards; three and out. Second drive, one carry for one yard; three and out. And the third drive was the killer. Peyton Manning had his usual breakdown and threw a ball right at Ty Law. Law returned it to the 9, then LJ took it to the 3. But the Chiefs couldn’t punch it in, and then they missed the field goal. And that was that. LJ ended up with only 32 yards. But Manning threw 3 interceptions, continuing his playoff legacy.

Seattle 21 Dallas 20
One of the craziest endings I have ever seen. We can skip the first part of the game because it wasn’t that interesting. The game didn’t pick up until about 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter. That’s when a pass interference penalty gave Seattle the ball at the 1. Looked like a tie game.
Then Alexander got stopped for a 7 yard loss and the Cowboys held and took over on downs. Looked like a Cowboys victory.
Terry Glenn fumbled on the first play, Seattle recovered it in the endzone. Looked like a tie game.
Replay showed that Lofa Tatupu’s foot was on the line when he knocked the ball back in bounds, safety. Looked like Cowboys would pull it off, but they had to free kick it back to Seattle.
Four plays later a great deep ball thrown to Jerramy Stevens gave Seattle the lead. Looked like a Seahawks victory.
The Cowboys ripped off a nice drive and when Julius Jones took it 35 yards to the 11; it looked like a Cowboys victory.
Then came the Jason Witten play. He got a first down inside the 1, no chance for the Seahawks to get the ball back. Looked like a sure Cowboys victory.
After the review, Witten was marked short but it still looked like a Cowboys victory.
The ball is snapped, it’s dropped by Romo. Looks like a Seahawks victory.
But Romo has running room. Looks like Cowboys could win.
Romo gets dragged down. Seahawks win!

New England 37 New York 16
The Jets hung close in this one for most of it; the final score is very misleading. They were even in good position to win it after that long bomb to Cotcherry. But the Patriots hammered back and the game turned on a heads up play by Vince Wilfork who Mrs. Poop earlier in the game derided as a fat shit. Had a thinner player been alert enough to scoop up that backwards lateral, it would have resulted in a touchdown.
That resulted in a field goal; making it a 10 point game. And ending the Jets chances. The last touchdown on the Samuel pick was just to make the gamblers happy.

Philadelphia 23 New York 20
A good back and forth game that featured great play by both little backs; Tiki Barber in his last game ever, and Bryan Westbrook who had a long return touchdown negated by penalty. Speaking of penalties, the Giants shot themselves in the foot again. Jon Runyan committed a blatant penalty that would have set the Eagles back 15 yards but the Giants (not sure if it was Cofield or Robbins) had to knock Runyan down for offsetting penalties. Instead of 1st and 25, it was like the incident never happened and the Eagles went on a touchdown drive to make it 17-10.
The Giants offense then sputtered on three consecutive drives, but a long pass interference penalty gave them a field goal which made it a one score game.
And they got that score despite three straight penalties that set them up for a 1st and 30, which they converted. But the Giants defense couldn’t get off the field and David Akers kicked the game-winning field goal.