The NFL is Poop - Divisional Playoffs

Green Bay Packers 42 Seattle Seahawks 20
It took the Seahawks 3 minutes to get a 14-0 lead thanks to two fumbles by Ryan Grant. But the Packers scored touchdowns the next 6 times they had the ball turning this game into a laugher. Ryan Grant followed up the worst 3 minutes of his career with the best 57 minutes of his career, rushing for 201 yards and 3 touchdowns. He had runs of 26, 24, 43 and 28 yards. The Seahawks could not tackle him.



And Brett Favre played like the little boy everyone says he is. Normally his freewheeling plays result in interceptions but his signature play in this game was an underhanded pass to Donald Lee as Favre was stumbling. It turned into an 11 yard gain on 3rd and 8 and put the Packers on the 3 yard line setting up the touchdown that made the score 28-17.



The Beautiful Game
Despite the fact that this game was the most one sided of all the games this weekend, it might have been the most fun. The weather was awesome. The field was clear at the start of the game, and by the third quarter it was completely covered and shovelers were coming out to clean the yard lines after every play. Must have been a great game on HD, make you feel like you need to put on a hat and gloves.





New England Patriots 31 Jacksonville Jaguars 20
The Jaguars game plan was supposed to be "run and stop the run" and that may have been it, but it didn't work. Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew rushed 19 times for 66 yards. And on the other hand Laurence Maroney ran for 122 yards and a touchdown. The Jaguars got very little pressure on Tom Brady and forced the Patriots into zero turnovers, and made 2 of their own. And despite all that, the Jags stayed in the game. Until the middle of the fourth quarter the Jags had 6 possessions, 2 TDs, 2 FGs, a punt and a fumble. Up to that same point the Pats had 6 possessions, 4 TDs, 1 FG and 1 missed FG. This script is very similar to other recent New England games, they don't stop anyone, but they don't get stopped either.



San Diego Chargers 28 Indianapolis Colts 24
What the Chargers did in this game was truly amazing considering they didn't have LaDanian Tomlinson for much of the game and Billy Volek led their final scoring drive. This game was full of big plays (touchdowns of 25, 30, 56 & 55 yards, not including Antonio Cromartie's 89 yard interception return for a touchdown that was called back) and lead changes (neither team scored twice in a row, every score was matched). Improbably, maybe even impossibly, Billy Volek led the Chargers on the final 78 yard touchdown drive, though it was fortuitously extended by a facemask on Marlin Jackson after an incomplete pass on 3rd down. Lucky for him Peyton Manning has his Super Bowl ring because he threw for 400 yards in this loss. Manning also threw two crucial interceptions deep in San Diego territory, but they both came on tipped passes. But when Manning had one final chance (actually two final chances), the Chargers stopped them on 4th down both times.





Coaching Decisions
Tony Dungy absolutely made the right move to try for a touchdown on their first trip to the red zone instead of a field goal that would have made the score 28-27 with 2:01 left. Part of the reason why it seemed like it could have worked is because they gave San Diego such horrible field position. If they kick the field goal, then they have to go for an onsides kick, which probably isn't as likely as that 4th down play. Plus because they got stopped with 2:01, they earned an extra timeout. But Norv Turner made a bad move by running the ball on 3rd and 4 from the 13 with 1:49 left. You need to make that first down. Luckily for Turner the Chargers got a great punt, and a huge defensive stop.

New York Giants 21 Dallas Cowboys 17
The incredible New York Giants have now won 9 straight road games. Eli Manning played a great game, not making any mistakes and leading his team on some key drives to win his second playoff game. The key to the game was Manning leading a touchdown drive to tie the game in the last minute of the first half. The Cowboys had just gone on a 20 play drive getting to 3rd down every time (except once they converted on second down) and coming through every time and using up 10 and a half minutes. But Manning got a long pass to Steve Smith, a short pass to Steve Smith (with a penalty added on) then a long pass to Kevin Boss which set up the touchdown. The Giants really got a boost out of that drive. The Giants defense played great in the second half, and similar to the Chargers, they made 2 key stops to seal the victory.




Sob Story
After the game a choked up T.O. cried while telling the media not to blame this loss on Tony Romo's Mexico tryst with Jessica Simpson and her parents.





There are only 2 explanations to why T.O. behaved like this, and neither of them is that he is a good teammate. Remember he was the first one to bring up that Jessica should stay home because she was a distraction. Either T.O. was being completely insincere and he was acting like that to seem like a good guy (why was he wearing sunglasses unless he knew he was going to cry?) or he is manic depressive and goes through really high highs and really low lows (remember the attempted suicide?) But I wouldn't be surprised at all if 3 months from now in an interview if T.O. begins to sabotage his Cowboys stint with a remark about Romo's vacation and how it hurt the team.

Games of Next Week
San Diego Chargers at New England Patriots
The Chargers are angry but if Tomlinson, Rivers and Gates are gimpy they have no chance of keeping up with the Patriots scoring machine.

New York Giants at Green Bay Packers
The warm weather Giants will get a decidedly frigid game against a team that loves that loves the bad weather. This one should be a doozy.