The Jets run their way to a wild card victory and other NFL playoff thoughts

(1) Last week, I read an article that argued that the tried and true approach for winning playoff football, strong running game and strong defense, had gone the way of the dinosaurs. The author argued that the NFL had become a passing league, so a team like the New York Jets, who lived by the running game and were severely limited in the passing game, would never be successful. I guess the Jets didn’t get the memo because they won their wild card match-up by running the football and playing stellar defense. Rookie Shonn Greene led the way with 135 yards and a touchdown as the Jets ran the football 41 times overall. Greene’s total was tied for the third highest by a rookie in his postseason debut since the merger. It was also tied for the second highest single-game total in Jets postseason history. The running game also produced the first big play of the day for the Jets as Greene took a misdirection pitch from Mark Sanchez 39 yards for a touchdown. The Bengals were so out of position on the play that Greene didn’t have to make any moves to get into the end zone. The play swung the momentum to New York, which allowed them to build a 21-7 lead before holding off a mild comeback by Cincinnati. The running game also took all of the pressure off of Sanchez, who played like he had earlier in the season when he was the toast of the NFL and was given the moniker “The Sanchize.” Sanchez finished the game 12 out of 15 for 182 yards and a game-changing 45-yard touchdown connection with Dustin Keller. Actually, Sanchez’s performance against the Bengals was the second highest completion percentage in a postseason debut in which the QB attempted at least 15 passes. Sanchez looked the part of a grizzled veteran, while his childhood hero, Carson Palmer, looked like the deer in the headlights rookie. I can’t blame Palmer too much for freezing up on the big stage because the Jets defense is as unpredictable as they come. Coach Rex Ryan loves to dial up pressure from a plethora of angles in an attempt to thoroughly confuse the opposing signal-caller, which was achieved with perfection against Palmer. He looked out of sorts all day long as the Jets berated him with pressure so oppressive that he could barely complete 50% of his attempts. New York only sacked Palmer three times, but they regularly collapsed the pocket, which completely disconnected the Bengals’ passing game. It certainly didn’t help that Chad Ochocinco disappeared for the second game in a row after being erased by Darrelle Revis. It got so bad for Ochocinco that Rodney Harrison joked at halftime that Chad should pay someone to kidnap Revis. As a result, Palmer was left to attack the New York defense with Laveranues Coles, Andre Caldwell and Quan Cosby. Those three guys don’t exactly strike fear into any opponent. It also didn’t help that Shayne Graham missed two field goals, which would have made the end of the game much more interesting. In the end, the game played out like so many before it. The team that ran the football, played the best defense and limited their mistakes won the game.

The reward for the Jets is a cross-country flight to play the hottest team in the NFL. It will be interesting to see if the well-rested Chargers can flip the switch and beat a team that is imposing their will on their opponents. The Jets have won games this season when they have kept the score close by running the football and playing stout defense. If they can find a way to make this happen in sunny San Diego, then they will have a great chance to steal a win on the road. They have to keep contact with the Chargers because the Jets have no chance to go score-for-score with the dynamic offense led by Phillip Rivers. I like the Chargers to win this game for three reasons. First of all, I don’t think that the Jets will be able to match-up against the basketball players masquerading as NFL wide receivers that play for San Diego. All of the primary pass catchers for San Diego, including tight end Antonio Gates, are 6-4 or taller. They present the biggest mismatch problems in the NFL. I respect Darrelle Revis a great deal, but I think he is going to be challenged immensely by the height and physical approach of Vincent Jackson. Let’s not forget that Malcolm Floyd has emerged as a great complement to Jackson and I don’t think that the Jets have anyone that can contain Gates. Secondly, I think that Shawn Merriman and company are going to get after Sanchez in a way that the Bengals were unable to accomplish. The Bengals didn’t generate nearly enough pressure to force Sanchez into one of his signature rookie moments. As a result, Sanchez happily handed the ball off to Greene and Thomas Jones and gleefully made a couple big plays in the passing game. The Chargers will not allow him to get comfortable, which will lead to two or more turnovers from The Sanchize. Finally, I think that the Chargers have the superior special teams. Darren Sproles is more than capable of making huge plays in the return game and I feel that Nate Kaeding is one of the best kickers in the NFL. If Jay Feely has to pull double duty again, then I fully expect one special teams’ mistake to allow San Diego to make a big play. The Jets have the cards stacked against them, but if they can impose their style on the game then I think their chances to win will improve dramatically. However, any change to the ideal script is going to lead to a playoff loss.

(2) The Dallas Cowboys have picked a fine time to become the juggernaut that everyone has always believed they would become. After exorcizing their December demons, the Cowboys threw another monkey off their backs by earning their first playoff victory since 1996. The only thing that made it sweeter was that it came at the expense of their hated NFC East rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. I’m guessing that the next time that the Eagles have to play Dallas will be too soon for football fans in eastern Pennsylvania. The Eagles steam-rolled the rest of the NFL, but they had no answers for the boys with the blue star on their helmets. Frankly, they did not resemble a playoff team at all when they played Dallas, especially the last two weeks. Following their shutout of the Eagles last week, the Cowboys took all off the suspense out this match-up on the strength of a 27-point outburst in the second quarter. Tony Romo threw two touchdowns during the quarter and the rout was on. Despite the fact that the game was plagued by penalties (23 penalties for 228 yards), this game looked like a work of art on the level of a Picasso for Dallas fans. The Cowboys dominated the time of possession behind 198 yards rushing, a mistake-free performance from Romo and 27 first downs. Their defense sacked Donovan McNabb four times and forced four turnovers. The Eagles were never able to get their running game going and McNabb was nearly as awful as Carson Palmer. As a result of their defensive domination, the Cowboys offense regularly had short fields, which resulted in four scoring drives of 55 yards or less. Outside of a 76-yard laser beam from Mike Vick to Jeremy Maclin, the Cowboys were once again able to completely disarm the big play offense of the Eagles. The Cowboys defense saved their best for DeSean Jackson, who got a Twitter post full of humble pie from a Dallas defense that was hell-bent on preventing him from getting loose for any game-changing plays. Jackson was targeted seven times by McNabb, but was only able to snare three catches. The Cowboys are a bad match-up for the Eagles. On offense, they maul the smallish Eagles defense with their three-headed rushing attack and a series of quick hitting pass plays to Miles Austin, Patrick Crayton and Roy Williams. On defense, they have the pass rushers to discombobulate McNabb and the speed on the outside to run with Jackson and Maclin. After finally shaking their playoff label of being chokers and underachievers, the Cowboys can focus on the Minnesota Vikings with clear minds.

I think that the game against Minnesota is the most interesting game of the divisional round. I believe that these two teams are carbon copies of each other. They both have quarterbacks with reputations of being gun-slingers. Both quarterbacks are masters at buying time with their feet or by doing a pirouette or by ducking under a defender. They both have multi-faceted running games predicated on the play of their offensive lines. The Vikings have the better running back in Adrian Peterson, but the Cowboys counter with depth that most teams only dream about. Both of their offensive lines are big and nasty. They both have strong defenses led by their defensive lines. The Cowboys have DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer and the Vikings have Jared Allen and the Williams brothers. Let’s not forget that the Cowboys have an emerging star at defensive tackle in Jay Ratliff. Despite the fact that these teams are so similar, I think that Dallas is going to get it done. They are playing better football then the Vikings and they are playing with a high level of confidence after ending their December nightmares and dispatching their playoff disappointments. I was tempted to go with the Vikings due to their home field advantage, but I think that the Cowboys will start fast and take the Metrodome crowd out of the game. Ultimately, I think the outcome is going to be close, but Dallas holds off the Vikings to advance to their first NFC championship game since the early 90’s.

(3) Have you ever been around an old dog? They are a step too slow, they can barely see and they have lost control of their bladder. They still might have flashes of their old brilliance, but everyone knows that the end is near. The finality of the situation is made even more apparent when you see the old dog playing with the family’s new puppy. The puppy is running circles around the older one and the older one just gets more and more frustrated because he can’t keep up. I was reminded of this kind of situation while watching the New England-Baltimore game. The Patriots played the role of the battered and bruised old dogs, while the Ravens ran circles around them with youthful canine exuberance. This game was basically over before it even started. The Patriots entered the game without their sparkplug, Wes Welker, and the Ravens made sure that no one else on the roster was going to provide the spark either. Baltimore’s Ray Rice hit an 83-yard touchdown run, the second longest rushing TD in playoff history, on the first play from scrimmage and the Ravens never looked back. Baltimore took advantage of three Tom Brady first quarter turnovers to score 24 points and the rout was on. The Ravens’ explosion in the opening stanza was the second most points scored in the opening quarter in playoff history. The big, early lead meant that the Ravens could rely on Rice, Willis McGahee and Le’Ron McClain, who outran and overpowered the Patriots to the tune of 234 yards rushing on an astonishing 52 carries. The Patriots rushing defense was so porous that the Ravens only attempted 10 passes the entire game. If I would have told you that Joe Flacco would only have 34 yards passing in the game, you would have told me that the Patriots won the game in a rout. That, my friends, is why they play the game. Despite entering the game as slight underdogs, the Ravens were the aggressors and, therefore, the better team. They harassed Brady to the point that he committed four turnovers and submitted the worst passer rating of his playoff career. Brady was so shook up by the experience that he started making mistakes that a rookie would make like the inexplicable interception that he threw into the middle of the field after getting pressured out of the pocket. Quarterbacks learn at an early age to never throw the ball against your body back to the middle of the field, but Brady failed the remedial lesson nevertheless. In the end, the Ravens snapped the Patriots’ home playoff win streak at 11 games, handing New England its first home playoff loss since 1978. The reward for possibly putting the final nail into New England’s coffin is an all-expenses paid trip to Lucas Oil Stadium to battle the number one seed Indianapolis Colts.

The Ravens should be very familiar with the Colts and very motivated to get their revenge after losing 17-15 to Indianapolis earlier in the year. The Ravens lost the game because they couldn’t finish drives, going 0-4 in the red zone and settling for five Billy Cundiff field goals. The Colts did everything to hand the game to Baltimore, but they were able to overcome three turnovers thanks to Peyton Manning’s 41st game-winning drive of his career. For Baltimore to beat the Colts this time around, they need a repeat performance from their defense and another big day from their running attack. More importantly, they have to get something from Joe Flacco. If Flacco throws up another stink bomb like he did against the Patriots, the Ravens are heading home for the winter. I believe that Flacco has to play about 70% as well as Manning because he has a better running game and a defense that is playing at a high level. Nevertheless, I like the Colts to advance to the AFC Championship game. First and foremost, I give them the edge because they have home field advantage. Lucas Oil is going to be rocking and I fully expect Flacco to have a couple brain fart moments due to the noise and pressure. More importantly, I like the Colts because they have the best closer in the game. Manning is not only the newly minted MVP, but he is also the greatest clutch performer in the NFL. With Manning at the controls, the Colts always have a chance. Manning’s mere presence gives the Colts a little more room for error. In the end, I think that Manning makes at least four or five big plays, the Colts get enough out of their running game and Flacco folds a bit under the pressure, which all leads to an Indianapolis victory.

(4) Thank goodness for the Packers and Cardinals lighting up the scoreboard because the rest of the wild card weekend was about as boring as a piece of white bread. Two of the other games were over early and the Jets-Bengals game was never as competitive as the score may have suggested. Fortunately, the Packers staged an epic comeback and nearly escaped the desert with the first playoff victory of Aaron Rodgers’ career. Even in defeat, Rodgers ended a marvelous season on a high note and continued to demonstrate the wisdom of Ted Thompson when he chose Rodgers over Favre two summers ago. Rodgers set the Packers single-game postseason record with 422 yards, which carried Green Bay to its highest playoff point total in franchise history. The most amazing part is that the previous record holder for most single-game passing yards in Green Bay history was not Brett Favre. Lynn Dickey actually set the record back in 1983 when he torched the Dallas Cowboys for 332 yards passing. Rodgers was not the only quarterback that was dealing in this game. Kurt Warner ensured that this would not be his last game in a Cardinals uniform by throwing more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4). Warner actually joined Daryle Lamonica as the only players to have a pair of playoff games with at least five passing touchdowns. If the rumors of Warner’s impending retirement are true, then he has definitely left a lasting memory for Cardinals fans. The other thing that I liked from the Cardinals is how their third and fourth wide receivers stepped their games up in the absence of Anquan Boldin. Steve Breaston led the way with 125 yards, which included a number of acrobatic catches. In addition, little known Early Doucet made sure that Arizona would move on by catching two touchdown passes and doing his best Boldin impersonation. If Boldin is still unavailable in the divisional round, then you have to think that the Cardinals will be all right after what Breaston and Doucet did against the Packers.

It was fitting, in a game that would become the highest scoring playoff game in NFL history, that a defensive player would make the play of the game. After getting the football first in overtime and getting called for a holding penalty that would set them back 10 yards, the Packers snapped the football on what would become the last play of the game. The Cardinals, as they had done on numerous occasions during the game, sent Michael Adams off the edge in an attempt to force Rodgers into a mistake. Rodgers did not see Adams coming, fumbled the ball on impact and inadvertently kicked the ball into the waiting hands of Karlos Dansby, who waltzed into the end zone with the game-clinching touchdown. It was ironic that the Packers lost the game because Rodgers held onto the football way too long just as he did on a regular basis earlier in the season. It is important to give Arizona credit for forcing the issue in overtime and making the play to win the game. Nevertheless, I think that the zebras deserve a little credit as well after they effectively swallowed their whistles in a critical two-play sequence to end the game. On second-and-10 from the Green Bay 20-yard line, Rodgers completed a 14-yard pass that was called back due to a holding penalty on the offensive line. As Rodgers released the football, he suffered a clear helmet-to-helmet hit from one of the Arizona defensive linemen that went uncalled. I don’t know if the personal foul would have trumped the holding call, but, at the very least, it would have been off-setting penalties and the down would have been replayed. Instead, Green Bay faced a second-and-20. After hitting James Jones for another 14-yard completion, the Packers faced a third-and-six. On the last play of the game, Adams clearly grasped Rodgers’ facemask as he stripped the football. Unfortunately, the refs didn’t see this penalty as well. It will be a tough pill to swallow for Green Bay, but I still think that Arizona deserved to win the game even if it came with a slight assist from the guys in the striped shirts.

Arizona now gets the chance to knock off the top seeded New Orleans Saints. I’m hoping for another shootout. Maybe they can score a combined 100 points this time. I think the biggest key to the game is if the Saints can start fast. Will they need a quarter to get acclimated to playing football again? New Orleans played so poorly down the stretch that I honestly don’t know what to expect. They could come out like a house on fire or they could get completely steam-rolled. Neither result would surprise me in the least. Honestly, I think that this match-up is the biggest toss-up of the divisional round. I think that we are going to see a high-scoring affair and the last team with the football will win the game. The Saints should get a boost from their fanatical fans and the Cardinals should play well early because they have not had an extended break like New Orleans. When the adrenaline wears off and execution takes over, I believe that both offenses will make their fair share of plays against overrated defenses and the scoreboard will light up like the Fourth of July. In the end, I like the Cardinals for two reasons. First of all, they have a super-clutch quarterback, playing at high-level that wants to make his NFL farewell memorable. Warner also needs some more big moments to improve his case for induction into the Hall of Fame. I think that the quarterback match-up is fairly even, but Warner makes a couple more big plays and leaves the Superdome with a victory. The other reason that I like the Cardinals is because they seem to have developed a knack for winning playoff games. I counted them out three times last season and they nearly won the Super Bowl. I didn’t really think they were going to beat the Packers last week, but they made me eat crow once again. Basically, I’m tired of picking against them. Ultimately, I think that they use their experience from the last two seasons to get to consecutive NFC Championship games.

(5) Before I start talking about the Seahawks, can someone please queue up the Barnum & Bailey theme music? Also, I need someone one to tell me when did we start to make personnel moves like the Cleveland Browns or the Oakland Raiders? I feel like I’m in some kind of bizarro world, where one of the best run franchises of the last decade start to make decisions by throwing darts at the wall. I fully expect to see Bob Whitsitt come striding through the door to reclaim his job as President/General Manager. What the hell is going at the VMAC? First of all, we run Mike Holmgren out of town despite some evidence that he had changed his mind about walking away from being the head coach. The Steve Hutchinson situation might have started the decline of the Seahawks, but the decision to part ways with a Hall of Fame coach greatly accelerated the journey to mediocrity. Secondly, we endured another lost season, where the injuries piled up once again, the coach seem to lose the locker room and several receivers took to the airwaves to bad mouth fans, coaches and local radio personalities. Third, our general manager decided to take his ball and go home when the Hawks refused to grant him a contract extension despite the fact that the season still had five weeks remaining. As a result, the head coach had to field questions that would have been better posed to the man running the football operation. I think it is ridiculous that Ruskell decided to run for the hills instead of finishing the season. Fourth, the Hawks pull a hatchet job on Jim Mora five days after the season despite the fact that he only got one season with less than a full complement of talent. Let’s not forget that the Hawks also made Mora hold his final press conference of the season even though Todd Leiwicke was secretly negotiating with Mora’s ultimate successor. I don’t have a huge problem with their decision to fire Mora, but I do have a problem with how the whole situation went down. I think it was classless of the Hawks to allow Mora to believe he was returning for his second season and then pull the rug from beneath him two days later. If they planned to fire him, then they should have handed out the pink slip on the Monday following the end of the season like every other franchise does. I don’t know if Mora would have ultimately been successful in Seattle, but I do know that he got a raw deal from the Seahawks. Finally, the Hawks awkwardly hired Pete Carroll from USC despite the fact that they didn’t have a general manager and several high-profile, former head coaches were still on the market. Listen, I don’t know if Bill Cowher or Jon Gruden or John Fox were going to come to Seattle, but don’t you at least have to inquire. Why the rush to hire Carroll? Who else wanted him? He would have been just as available in two weeks as he was right now. For some reason, Leiwicke and Paul Allen became enamored with Carroll and set out to hire him at all costs. The most awkward part about the whole deal was how, in my opinion, the Hawks completely thumbed their nose at the Rooney Rule. They apparently reached out to Tony Dungy and Ron Rivera, but they only “complied” with the rule after holding the biggest sham interview in the history of sham interviews. Did poor Leslie Frazier really think he had a shot? How did this qualify as a legitimate interview of a minority candidate? I know that there was no ink on the paper, but everyone from Adam Schefter to Danny O’Neill was reporting that a deal with Carroll was imminent. I know that the Rooney Rule does not mandate the hiring of minority candidates, but how does a meaningless interview with a candidate with no real shot advance the situation for minority coaches? I’m not only mad about the Carroll hire, but I’m also pissed off that my hometown team with basically say eff you to such an important rule. I don’t even want to get started on the topic of the Hawks hiring a head coach without having hired a general manager. Why do we have to do things ass backwards when this is perhaps the most important moment in the history of the franchise? We are either going to get on the path to recovery or we are going to set ourselves back half a decade.



The biggest reason that I hate this move is that college coaches, outside of Jimmy Johnson, have been colossal failures in the NFL. In the last two decades, 10 NFL owners have hired a coach from a major college program to be the head coach of an NFL team. Out of those 10 hires, only one, Johnson, won a playoff game. Only one, Johnson, had a winning career record. This list includes Nick Saban, Bobby Petrino, Steve Spurrier, Lane Kiffin and Butch Davis among others. I want to give Carroll the benefit of the doubt, but the numbers keep hitting me in my face and calling me stupid. The other reason that I hate this move is that it appears that the Hawks have latched onto Carroll like a teenager who marries his high school sweetheart because she was the first girl to allow him past first base. There are so many other fish in the sea, but the Hawks only had eyes for the shiny one with the oversized personality. They could have taken a run at the Cowhers, Grudens and Foxes of the world. They could have taken a run at the hot coordinators like Frazier, Rivera or Brian Schottenheimer. They could have tried to find an under the radar kind of guy like John Harbaugh. Unfortunately, they fell hard for a guy who belongs in college. I’m not drinking any of the kool aid until he gets us back to the playoffs. Until then, he will be on a short leash with me. The funniest part about the whole situation is that Leiwicke thinks we should all be impressed that they hired Carroll. In his press conference, Leiwicke made it a point to stress that we got a guy that so many teams have wanted in the past. The key to his statement was the past. No one, other than the Seahawks, wanted him now. If the Huskies had hired Carroll, I would have been doing back flips down my street. Instead, I have to worry not only about the future of the franchise, but I have to worry about the Trojans poaching Steve Sarkisian. I really do not like the Hawks right now.