After Wildcard Weekend, one might ask: Why do we need wild card teams, since none of them won last weekend?

Colts vs. Ravens Saturday, Januray 13, 2007 - 4:30 PM - CBS Final Score: Colts 15 - Ravens 6      Even though the defense suddenly woke up last week and completely shut down Kansas City's running game, the road to the Super Bowl doesn't get any easier for the Colts as they go into their old hometown to take on the league's best defense: the Baltimore Ravens.  There is a lot of hype coming from many quarters saying this will be a payback game for the Colts deserting Baltimore and running off the Indianapolis, but let's face it, that happened before a lot of these players even knew what a football was or who the "Baltimore" Colts were.  Incidently, when the Colts left Bawlmur for the midwest, they were regularly stinking up the joint on Sundays, they weren't even close to filling seats and The Ravens were the Browns.  But I digress.      Peyton will need to remain calm back in the pocket and work a lot of short routes against this defense.  This will help keep the linebackers back off the line in coverage and open up the running game for Joseph Addai.  Balance is the name of the game for the Colts this weekend.  If they are able to keep the Raven D off balance, they should win this one.  Of course keeping the Raven D off balance isn't what one would refer to as an easy task.       The Ravens have found new life in their offense this season with veteran QB Steve McNair.  While he's not as mobile as he once was, he knows how to move the ball down the field.  Look for them to open things up early with the passing game and to hit the Colt defense in the mouth with Jamal Lewis.  We'll find out if the Indy defense is up to two weeks in a row of smash mouth football. Keys to winning for the Colts:  Offense: B-A-L-A-N-C-E - lots of quick routes and keep Addai involved in the play calling.  Avoid 3rd and long situations  Defense: Get pressure on McNair and keep plugging the running holes against Lewis Keys to winning for the Ravens:  Offense: Open things up with the long ball - force the Colts to protect against the deep threat  Defense: Play the way they've played all year.  Take it to Manning and don't let Addai get around the edge. Post Mortem:  Well, we thought that this would be a game where the Colts would have trouble with the Ravens defense.  They did to some extent since they didn't score a touchdown, but as it turns out, all they needed was five field goals from Adam Vinatieri.  It was the Ravens who had some real issues with the opposing defense with four turnovers.  Neither team had legendary performances on offense.  The Colts came up with 100 yards on the ground and Peyton Manning threw for 170 yards and two interceptions. Steve McNair threw for 178 yards and two interception as well, but the Colts held Jamal Lewis to just 53 yards on 13 carries.  Field position was the name of the game and even with some bad starting positions, the Colts just came up with more plays and had the ball bounce in their favor more often, including a 51 yard field goal by Vinatieri that bounced off the cross bar and through.  Statistical Leaders Indianapolis Passing Baltimore Passing C/ATT YDS TD INT C/ATT YDS TD INT Manning 15/30 170 0 2 McNair 18/29 173 0 2 Indianapolis Rushing Baltimore Rushing CAR YDS TD LG CAR YDS TD LG Rhodes 14 56 0 25 Lewis 13 53 0 18 Addai 18 39 0 7 Anderson 4 18 0 8 Indianapolis Receiving Baltimore Receiving REC YDS TD LG REC YDS TD LG Wayne 5 51 0 19 Clayton 6 73 0 21 Harrison 4 45 0 21 Heap 3 28 0 23

Eagles vs. Saints Saturday, Januray 13, 2007 - 8:00 PM - Fox Final Score - Saints 27 - Eagles 24      I'd love to tell you that the Saints are just going to be too much for the Eagles this weekend; that Drew Brees has too many weapons at his disposal on offense and the Saints have already pulled off a come from behind victory against these guys.  But the fact is, that was a different Eagles team.  Donovan McNabb was still the quarterback and Philly relied heavily on the pass.  With his season ending injury, the Eagles have moved over to the run with Brian Westbrook.  Jeff Garcia has seemingly come out of nowhere to lead this team to the NFC East title and a win against the Giants last week.  He's not pretty doing it, but he gets it done.  Donte Stallworth returns to play the team he spent four season playing with that drafted him in the first round five years ago.  He knows this defense and how to get behind them.  And all that makes this a very intriguing game.      The Saints are going to come at the Eagle defense 85 different ways.  Drew Brees does indeed have a lot of weapons on offense and his favorite target Marques Colston will be in full effect on Saturday.  Devery Henderson and Reggie Bush will bring a solid triple threat to the passing game.  And having a guy like Deuce McAllister to pound the ball for you is always lovely.        The focus this week has been on how much of an impact Reggie Bush has had on the Saints success this season, but I'm more inclined to believe that the combination of experience and skill Drew Brees brought with him from San Diego have been huge.  The Eagle defense will have a much tougher task stopping this bunch than they did against New York.      Look for the fans to play a major roll in this one.  New Orleans has been throug a lot since Katrina and this will be a serious coming out party.  Homefield advantage will be huge in this one.  Keys to winning for the Eagles:  Offense: Hit the Saints early and often.  Do whatever you can to take the crowd out of the game.  Brian Westbrook - get the ball to him in the open field and let him make plays.  He makes people miss as well as any player in the league.  Once the defense is focused on stopping him, GO DEEP to Stallworth and Reggie Brown.     Defense: Avoid getting too locked in on trying to stop Reggie Bush.  Keys to winning for the Saints:  Offense: Use Bush as a decoy to spread the Eagle defense.  Once they've stopped focusing on him, get the ball to him on middle screens and out in the flat  Defense:  Stop Brian Westbrook and don't give Garcia time to find receivers or he'll pick the defense apart Post Mortem: This game was a classic example of manic-depressive play for both teams.  At times it looked like it would turn into the high scoring shootout and at others a grind it out low scoring affair.  The offense for New Orleans moved the ball with a balanced attack and was consistent throughout most of the game while Philly relied on the big play to stay in this game including a 75 yards pass from Garcia to Donte Stallworth and a 62 yard run by Brian Westbrook.  There was only one turnover in the game coming at a critical moment as Reggie Bush mishandled a pitch from Brees and fumbled on a 2nd and 7 at the Eagle 32 yard line with just 3:18 on the clock.  The Eagles couldn't move the ball and had to punt it away with 1:48 left in the game.  Deuce McAllister took over from there and pounded the ball straight at the Eagles, running out the clock.  This win is huge for the Saints and for the city of New Orleans as they have been hurting for some time now. For the Eagles, this season has to be considered a success.  They lost one of the best quarterbacks in the game to injury and while everyone wrote them off, they won the NFC East and their first round game.  With the way he's performed in McNabb's abscence, Jeff Garcia has definitely proven that he should be starting somewhere in the NFL next season.   The Saints are Chicago bound to take on Daaa Bearsss in the frozen confines of Soldier Field for the NFC Championship.  Statistical Leaders New Orleans Passing Philadelphia Passing C/ATT YDS TD INT C/ATT YDS TD INT Brees 20/32 243 1 0 Garcia 15/30 240 1 0 New Orleans Rushing Philadelphia Rushing CAR YDS TD LG CAR YDS TD LG McAllister 21 143 1 28 Westbrook 13 116 2 62 Bush 12 52 1 25 Garcia 4 9 0 6 New Orleans Receiving Philadelphia Receiving REC YDS TD LG REC YDS TD LG Miller 4 64 0 29 Stallworth 3 100 1 75 Colston 5 55 0 19 Brown 3 76 0 32

Seahawks vs. Bears Sunday, Januray 14, 2007 - 1:00 PM - Fox Final Score: Bears 27 - Seahawks 24      Seattle is coming off a big win against Dallas and doing what they can to try and make it back to the Super Bowl.  Look for lots of passing over the middle to Jerramy Stevens to try and keep Urlacher off Shaun Alexander's back and to force the safeties to help in the middle leaving the cornerbacks on an island to cover the deep routes alone.  Without Tommie Harris on the D-line, the Bears have their work cut out for them trying to stop the running game.  They will have to find a way to get penetration or it could be a long, cold day at Soldier Field.       The last time the Bears finished 13-3 a few years back, it was on the strength of Urlacher and the defense.  Now they have Rex Grossman and he's been running hot and cold like days and nights in the Sahara.  He needs to be more patient in the pocket and not try to go for the homerun on every play.  Get the ball in slants to Berrian and Clark.  Let the running game do it's work.  Keys to winning for the Seahawks:  Offense: Hasselback needs to work the ball to Stevens over the middle - protection from the O-line to give Hasselback time, Shaun Alexander will need a strong game straight at the Bears   Defense: Get pressure on Grossman and force mistakes - make him feel like he needs to go for everything deep by locking down the slant routes and the middle screens Keys to winning for the Bears:  Offense: Patience from Grossman finding underneath routes  Defense: Penetration and pressure from the front four - if Da Bears have to bring up a lot of run support, they will be in trouble Post Mortem:   It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .well at least it was the best of halves, it was the worst of halves.  The Bears played like a Super Bowl bound powerhouse on offense in the first half and like a bunch stumbling drunken fraternity brothers in the second.  It was the running game and Thomas Jones that helped Chicago take control of this one in the 1st half.  Jones had two TD runs in the opening half and 66 yards for the game.  A huge 68 yard touchdown pass from Grossman to Bernard Berrian helped open things up even more.  The Bears went into the locker room with a 21-14 lead.  Shaun Alexander rushed for 108 yards and two TD's (one in each half) that helped to put the Seahawks up 24-21 while an interception from Grossman along with a fumble helped things along.  Granted the oskie was a ball that bounced off Muhammad into the Seahawk defender's hands, so you can't lay the blame totally at Grossman's feet.  The Bears did come up with a field goal to tie and then the defense came up with some huge stops to keep the Seahawks out of range for a possible winning field goal.  In overtime, the Bears D again came up with a much needed stop.  It was at this moment that Rex Grossman woke up on 3rd and 10 from the Chicago 34 and made the biggest pass of his career, completing a 30 yard pass to Rashied Davis at the Seattle 36 yard line.  Three plays later, Robbie Gould closed all debate on the issue with a 49 yard field goal right down the middle that sends Chicago to the NFC Championship at home next Sunday against the Saints. Statistical Leaders Seattle Passing Chicago Passing C/ATT YDS TD INT C/ATT YDS TD INT Hasselback 18/33 195 1 1 Grossman 21/38 282 1 1 Seattle Rushing Chicago Rushing CAR YDS TD LG CAR YDS TD LG Alexander 26 108 2 13 Jones 21 66 2 9 Morris 4 11 0 6 Benson 12 45 0 12 Seattle Receiving Chicago Receiving REC YDS TD LG REC YDS TD LG Jackson 4 49 0 24 Berrian 5 105 1 68 Branch 4 48 0 22 Davis 4 84 0 37

Patriots vs. Chargers Sunday, Januray 14, 2007 - 4:30 PM - CBS Final Score: Patriots 24 - Chargers 21      This one is likely going to be one of the, if not THE, best games of the playoffs this season.  On one hand you have the Chargers with the best regular season record in the league at 14-2.  Thye've got the league's best offensive weapon with LaDanian Tomlinson and the hottest young quarterback out there in Phillip Rivers.  On the other side of the field are the closest thing to a dynasty in football this decade in the Patriots.  They don't have anything that could be called "big gamebreakers" on the roster, but what they do have is playoff experience and three Super Bowl trohpies over the past five seasons.       We're looking at the top scoring offense in the league with San Diego (30.8 points/game) against the number two scoring defense in New England (14.8 points/game).  Normally, I'd say good defense will always beat good offense, but this could be the exception.  The Chargers did stumble against the Ravens top ranked defense losing that one 16-13.       Some would say the key to stopping the Chargers is to shut down Tomlinson, but I disagree.  The Patriots should focus on bringing lots of different looks and multiple blitz packages and do what they can to take away the passing game.  This was what the Ravens did in their win over the Chargers.  For the Patriots offense, doing what they did last week against the Jets should work fine.  Keep hitting with the 1-2 punch of Dillon and Maroney with the run and let Brady work on finding one of the many receivers he's been so good at finding all season.      The Chargers also have several receivers Rivers can choose from with 400 or more yards receiving.  This, as much as anything, has been a contributing factor to Tomlinson being the league's top rusher.  If the Chargers can get the Patriots to focus on trying to stop L.T. early, they can open things up with the pass and control the game. Keys to winning for the Patriots:  Offense: Ball control - use the run to consume time and keep the Charger offense watching from the sideline - Keep Shawn Merriman and the rest of the front four off of Tom Brady  Defense: Take away the passing game - especially the short passes to Tomlinson and Gates and force the Bolts to rely completely on Tomlinson. Keys to winning for the Chargers:  Offense: Hit fast and hard with the passing game - take control and then keep with using L.T.   Defense:  Keep the running game in check and force as many three and outs as possible. Post Mortem: This was a game that the Chargers should have run away with.  They stopped New England's running game cold giving up only 51 yards rushing and intercepted Tom Brady 3 times.  However, they kept shooting themselves in the foot on stupid mental errors.  The three biggest plays of the game were all mistakes made by the Chargers when they had momentum.  A fumbled punt by Eric Parker giving the ball to the Patriots at the Charger 31.  On the same drive, the Patriots got to 3rd and 13 from the Charger 29, Brady was knocked down and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Patriots.  It would have been 4th down and 17 with a 50 yard field goat attempt upcoming, but instead, Drayton Florence got flagged for a personal foul and gave the Patriots 15 yards and a first down.  This lead to a field goal making the score 14-13.  After the Chargers whet up 21-13, the Patriots were looking at a 4th and 5 on the San Diego 41 with just over six minutes to play.  Marlon McCree intercepted Brady's pass and instead of securing the ball, got it stipped away by Troy Brown so the Patriots recovered and got new life at the 32, whereupon they marched down and scored a touchdown and two point conversion to tie the game.       In the end it all came down to the maturity and experience of Tom Brady and the Patriots.  They've been here before and knew how to handle the adversity.  Whether there was jawing or not out on the field is irrelevant.  Six penalties for 64 yards is HUGE in a game like this and New England took advantage of just about every opportunity they were given and won the game on a 31 yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski with 1:10 left in the game.  Phillip Rivers was able to move the Chargers down the field with no time outs and gave Kaeding a chance at a 54 yard field goal that went wide right with three seconds left.      The Chargers finish the season with the leagues best record, but went down in their first playoff game.  Now the Patriots will head to Indianapolis to take on the Peyton Manning and the Colts in the AFC Championship.  Statistical Leaders New England Passing San Diego Passing C/ATT YDS TD INT C/ATT YDS TD INT Brady 27/51 280 2 3 Rivers 14/32 230 0 1 New England Rushing San Diego Rushing CAR YDS TD LG CAR YDS TD LG Faulk 6 25 0 7 Tomlinson 23 123 2 15 Dillon 8 18 0 5 Turner 3 24 1 17 New England Receiving San Diego Receiving REC YDS TD LG REC YDS TD LG Gaffney 10 103 1 17 Tomlinson 2 64 0 58 Brown 7 80 1 49 Gates 6 61 0 19