Wild Card Round Recap

So, all the road teams were favorites and on Sunday, that held true. Saturday? Not so much.

Eagles vs. Vikings - I caught the first half and the 4th quarter. Spent the 3rd on the computer, apparently missed a fumble by McNabb (or a forced fumble by Jared Allen, depending on how you want to view it) and a bunch of punts. Looks like the Eagles were willing to keep trying to run, even though it wasn't working (23 carries for 67 yards, and that's with a 27 yard run by Buckhalter), and since that meant lots of touches for Westbrook, the Vikings at least had to honor it as a threat. Plus, McNabb didn't seem to let the noise or the hits the Vikes were delivering phase him, while Jackson seemed to get more rattled the longer the game went, even though he wasn't getting hit that often.

I wasn't that impressed with Adrian Peterson. He had the 40-yard TD run, but didn't seem to do much otherwise. Chester Taylor seemed to be generating positive yards more consistently. Maybe Peterson is more of a Barry Sanders back, good for the home run, but prone to losing yards. Or maybe the Eagles run defense just did a solid job (excluding letting Peterson roll for that 40 yard TD).

Ravens vs. Dolphins - I saw the first half of this, went for a walk, and came back early in the 4th quarter, with Baltimore leading 20-9. Simmons said the Ravens' one weakness was the big play downfield, and if that's true, then yeah, the Dolphins were pretty much screwed, with Pennington having a less than outstanding arm. Miami couldn't run, and Pennington made some mistakes thanks to Baltimore's pressure, and the Ravens just ran the ball down their throat. Which was nice, because it meant that it didn't matter that Flacco did jack all. OK, he did have two 31 yard completions, one to Mason and one to Heap, but other than that he didn't do anything. Which is fine, since "anything" includes not making any mistakes, like throwing picks, and I get the impression Flacco is Trent Dilfer, the Next Generation. How well that will work against the Titans, I don't know.

Colts vs. Chargers - OK, I didn't watch any of this game. Don't judge me, I was watching Equilibrium and Grosse Pointe Blank. From the highlights I garner that the two keys were that a) Indy couldn't tackle Sproles to save their lives, and b) San Diego punter Mike Scifres kept the Colts pinned down in the shadow of their end zone all day. Going to be rough on any offense to go over 80 yards for touchdowns seemingly every damn time. Only other thing I have to say about the game was that was a pretty cute trick the Colts pulled on that quick snap that lead to the big Reggie Wayne TD catch. It was so cute, the Eagles went and used it against the Vikings on a short yardage situation, except Griffin wasn't busy looking at the sideline like Cromartie and picked off the pass. Whoops, guess Minnesota was watching the game too.

Falcons vs. Cardinals - I'm not going to sit here and say I knew Arizona would win the game. I believed they could, but wasn't sure they would. But hey, they did win! Super! They shut Turner down (18 carries, 42 yards), pressured Ryan (2 picks, fumble, safety), and ran the ball. They weren't enormously successful (28 carries, 86 yards, 3.1 yards/carry), but like the Eagles, they kept at it, and the Falcons had to at least keep it in mind, which helps lead to 42 yard TD passes to Larry Fitzgerald off a flea-flicker. Boo-ya! That was a beautiful catch.

Interesting stat I saw. Edge James had 16 carries for 73 yards. That's not the interesting stat. What's interesting was every carry went for between zero and ten yards. I think I mentioned this in my last post, but the thing I think James gives the Cards is a guy who is going to keep going forward, rather than dance around in the backfield. He won't explode for a 40 yard run like Adrian Peterson, but he won't get caught for losses in the backfield either. He at least gets the Cardinals a couple of yards, which helps keep them in shorter yardage situations.

Now they get Carolina, which is the matchup I preferred. Not because I think the Panthers are any easier than the Giants to beat. The Cardinals have played them both (Carolina on the road, the Giants at home), and lost both times, though they kept it close against the Giants and were leading in the 4th quarter against Carolina before they decided to stop tackling Steve Smith (never an advisable strategy). Both teams run a lot, throw when they need to, and play tough defense. So either way, Arizona has to do what they did against Atlanta: run often enough and with enough success that the defense doesn't drop 7 into pass coverage, and their defense has to avoid giving up 21 points in the first quarter and screwing with any chance of having a balanced offense. The reason I'd rather face Carolina is, Arizona is still going to throw frequently, and I imagine the weather will be more helpful in Carolina than in the Meadowlands.