Playoffs are under way

The Wildcard Round of the NFL Playoffs are over. The Patriots looked horrible in their loss to Baltimore. Not sure if that was Baltimore's doing or the Patriots have finally lost their hold on the AFC. The J.E.T.S. Jets Jets Jets beat up on a hapless Cincinnati team that just hasn't been the same since the death of one of their wide receivers a few weeks ago. The Cowboys planted another loss on the Eagles and sent them home for the offseason wondering just what went wrong the last two games. The Eagles and San Diego were the two hottest teams coming into the last week of the regular season, only to have the Eagles throw up two horrible performances against the Cowboys to end their season.

Now we come to the game of the year, maybe even the whole of NFL history. The Packers had just demolished Arizona a week earlier, and most sportscasters were looking for them to repeat this weekend. However, Arizona had other plans. Kurt Warner just may be the greatest PLAYOFF quarterback in NFL history. He had an unbelievable day against the Packers. But as good as his performance was, it was almost overshadowed by the Packers furious comeback in the second half. Down by 21 points early in the 3rd quarter, the Pack scored a touchdown, then surprised Arizona with an onside kick, which they recovered, drove right down the field and scored to get within 7 points. All of this in a 4-5 minute time span. Arizona had a short drive, but had to punt, after which Green Bay drove right down the field to tie the game with about six and a half minutes to play. By this time, the score was 45-45, both defenses couldn't have stopped a high school team, and it was back in Kurt Warner's hands to get the winning drive. He led the Cards methodically down the field, killing the clock in the process. The Cards had it first and ten inside the Packers 20 yard line with 15 seconds to play. In comes the field goal kicker for a chip shot, which he missed so horribly that one might have thought that I kicked it. Overtime we go!! Packers win the toss and take the ball. Third and 5 from their own 15, Rodgers, who had an unbelievable day, dropped back, was blitzed by the Cards, who managed to knocked the ball loose. A linebacker for the Cards grabbed it out of mid-air and rumbled into the end zone for the winning touchdown.

It was probably one of the most entertaining games I've seen in a very long time. Both teams fought hard and it basically came down to which team was going to make the big play to win, and the Cards managed to do just that.

Next week, Arizona heads to New Orleans to take on the Saints, while the Cowboys head to Minnesota to take on the Vikings. Both have the chance of being very good games. I am not going to make any predictions, I'll just say that if the Saints and Vikings want to win, their defenses better show up to play 60 minutes as hard as they've ever played.

The AFC has Baltimore heading to Indianapolis to take on the Colts, and the Jets going to San Diego to take on the Chargers. These games could also be very good games. Hoping for a Baltimore upset of the Colts, and I think the Jets run is probably over, as the Chargers may be the best team in football right now.

Well, I guess after next weekend, a lot more questions will be answered in the NFL. Until then, stay warm and root hard.