Wildcard Weekend

The 2010 NFL wildcard playoffs exhibited some of the best “unexpected” moments of this year’s football postseason…. Starting off with the New York Jets defeating the Cincinnati Bengals…New York Jets, who are no longer an overlooked team after beating down the AFC North champions twice within a week… Had the most important win coming in the wildcard round 24-14….With the Jets rookie quarterback playing mistake-free, the Jets turned their surprising cameo playoff appearance into a long-running production Saturday…. Sanchez threw a touchdown pass, and the league’s top running game took it from there… Revis shut down Ochocinco all day…. What really hurt the Bengals was that lack of big time plays from Carson Palmer…. He missed on many open receivers….Palmer played like the rookie and Sanchez played like the vet….

Just when you thought the history of the Cowboys in the last decade was repeating itself, the Cowboys surprised many be plucking the Eagles 34-14… The Eagles struggled with running the ball and failed to get 100 rushing yards…. McNabb was forced to throw 37 times and only completed 19…. In playoff football, a running game is pivotal to the success of ball control and productivity…. The Cowboys rushed for over 100 and Romo throw over 240 yards to land the Eagles in a one sided game….

As far as for the Ravens and Patriots… Once Belichick was snitched out by Mangini, the Patriots looked like the Patriots of the 90′s… & 80′s (except ’85)… & 70…. The Ravens handled the Patriots like a team full of rookies…. I feel for Randy Moss… He might never win a championship…..

Man, that Packers vs Cardinals game was the most points scored in NFL playoff history…. As it took overtime to decide the winner, the Packers made a strong comeback to stay close to the Cardinals…. In overtime, It was clear that Rodgers’s facemask was yanked on when he fumbled on the hit that he took…. They didn’t throw the flag and noone really tried to argue the play…. Aaron Rodgers acted like it was part of the game….

And Then There’s Peyton… In an unperfect world….

The Indianapolis Colts lost their first game of the 2009 season in week 16 to the New York Jets…. In the 3rd quarter with about 7:36 left, Peyton Manning walked to the sideline and never returned to the game…. Not just him but a few other starters were also resting on the bench…. The whole theory was that if an injury happens to a starter, what will the team do?…. If Curtis Painter would have been in with the starting offense…. He would have succeeded better…. Manning wasn’t the only starter that was claimed to be pulled….
Now here comes the left wing….. I’ve always known Peyton Manning to crack under pressure…. At Tennessee when they played the Florida Gators for the SEC Championship… (Cough cough)….
Manning was certainly a bright spot in 1998 for the Colts, but he also threw a league high 28 interceptions and the team “reached” for a 3–13 record…. Then in 1999, the Colts started the season 2-2 without any consistency in a winning product….The Colts responded by winning 11 of their remaining 12 games, finishing 13–3 and the AFC East champions….. The 10 game turn around from the previous year set an NFL record…. The Colts lost to the Titans in the AFC playoffs….. Then losing to the Patriots in the AFC championship games in the new millenium…. Pressure is something Peyton doesn’t handle well…. He’s good, but big games shake him alittle…. The pressure of going undefeated can sometimes break you….
My opinion is that Peyton didn’t want to lose a tussle, or risk an injury, with a team that would not make the playoffs and struggling…. They didn’t care about injury in the first half…. So if one starter decided not to go back in…. You know you would have to pull the other starters…. What could head coach Caldwell do?