Could anyone imagine a field like this year’s Wild Card round? Look at the contenders. First, the Miami Dolphins were 1-15 in 2007. Now they stand as the AFC East division winners – that’s New England’s division. Brett Favre was supposed to pull the New York Jets into the playoffs. Where are they? New England, well, they don’t usually play in this round because they have a first round bye. New England played to an 11-5 record despite losing Tom Brady in the first game of the year, but 11-5 wasn’t good enough when Miami had the tie breakers. How do Jet fans feel seeing Chad Pennington leading the Dolphins to the promised land as their Quarterback when he was not good enough for the Jets upon Brett Favre’s arrival. Indianapolis snagged the first Wild Card at 12-4, and the Baltimore Ravens had a stronger 11-5 record than New England.
The Baltimore Ravens? Hey, they were a 13-3 team with a first round bye in 2006, but they fell to a miserable 5-11 in 2007 looking like a team gearing up for a great rebuilding. There are some new faces on the Ravens most notably rookie QB, Joe Flacco, who wound up as the starter because Kyle Boller sustained an early preseason shoulder injury and Troy Smith battled a severe infection. Fans must have been thinking, “Here we go again.” with the Kyle Boller saga still cutting into the team’s fortune, but Flacco was ready. The Ravens brought in John Harbaugh to replace Brian Billick as head coach. His team approach seemed to sure up a team that was full of prima-donnas singing “me-me me-me” a yar ago. Harbaugh also brough in Cam Cameron as offensive coordinator. Yes, the guy who coached the Dolphins to 1-15 last year, but was the offensive mastermind behind building up the San Diego Chargers. Are the Ravens playoff caliber? Consider their performance against Dallas during week 16. Say no more.
Atlanta is on a roll with rookie of the year quarterback, Matt Ryan. Their horrors of a year ago are long gone. They have grown stronger and more cohesive as the year progressed much like the Ravens.
Arizona is a franchise with one of the most desperate all-time records and scant few playoff appearances not hosting a home playoff in the Super Bowl era. They might not look like much at 9-7, but were good enough to win the NFC West. Can they stop Philadelphia who has been on a roll since their embarrassing collapse in Baltimore minus one false start against Washington?
How about Philadelphia? They had a season of extremes looking like Coach Reid and Donovan McNabb were destined for the scrap heap at season’s end after getting clobbered in week 12 in Baltimore. Since then, they have looked powerful beating every team spare an embarrassing trip to Washington, DC. Dallas needed to win in Philadelphia to go on to the playoffs, but Philadelphia asserted their playoff worthiness by pounding Dallas, 44-6.
What can be said of San Diego crawling into the playoffs at 8-8? San Diego won its last four games against Oakland, Kansas City, a fading Tampa Bay, and then Denver to take the top spot. 8-8 is good enough for the playoffs in the miserable AFC West while New England sits at home at 11-5.
Meanwhile, the final contestant is Minnesota. They’ve hardly been a dominant team but just good enough to win the NFC North. They were the likely top team with Favre’s departure at Green Bay. Chicago had their successes but proved to be a .500 team while Green Bay sunk into the abyss.
Here are our picks for the Wild Card round.
Atlanta (1 ½) at Minnesota
Atlanta seems to be a more consistent and balanced team than the erratic Minnesota Vikings. Sure the roar of the Vikings’ faithful could be deafening in the Metrodome, but Atlanta is also an indoor team so they don’t have the learning curve some other teams might face.
Indianapolis (-1) at San Diego
Sure there is a lot of buzz that San Diego matches up effectively against the Colts, but the Colts have been on a roll since week six. Payton Manning is one of the best money performers in the game. The Manning game plan is to score early and score often. They can do it. San Diego would have to play the perfect game to move on to round two.
Baltimore (-3 ½) at Miami
Call this the upstart bowl as few would have thought either team would be close to being ready for postseason honors in 2008. Since the Ravens whacked the Dolphins in week seven have only one loss – hotter than Indy? Granted they played a soft schedule outside of their division, but teams don’t finish 11-5 by accident. The Ravens will be well prepared to deal with Miami’s creative offensive schemes but must realize few QB’s get rid of the ball faster than Brad Pennington. The Ravens should score early and score often to secure this game. Once the Ravens take the lead, it would be hard to imagine Miami overtaking them. Ed Reed could be the Pennington neutralizer who will make the difference in this game, but few quarterbacks survive the Ravens’ organized chaos.
Philadelphia (-3) at Arizona
If the Eagles show up as the team that beat Dallas last week, Arizona doesn’t stand a chance. The Eagles biggest problem in the last half of the year has been their own inconsistency, but given the stakes are high as they were last week, needing a win to stay alive, Andy Reid’s boys should be ready.
All four visitors win this weekend and will be visiting again next week.
The Baltimore Ravens? Hey, they were a 13-3 team with a first round bye in 2006, but they fell to a miserable 5-11 in 2007 looking like a team gearing up for a great rebuilding. There are some new faces on the Ravens most notably rookie QB, Joe Flacco, who wound up as the starter because Kyle Boller sustained an early preseason shoulder injury and Troy Smith battled a severe infection. Fans must have been thinking, “Here we go again.” with the Kyle Boller saga still cutting into the team’s fortune, but Flacco was ready. The Ravens brought in John Harbaugh to replace Brian Billick as head coach. His team approach seemed to sure up a team that was full of prima-donnas singing “me-me me-me” a yar ago. Harbaugh also brough in Cam Cameron as offensive coordinator. Yes, the guy who coached the Dolphins to 1-15 last year, but was the offensive mastermind behind building up the San Diego Chargers. Are the Ravens playoff caliber? Consider their performance against Dallas during week 16. Say no more.
Atlanta is on a roll with rookie of the year quarterback, Matt Ryan. Their horrors of a year ago are long gone. They have grown stronger and more cohesive as the year progressed much like the Ravens.
Arizona is a franchise with one of the most desperate all-time records and scant few playoff appearances not hosting a home playoff in the Super Bowl era. They might not look like much at 9-7, but were good enough to win the NFC West. Can they stop Philadelphia who has been on a roll since their embarrassing collapse in Baltimore minus one false start against Washington?
How about Philadelphia? They had a season of extremes looking like Coach Reid and Donovan McNabb were destined for the scrap heap at season’s end after getting clobbered in week 12 in Baltimore. Since then, they have looked powerful beating every team spare an embarrassing trip to Washington, DC. Dallas needed to win in Philadelphia to go on to the playoffs, but Philadelphia asserted their playoff worthiness by pounding Dallas, 44-6.
What can be said of San Diego crawling into the playoffs at 8-8? San Diego won its last four games against Oakland, Kansas City, a fading Tampa Bay, and then Denver to take the top spot. 8-8 is good enough for the playoffs in the miserable AFC West while New England sits at home at 11-5.
Meanwhile, the final contestant is Minnesota. They’ve hardly been a dominant team but just good enough to win the NFC North. They were the likely top team with Favre’s departure at Green Bay. Chicago had their successes but proved to be a .500 team while Green Bay sunk into the abyss.
Here are our picks for the Wild Card round.
Atlanta (1 ½) at Minnesota
Atlanta seems to be a more consistent and balanced team than the erratic Minnesota Vikings. Sure the roar of the Vikings’ faithful could be deafening in the Metrodome, but Atlanta is also an indoor team so they don’t have the learning curve some other teams might face.
Indianapolis (-1) at San Diego
Sure there is a lot of buzz that San Diego matches up effectively against the Colts, but the Colts have been on a roll since week six. Payton Manning is one of the best money performers in the game. The Manning game plan is to score early and score often. They can do it. San Diego would have to play the perfect game to move on to round two.
Baltimore (-3 ½) at Miami
Call this the upstart bowl as few would have thought either team would be close to being ready for postseason honors in 2008. Since the Ravens whacked the Dolphins in week seven have only one loss – hotter than Indy? Granted they played a soft schedule outside of their division, but teams don’t finish 11-5 by accident. The Ravens will be well prepared to deal with Miami’s creative offensive schemes but must realize few QB’s get rid of the ball faster than Brad Pennington. The Ravens should score early and score often to secure this game. Once the Ravens take the lead, it would be hard to imagine Miami overtaking them. Ed Reed could be the Pennington neutralizer who will make the difference in this game, but few quarterbacks survive the Ravens’ organized chaos.
Philadelphia (-3) at Arizona
If the Eagles show up as the team that beat Dallas last week, Arizona doesn’t stand a chance. The Eagles biggest problem in the last half of the year has been their own inconsistency, but given the stakes are high as they were last week, needing a win to stay alive, Andy Reid’s boys should be ready.
All four visitors win this weekend and will be visiting again next week.
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