NFL Playoffs: Random Thoughts

While the last two Super Bowl winners have come out of the Wild Card round, I wasn't impressed with any of the winners this weekend, especially with the Texans win over the Bengals (19-13) and the Seahawks win over the Redskins (24-14).

 The Texans could have easily loss.  They struggled to get into the end zone and dodged a bullet late in the 4th quarter on the Bengals last possession. With 2:57 left and facing 3rd and 11, WR A.J. Green made a great move on the corner and had him beat down the sidelines and was wide open...but Dalton over threw him.  Bengals went for it on 4th, but came up 3 yards short.  The Texans should have put this game away earlier, getting into the Red Zone on 3 of the first 5 possessions.  They settled for 3 field goals and Schaub was picked for a TD leaving the score 9-7 at halftime and the Bengals still in the game.

I was very underwhelmed by the performance of Russell Wilson in the Seahawks-Redskins game.  There was some talk that Wilson should be in the Rookie of the Year discussions, but after what I saw I can't believe that was even brought up.  I will confess that this was the first time I saw him play so it may have been playoff jitters or just a bad game, but if you're in the running for an award, the Playoffs should be your time to shine.

Wilson's stat line:  15-26, 187 yds, 1 TD, 0 Int., 8 rushes, 67 yds...but that doesn't tell the whole story. In two consecutive critical drives in the 3rd quarter trailing 13-14, Wilson missed two TDs that should have put the game away.  First, one of the WRs (I think it was Tate) beat his man and had a good 10 yard cushion.  Wilson had a good look at it as the pocket opened up in front of him giving him plenty of room to step up and make the easy throw.  Instead, he took off.  He did gain 28 yards, but it should have been 6 points.  Later in the same drive, Baldwin caught the safety flat footed and easy ran right past him, Wilson over threw him so badly that Usain Bolt couldn't have got under that ball (Could a sprinter have a better name than Bolt?).  The drive ended in a punt.

All I have to say is that the Seahawks were lucky that RGIII wasn't 100% and that he got hurt and played 3/4s of that game on one leg.

Meanwhile the Ravens took care of the Colts (24-9) and the Pack beat the Viks (24-10) in what looked liked impressive fashion on the scoreboard, but not so impressive when you look at it closer.

The Packers pretty much coasted to a win over the Viks.  Tony Dungy in the pre-game show said that Joe Webb would give the Viks a better chance to win than Christian Ponder....he was big time wrong.  Don't know if Ponder would have done better (you would have to assume so), but it was painfully obvious after his first few attempts at throwing down field that Webb wasn't going to complete anything deep unless the DBs completely missed an assignment.  He finally did hit his last 3 passes deep, but that wasn't until the 4th quarter with the score 24-9.  He finished, 11-30, 180 yards.  Those last 3 passes combined for 103 yards. Do the math. Once the Packers went up 17-3 in the 2nd quarter, Adrian Peterson became a non-factor.

Ravens had the most impressive win, bouncing back from their late season defensive and offensive woes, keeping the Colts out of the end zone, and getting in the end zone themselves 3 times.  If you watched the game though, it wasn't that impressive.  Ray Rice had a decent game, but coughed it up twice.  Joe Flacco made some bad throws, but got away with it and didn't get picked.

The defense, which seemingly was getting beat up by everybody, played well (probably inspired by Ray Lewis' retirement announcement).  You would have thought I would have said, "played great" since they only allowed 3 FGs, but again if you watched the game you wouldn't say "played great."  Andrew Luck had 288 yards passing; Reggie Wayne had 114 yards receiving, and Vick Ballard had 91 yards rushing.  Watching that game you didn't think the Colts where getting blown out. Colts drive chart:  6 plays, 14, 6, 4, 10, 8, 6, 16, 7, 13, 8.  Luck did have 2 turnovers (1 INT, 1 FUM), but it seemed like the Colts consistently moved the ball well.  I guess I have to give the Ravens defense credit for bending, but not breaking. 

I wouldn't bet on the Ravens, Seahawks, or Texans getting past the next round, let alone making it to the Super Bowl and the juries' still out on the Packers.