NFLFan's Journal: NFL Wildcard Weekend

The Fan's Six Pack:

1. We are finished, time to get started. That's right, playoff time! Here are my playoff quick thoughts:
   • I do think I have ever seen such a strong bracket as what the AFC is fielding this year. Ten wins was not not enough for a wild card spot and the weakest team might just be the New England Patriots and they are only the defending Super Bowl Champions.
   • The Patriots should win this weekend but we will get to see how good they really are next week.
   • Will the real Redskins please stand up?
   • The Chicago Bears. I mean that in a good way :)
   • The special teams of the Steelers may just be coming on at the right time. Remember Desmond Howard winning a Super Bowl for Brett Favre?
   • The Bengals do not look ready.
2. Wow, there already is 8 coaching vacancies. That means 40% of the teams not making the playoffs will be coached by new faces next year. Any question it is a perform now what-have-you-done-lately league? I wonder how many of those coaching projections will work out-- Jim Fassel to Oakland, Herm Edwards to KC, and so on.

   Looks like at least two front offices are changing too.

   The most drastic changes are happening in Buffalo. Seems like there is going to some sort of Grumpy Old Men stage play up there. I always thought Tom Donahoe did a good job with the Steelers but I always thought of him as a "man behind the curtain" type back then but this stint with Buffalo he seemed to be out front in the media too much. I think one of two things happened, the Steelers were able to keep him and check when he was there and his job in Buffalo was more an indication of his true skills or he tried to accelerate things and take short cuts.

   Looks like Savage gets to keep his job in Cleveland and the other guy, Collins, got fired! I am not too familiar with Savage but I am not a fan of the Baltimore front office where he came from. I guess Cleveland's beef with Savage was that he really screwed up Braylon Edwards' contract which is said to be salary cap unfriendly. Look at Baltimore, any surprise really?

3. It was good to see Tony Dungy back on the sideline. Hope the Colts can do something but I am not so sure of them now.
4. Stop this Tom Brady for MVP nonsense! He is not the MVP. Peyton Manning, Shaun Alexander, Carson Palmer, and Tiki Barber are all more deserving. Is it just me, or does Brady seem be coming off more and more as a whiner.
5. Wow, the Chargers season went from bad to worse Saturday night. With Drew Brees tearing the labrum in his throwing shoulder they probably should not trade Philip Rivers now.
6. Don Banks wrote a interesting article about the first round of the draft. Basically he rehashes the first round of the draft based on need and the rookie performance. There is a lot there to disagree with.

   What I really don't like is that he has Braylon Edwards and Matt Jones going 3 and 4-- wide receivers are almost never worth first round value. How performance based is the article? Banks has Samkon Gado going 8th overall! This is an article that really should be written 2 or 4 years from now, 3 or 5 years after the draft.

The Picks:
Last week I went 9-7. Overall I am 165-91. For this week, I am only picking one home team; watch as all my picks lose.

Saturday, Jan. 7
Washington at Tampa Bay 4:30 p.m.
I like the Redskins. This will probably hurt me. I am not sold on either team. The Redskins looked really good until that games against the Eagles.

Jacksonville at New England 8:00 p.m.
I like the Patriots. The Jaguars have quarterback issues and are a warm weather team. The Jaguars are a very physical team but their 12 wins came from a soft schedule.

Sunday, Jan. 8
Carolina at N.Y. Giants 1:00 p.m.
I like the Panthers. Injuries are mounting for the Giants and Eli Manning's play has slipped some. The Panthers just need to find a way to stop Tiki Barber.

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati 4:30 p.m.
I like the Steelers. A good rubber match game. The Steelers might be the second most dangerous team in the AFC, next to the Colts. Yes, the Bengals beat the Steelers to win the AFC North but look at that game-- the Steelers turned the ball over 4 times and yet the Bengals were never really able to put that final dagger into them, final score 38-31. The Steelers got the ball back around the 2 minute warning and had a chance to tie the game. The Steelers were missing their left tackle and that was the first game Roethlisberger played with his dinged up thumb.

Don't forget the Steelers did beat the Bengals in Cincinnati and it was very convincing.

Brady & MVP

[Shadow Wrought]

I am with you on this one. I think any of the others you mentioned would be a much better pick. I was also somewhat dubious of Don Banks article. One season is just too little time to really evaluate a player- especially a QB! Wasn't Peyton Manning's first year one of the worst ever for a QB?

Re:Brady & MVP

[NFLFan]

Seems the voters got it right and picked Alexander even if everybody thinks he is "soft."

Peyton Mannings rookie season was not that bad. He may have thrown 28 interceptions but he also threw 26 touchdowns. I can't find the individual game stats for his rookie year but I am pretty sure his last 8 games were a lot better than his first 8. I am not crazy about Alex Smith but the guy just did not get a fair chance. Eli Manning did have a bad rookie year but he has looked really good at times this year. Can