An exciting Week Seventeen ends another fantastic NFL season, and now we enter the always fantastic NFL playoffs.\u00a0 I tried to set the “schedule” from how I think the NFL\/TV networks would set it up.<\/p>\n
WILD CARD WEEKEND 8:30 – #5 Dallas 31 – #4 San Francisco 16 Sunday, January 10: 4:15 – #5 Houston 10\u00a0– #4 San Diego 33 DIVISIONAL ROUND (aka “The Best Sports Weekend of the Year that Doesn’t Include 48 NCAA Tournament Games”) 8:30 – #3 Green Bay 28 – #2 New Orleans 26 Sunday, January 17: 4:15 – #3 Indianapolis\u00a041 – #2 New England 48 THE CHAMPIONSHIPS: 4:15 – #2 New England 22\u00a0– #1 Pittsburgh 25 SUPER BOWL XLIV An exciting Week Seventeen ends another fantastic NFL season, and now we enter the always fantastic NFL playoffs.\u00a0 I tried to set the “schedule” from how I think the NFL\/TV networks would set it up. WILD CARD WEEKEND Saturday, January … Continue reading
\nSaturday, January 9:<\/strong>
\n4:15 – #6 Baltimore 13 – #3 Indianapolis 23
\nA bruising Ravens defense led them to another 10-win season and another playoff appearance.\u00a0 But, they run into the Colts in Indy on this Wild Card weekend and fall just short.\u00a0 Tied at 13 in the 4th quarter, Manning is able to engineer a couple big second-half drives, including a late touchdown to ice it.\u00a0 The Colts move to another playoff duel with the Patriots.<\/p>\n
\nThe Cowboys defense bends, but doesn’t break in the first half, and the offense puts\u00a0together three touchdown drives\u00a0in the second half to win going away on the road.\u00a0 The Niners have a nice season,\u00a0 but the Cowboys end it today.\u00a0 This is the first playoff win for this storied franchise since 1996.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>1:00 – #6 New York Giants\u00a07 – #3 Green Bay 20
\nA cold Green Bay day.\u00a0 A rematch of the NFC Championship Game of two years ago.\u00a0 A different result.\u00a0 Eli Manning has a ton of trouble doing anything in this weather, while the Packers stack the line of scrimmage against the Giants running game.\u00a0\u00a0Aaron Rodgers and the rejuvenated Packers, who are probably still upset that they even have to play this weekend after\u00a0blowing a chance at the top seed in Arizona last week, solve the Giants defense just enough to get them through this opening round and headed for a date with the Saints in the Divisional Round.<\/p>\n
\nThe Texans accomplished a lot this season and are just happy to be here.\u00a0 In San Diego, with the Chargers figuring out the early-season struggles and are now hitting full stride.\u00a0 At home, they should dominate the inexperienced Texans and not give Norv Turner a chance to blow it at the end.<\/p>\n
\nSaturday, January 16:
\n<\/strong>4:15\u00a0– #4 San Diego 23 – #1 Pittsburgh 24
\nNorv Turner is able to blow this one at the end.\u00a0 Both teams come out fired up and play right with each other for two and a half quarters.\u00a0 Then, the Chargers take a 23-14 lead early in the fourth quarter.\u00a0 The Champs respond with a couple defensive stops, a field goal to cut it to 6, and then a game-winning scoring drive to win it.\u00a0 The AFC Championship Game is heading back to Heinz Field for the second consecutive season.<\/p>\n
\nThe Saints outgain the Packers by well over 100 yards of total offense, but a couple turnovers and an opportunistic Packers offense that converts all four red zone trips into touchdowns send the Pack to the NFC Championship Game for the second time in three years.\u00a0 The Saints are left to wonder what could have been in a game they won in every facet except the final score.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>1:00 – #5 Dallas 21 – #1 Philadelphia 34
\nTwo hated arch-rivals meet with a trip to the NFC Championship Game on the line.\u00a0 The Cowboys, who beat the Eagles in Week Seventeen just to make the playoffs are feeling confident, until the opening drive, when the Eagles streak down the field and go up 7-0 less than 3 minutes into the game.\u00a0 The Cowboys answered right back, but the Eagles kept on the pressure and took a 24-14 lead into locker room at halftime.\u00a0 They added another touchdown in their first drive of the second half to go up 31-14 and never looked back.\u00a0 The Birds will go to their 6th NFC Championship Game in the 11 years under Coach Reid.<\/p>\n
\nOld familiar foes in the AFC Playoffs go at it one more time this year.\u00a0 A wild, high-scoring game, despite the nasty weather in Foxborough ends with another Patriots victory.\u00a0 Both teams enjoyed double-digits leads at some point in this game, but it just seemed like the last team with the ball would win.\u00a0 Unfortunately, for the Colts, Manning throws a fourth-quarter interception on the drive that should have tied the game.\u00a0 The Patriots will move on to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers for a trip to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
\nSunday, January 24:
\n<\/strong>1:00 – #3 Green Bay 16 – #1 Philadelphia 30
\nThe Eagles are going\u00a0back to the Super Bowl!\u00a0 The Packers run falls\u00a0just short of an NFC Championship, while the Eagles are catching the stride and playing their best football at just the right time.\u00a0 Another big day for Donovan McNabb, as the Eagles win\u00a0the game with relative ease.\u00a0 Now, they await to see\u00a0whether it will be a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX or whether it will be an All-Pennsylvania affair down in Miami.<\/p>\n
\nThe Steelers defense steps up with vigor on this day, forcing\u00a0four New England turnovers; the Steelers special teams show up with a blocked punt for a safety; and, the Steelers\u00a0offense is good enough, given the field position they enjoy.\u00a0\u00a0The six-time Super Bowl champs are going back to try and defend their title.\u00a0 It is an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl.\u00a0 Ed Rendell’s reelection hopes may be in trouble…<\/p>\n
\nSunday, February 7:
\n<\/strong>6:37 (approximately) – Pittsburgh\u00a034 – Philadelphia 31
\nBack-to-back champs and seven Super Bowls for the Steel City.\u00a0 The McNabb-led Eagles fall just short again, though this time no one can possibly blame the quarterback.\u00a0 Against the league’s best defense, McNabb has a stellar game, throwing\u00a04 TDs and 0 INTs.\u00a0 But, the Steelers offense emerges under the bright lights and puts up big numbers.\u00a0 McNabb led a late touchdown drive to tie it with just under two minutes to go, but Roethlisberger, yet again, leads his teams down the field\u00a0 with a couple big screen plays to Willie Parker.\u00a0\u00a0With just :35 seconds left, the Eagles stuff Parker on a 3rd and 1 at the Eagles’ 31-yard line, but with no timeouts left for the Birds, the Steelers are able to wind the clock down to just :03 seconds left and call their final timeout.\u00a0 With overtime looming, Jeff Reed boots a 48-yard field goal as time expires and the Steelers are Super Bowl champs again.\u00a0 A devastating finish to a very successful Eagles season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"