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The Wild Card games weren’t as exciting as was expected, but that shouldn’t be the case for the Divisional games this weekend.  Patriots/Broncos and Panthers/Bears should both be fantastic games.  I’m hoping for snow in both of these games to add to the visual beauty that is playoff football.  Here’s a look at this past weekend’s ‘action’: 

Redskins at Buccaneers
The Redskins offense looked horrible.  They can’t expect to go any farther in the playoffs if they play like that against the Seahawks next week.  The defense on the other hand, looked great.  Big players have to show up at big times and Brunell, Moss and Portis were virtually non existent in this game. 

The Bucs had young Chris Simms playing, and to be honest, this game was mostly just some valuable playoff experience for him.  He didn’t look phased at all by the added pressure this game entailed and a lot of people will be impressed with that (the same can’t be said for Eli Manning though, but more on that later). 

This game was sadly the closest game of all 4 Wild Card contests with the Redskins winning by 7, but it was by no means an exciting game.  Watching offensive ineptitude to this degree for both teams makes for a boring game every time. 

Jaguars at Patriots
This game featured the only home team winning this weekend, and was by far the lock of the week for almost everyone picking games this week.  The Jaguars were exposed for having an over-inflated record, as everyone had expected.  The thought was that maybe they could have used that lack of respect as a motivation, but they didn’t. 

The funniest thing was hearing that Tom Brady mentioned, for the umpteenth time, that his Patriots aren’t getting any respect.  Brady, as smart as he is at making decisions on the field, has convinced me he is retarded with that statement.  Everyone picked the Patriots to win this game easily, everyone jumped back on the Patriots bandwagon a while ago and sing their praises constantly and are predicting they’ll go far if not win it all.  Everyone is giving the Patriots the utmost respect so where does Brady get this crap from?  I’m embarrassed for him, he sounded extremely stupid making this statement, which he’s made so many times before.  Tom Brady is a great QB, but he is a retarded broken record as a person.  Was that too harsh?  Not politically correct?  I’m sorry, I’ll rephrase it.  Tom Brady is a mentally-challenged, properly-working-challenged record. 

Leftwich played well and I don’t think Garrard would have fared better.  Leftwich is the starter and Del Rio made the right decision going to him for this game.

Congratulations to Willie McGinest for getting 4½ sacks.  It’s quite a feat in one game.  But let’s not compare him to Bruce Smith and Reggie White.  Those two rushed the passer, and also stopped the run.  Willie is just a pass rushing specialist.  Of course he gets sacks. 

Panthers at Giants
So, are Eli Manning and the Giants the best team in the land still, New York fans?  The Panthers used the simplest game plan even Mike Tice would have come up with: stop Tiki Barber and put the game in Eli’s hands.  The game was in Eli’s hands and he crumbled like one of the New York Twin Towers.  Wow, that was harsh.  Sorry for that.  If I thought anyone actually read this, I wouldn’t have written that. 

The Panthers on the other hand looked real good, and if they keep it up, they may be Super Bowl bound.  But if Delhomme lays another egg like he’s done in some regular season games this year against either the Bears and most probably the Seahawks afterwards, they’ll lose for sure.  What was really impressive was the Panthers running game with Foster and Goings. 

Before the game, Umenyiora said that Strahan and he were the best DE tandem in the league, better than Peppers and Rucker.  Well, in this game, it seemed that Strahan was great at rushing the passer, Umenyiora too.  What they forgot to do however was stop the run.  On the other side, Peppers and Rucker had a game plan to stop Tiki Barber and the run, and they got the job done and won the game.  I think Umenyiora and Strahan got soundly beaten by Peppers and Rucker in this game. 

Steelers at Bengals
I feel real bad for Carson Palmer.  This game was just going to be one in what should be a great career.  Even if he had played and lost, it would still have been great playoff experience.  My money is actually on the fact that the Bengals would have won with Palmer, the best QB in the league this year, playing the whole game.  Sadly, his next year may also be gone because of this injury.  Backup QB Jon Kitna did look good early on, but faded badly towards the end, allowing the Steelers to pull away.  Palmer would not have allowed that to happen. 

Early on the Steelers, as they were probably coached to do, were playing maliciously and unsportsmanlike.  Some examples were standing over a Bengals receiver as he tried to get up in the end zone and hitting a player late when he was already on the ground and was already touched.  The referees should have called these penalties early to set the tone, but instead missed a call later by giving a penalty to a Bengal for a late hit out of bounds, that wasn’t even a late hit as both players aimed for each other.  Now, I’m not saying von Oelhoffen hit on Carson Palmer’s knee was intentional, I’m sure he didn’t try and hit his knee, but he also didn’t try and avoid hitting his knee, which may be just as bad.  He should feel ashamed of that and it should be considered a cheap hit, and appropriate action taken.  My heart goes out to Bengals fans, and I now have to look at the Steelers and coach Bill Cowher (whom I respected and liked before) with, well… a Cowher-esque scowl. 

Big Ben looked much better and much more comfortable than last year’s playoff contest.  He now knows how to take care of himself throughout a whole season, unlike last year. 

As mentioned before, big players have to show up in big games.  The Steelers DBs and more specifically Troy Polamalu were not a factor in this game.  Polamalu’s only noteworthy play before his late interception was the dumb personal foul he made allowing the Bengals to score.  He’ll have to do much better against Peyton if the Steelers want to stand a chance of beating the Colts. 

No Huddle
I love all the coaching firings and I think each and every one of them was the right move to make for each club.  The only problem is that the Ravens and Bills should have followed suit and fired their coaches as well.  Oh, and Lions GM Matt Millen should have been fired too. 

Sorry Bills, but Marv Levy is not the answer.  You should have hired an experienced GM to right the ship.  Marv would be good as a consultant only, and should have been hired to that effect only.  This has nothing to do with Marv’s age; it’s just the lack of GM experience will play a big negative factor. 

Hiring Brad Childress is a great decision by the Vikings.  Hiring Herman Edwards by the Chiefs is a bad one.  It’s being done based on friendship between GM Carl Peterson and Edwards.  This almost always never works out, and it won’t work out in this scenario as well.  The Chiefs are headed for harder times.  Especially since their offensive coordinator Chris Saunders should feel shunned now by being overlooked for the position, which in all honesty is rightfully his. 

Vince Young is not that good!  Come to your senses people!  Just because the only college game you watched he did great in, doesn’t mean this will translate into NFL success!  He’s much faster than college players, of course he does great against them, but this won’t be the case in the NFL. 

I also have a gripe concerning Reggie Bush being touted as the consensus #1 draft choice.  I agree that he’s super fast and has great athletic ability.  This is great for a return man.  But not that great for a running back.  Bush has never been good at running between the tackles, which is essential in the NFL.  LenDale White is probably a better pick than Bush.  Of course the best option for the Texans is trading down, as is always the case for a team with the first overall pick in the draft.  When you have that bad a season, trust me, one player will not make the difference.  You need a lot more help than that. 

Mail Bag
Let me check.  Empty.  Again.  I hate all of my millions… and millions of readers.  Why can’t you ask anything?  It’s almost guaranteed to be included in my MMQB!  I’ll have no choice but to select your letter!  And don’t forget, I’ll include your name unless you state otherwise. 

Offensive Player of the Week:  Steve Smith for his great performance.  Honestly, there weren’t that many gaudy performances, but of all of them, Steve Smith out performed them all. 

Defensive Player of the Week: Willie McGinest for his 4½ sacks in one game.  The most ever for a single game in the playoffs. 

Special Teams Player of the Week:  I really can’t give this to anyone.  I didn’t see any player that had a great performance and deserves this award. 

Pet Peeve of the Week:  The Patriots for not disclosing injury information on their players.  I understand that this is done in order to gain an upper hand against opponents who won’t know who to game plan for, but this should be seen as an obligation for the fans.  The people who pay for the tickets have a right to know who will be playing in games.  If other teams do this, and disseminate this information, the Patriots should as well.  Quite frankly, it’s unsportsmanlike.  This is a great word to sum up the Patriots Business Organization. 

Joe Thiesmann Weekly Award:  I found that Phil Simms called a horrible game from start to finish.  It’s so sad to see that the number one announcing teams for the networks are so bad.  Is there anyone out there that can properly analyze a game in progress? 

Top Playoff Teams
1. Indianapolis Colts – Finally preparing to play a meaningful game.
2. Seattle Seahawks – See Colts above.  These teams seem to be on a collision course. 
3. Denver Broncos – Let’s see if the new Jake Plummer can handle the playoffs. 
4. Chicago Bears – Their defense should carry them. 
5. Carolina Panthers – Are they peaking at the right time?
6. New England Patriots – They got rid of the pretending Jaguars easily. 
7. Pittsburgh Steelers – They looked like a lost defensive backfield against Kitna at first. 
8. Washington Redskins – Played horribly on offense against the Bucs but still won.