NFL PLAYOFFS- Divisional Round Previews

Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts

The Baltimore Ravens, fresh off their blow out win at New England last week, are heading into Indianapolis to face the mighty Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night's prime time game.
This figures to be an exciting game as the last time these two teams met in Baltimore back in November, the game went down to the wire with the Colts winning a close game.
Baltimore's defense, led by perennial Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis against the NFL MVP Peyton Manning and the Colts high flying offense.
The Colts (14-2) boast the NFL's best record heading into this one while the Ravens (10-7) feel they aren't getting enough respect because they had to struggle to make the playoff party this season after a great 2008 post-season run that saw them reach the AFC Championship Game before losing to eventual Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh.
Baltimore relies on the running game, led by Ray Rice (159 yards rushing and two TDs against the Patriots last week) and Willis McGahee. Pro Bowl fullback LeRon McClain also factors in the running game while quarterback Joe Flacco will be called upon to keep the Indy defense honest with the passing game, which put the ball up just ten times in the win against New England.
The Colts, led by Manning, will come out gunning against the Ravens, which at times this season have been suspect against the pass.
With Reggie Wayne, Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon and Pro Bowl Tight End Dallas Clark along with running backs Joseph Addai and Donald Brown, the Colts can strike from anywhere at any time and the Ravens know this. Count on Baltimore's defense to apply heavy pressure against the Colts offense.
The best chance for the Ravens to win this game is to run, run and run some more to keep the Colts' offense OFF the field. That approach didn't work for Miami when they faced the Colts in September.
The Dolphins held the ball for over 40 minutes against the Colts and still came up short as Manning & company drove at will when they had the football.
The Ravens defense is far better than Miami's without question. But the pass defense for the Ravens is suspect and if they cannot apply steady pressure on Manning, he will pick them apart.
The game should be competitive barring mass turnovers on either side or a significant injury. The Colts are favored and should be (especially playing at home) against Baltimore in this game. The Ravens are a hungry team and the Colts cannot take them lightly or it could be a long night in Indianapolis for the home team.
Stay tuned... because that is why they play the games.

NFL PLAYOFFS- Divisional Round Previews

Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints

The Cardinals (11-6) toppled the Green Bay Packers, 51-45 in OT last week and now travel to the Big Easy in New Orleans to face the Saints (13-3), a team that has lost three straight games after starting 13-0 in the 2009 season.
Both of these teams can light up the scoreboard as evidenced by the Saints leading the NFL in scoring for the second consecutive season.
Both teams feature awesome passing attacks and fairly solid running games. Not great running games but enough to keep opposing defenses honest as far as pass defense is concerned.
So will this be a high scoring game?
The odds are good that it will be, especially since it is being played in the Super Dome, where the Saints can really get it going with the crowd noise and all of that hoopla.
The crowd noise and all the hype surrounding this game will NOT intimidate Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner.
Warner is a cagey veteran who has seen it all, including three Super Bowl appearances and a Super Bowl MVP trophy when his St. Louis Rams won it all a decade ago.
The Saints are led by QB Drew Brees, who had another stellar season and has great targets in wide receivers Lance Moore, Devery Henderson, Marques Colston and Robert Meacham as well as tight end Jeremy Shockey and a backfield tandem of Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush.
Arizona counters with Warner's favorite targets Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin, along with Steve Breaston and Early Doucet. In the backfield, Arizona has Tim Hightower and Chris "Beanie" Wells grinding it out to keep the defenses honest.
No one is expecting much from either of these teams' defenses in this contest, so that may well mean they can step it up for one game and keep the scoring down somewhat.
It's doubtful that will happen, but you never know in the NFL playoffs.
The Saints scored eight touchdowns on defense this season while Arizona won the wild card game over the Packers with a defensive score in the extra session. That is something to think about when analyzing these opportunistic defenses.
In all likelihood, expect a high scoring game that may go down to the wire if the Cardinals do not fall behind by more than one score early in the game.

Ravens smash Patriots, Cardinals survive the Pack in OT

The Wild Card playoff games were for the "birds" on Sunday afternoon.

The Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals put on a show late Sunday afternoon in the desert and when it was all over, the teams combined for over 1,000 yards of total offense that saw the Cardinals defeat the Packers, 51-45 in overtime.
The game was highest scoring playoff game in NFL history.
The Cardinals stormed out to a 17-0 lead after the first quarter and led 31-10 early in the third quarter after quarterback Kurt Warner (29 of 33 with 5 TD passes and 379 yards) hit Larry Fitzgerald with a 33-yard scoring pass.
The Packers outscored Arizona 35-10 over the final two quarters as quarterback Aaron Rodgers (28 for 42 with four TD passes and 422 yards) shook off an interception on his first playoff pass attempt to lead the comeback charge for the Pack.
Rodgers hit James Jones for a 30-yard scoring pass to make it 38-31 and when the Packers scored again in the first minute of the final quarter, the game was tied 38-38.
The Cardinals came back to regain the lead on Warner's fifth TD pass of the game and then the Packers tied it again in the final two minutes.
Cardinals' kicker Neil Rackers missed a potential game-winning 34-yard field goal in the closing seconds that sent the game into overtime.
The Packers had the ball first but on third down, Rodgers was stripped of the football and Karlos Dansby picked the ball out of the air and raced 17 yards for the winning score to finally end the madness and send the Cardinals to the Divisional Round against the New Orleans Saints next Saturday. Dallas is at Minnesota on Sunday in the other NFC Divisional playoff game.
The Cardinals rushed for 156 yards compared to just 90 yards rushing for Green Bay.
In the AFC Wild Card Game earlier on Sunday afternoon, the Baltimore Ravens ran over, through and around the New England Patriots to the tune of 234 yards rushing in a 33-14 trouncing that was never even close to being a game.
The Ravens raced ahead 24-0 after the first quarter and never looked back as Ray Rice (22 carries for 159 yards with two TDs) ran 83 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage to set the tone.
Patriots' QB Tom Brady (23 of 42 for 154 yards with two TD passes and three INT) suffered through the worst playoff performance of his career as he threw an interception and the Ravens quickly cashed in with another TD run by LeRon McClain to make it 14-0.
The Ravens added another 10 points to finish the first quarter at 24-0 before Brady finally got the Pats on the board with a TD pass to Julian Edelmann, who was filling in for the injured Wes Welker, to make it 24-7 at halftime.
The second half was just a formality as the Ravens continued to grind it out while Brady was scrambling for his life amid the fierce Ravens' defense.
The Ravens will travel to Indianapolis to face the Colts next Saturday while the New York Jets face the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

Something to think about

Pop Culture

Gumby creator Art Clokey died at age 88 on Friday.

COWBOYS, JETS ROLL INTO SECOND ROUND OF NFL PLAYOFFS

Buddy Ryan he isn't, but the bombastic Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan is Buddy's son and stated that his Jets' team should be the favorites to win the Super Bowl.
On Saturday, the New York Jets pretty much had their way against the host Cincinnati Bengals and rolled past them to a 24-14 win and a spot in the Divisional Round of the AFC Playoffs next weekend.
Rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez was efficient for the Jets in the win, going 12 of 15 passing with 182 yards and a touchdown pass.
The Jets defense dominated the Bengals, even though they gave up near 200 yards rushing to Cincinnati. Bengals running back Cedric Benson has a big game with 169 yards on 21 carries and scored a 47-yard TD to pull Cincy to within 21-14 early in the final quarter.
However, the Jets countered with a big running game as Shonn Greene rushed for 135 yards on 21 carries, including a 39-yard touchdown scamper to tie the game 7-7. The Bengals had scored first on Carson Palmer's 11-yard TD pass to Laverneus Coles.
Sanchez hit Tight End Dustin Keller on a 45-yard scoring pass to put the Jets up for good at 14-7 in the second quarter.
Thomas Jones scored on a 9-yard run to make it 21-7 for the Jets in the third quarter and that was pretty much it for the Bengals. Benson's scoring run gave them some hope, but two missed field goals by the usually reliable Shayne Graham really hurt. Jets' kicker Jay Feely put the game away with 5:17 remaining in regulation with a 20-yard field goal.
The Jets will play either at Indianapolis (with Peyton Manning & company playing the ENTIRE game this time) if New England wins Sunday OR they will travel to San Diego to face the Chargers if Baltimore wins on Sunday.

DOOMSDAY 'D' IS BACK...

The Dallas Cowboys dismantled the Philadelphia Eagles 34-14 on Saturday night in Big D to advance to the Divisional Round of the NFC Playoffs. It was the Cowboys' first playoff win since 1996 when they were still coached by Barry Switzer and led by Troy Aikman at quarterback.
Cowboys' QB Tony Romo led the way on offense with 244 yards passing (23 for 35) and two touchdowns while the Dallas defense continued to dominate the opposition to make life easier for Romo & company.
Romo had two TD passes and Cowboys' running back Felix Jones had 148 yards on 16 carries and scored on a 73-yard run to put the game away 34-7 late in the third quarter.
Donovan McNabb had a miserable time of things as the Dallas defense harassed the Eagles' signal caller all night long. For the game, the Eagles managed just 56 yards rushing.
After Dallas took a 7-0 lead, Michael Vick hit rookie wideout Jeremy Maclin on a 76-yard scoring pass to pull even at 7-7. After that, it was ALL Dallas.
Tashard Choice scored on a nine-yard rushing touchdown to put the 'Pokes up for good at 14-7 as well and now they will travel to Minnesota and a second round game against the Vikings next weekend.
As for the Eagles, they have officially crashed and burned for the 2009 season after soaring so high most of the season.

Colts' Manning corrals NFL-record fourth MVP

Colts' Manning corrals NFL-record fourth MVP

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