What a great weekend of playoff football. Though I didn’t watch the whole game, Brett Favre and the Packers playing anybody on a snow-filled Lambeau field is entertaining. Then, Saturday night we got to see the Greatest Show on FieldTurf operating at a near maximum efficiency. The Jaguars tried to utilize the bend but don’t break defensive strategy that’s won the Patriots three Super Bowls, but did not realize Tom Brady would bend and break their defense on the way to the best single-game performance by a quarterback in NFL history, as Brady completed all but two of his twenty-eight passes and passed for three touchdowns. Even with the historic night by the offense, the Patriots defense bent and the Jaguars matched the Patriots through the first half. In the end, the defense held itself together enough to hold the Jaguars to just twenty points, with only six points scored in the second half, while the Pats’ offense kept up the clinic from the first half. It all made for an entertaining game that was close until the end.
And then we had the Sunday games. After the Pats beat the Jaguars, I said “Man, I hope the Chargers win tomorrow night”, and now that I got what I wished for, I hope I don’t regret it! Unlike seemingly every analyst, I did not think the Colts would blow out the Chargers, but I didn’t think they’d lose either. Seeing Michael Turner and Billy Volek step in and play like starters is a little bit scary for us Pats fans, as it shows the Chargers are playing well as a time, with any player able to step up when needed. It’s this type of team mentality that won us three Super Bowls and got us to the AFC Championship game without any blemishes on our record. Though the Colts made mistakes, they also didn’t play as a team. Too much hype was given to Marvin Harrison. With the season on the line, neither Marvin nor Reggie Wayne were in the game for the Colts. The Colts didn’t adjust and the Chargers did.
After the Chargers-Colts game, I posted this comment on the facebook wall of one of my buddies whose a life-long New York Giants fan:
Congratulations on Eli Manning outlasting his brother in the playoffs (for now).
By having the late game, Eli was guaranteed of tasting the playoffs for at least four hours longer than his brother, and possibly longer. The Giants became a bandwagon pick for the upset and this time the popular upset pick came through. Why do coaches and teams think they can take a month off and then all of a sudden start operating at full strength again? Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson’s romp to Mexico had nothing to do with the Cowboys losing; rather the Giants experience the past three weeks, playing two high-intensity games and then a playoff game, prepared them to catch the Cowboys napping. The Cowboys did not take the Giants seriously and when they came into their house and stomped all over it, the Cowboys rolled over and cried. Literally.
All in all it was a great football weekend and I can’t wait for next Sunday.
