The Best NFL Weekend of the Year

The NFL playoffs continue tomorrow and Sunday as the Divisonal round gets under way. This round is historically the most exciting and interesting weekend of the postseason as we get our final week of four-plus football games until August (gasp!) and we get to see the league's top four teams in action against the four hottest wild-card teams. Many of the greatest NFL games I've seen in my lifetime have come in this round. A few examples, you ask? Why, I'd love to! (In no particular order.)

1. "The Snow Game" AKA "The Tuck Rule Game" - In 2002, the playoffs for the 2001 season, the Patriots' dynasty was born in earnest on one of the most controversial and obscure calls in NFL history. New England hosted the Oakland Raiders as a massive blizzard slammed into the New England area and the field was barely visible in this night game that became an instant classic. On a crucial late-game Patriots drive, trailing by 3, Tom Brady was sacked by blitzing cornerback Charles Woodson of the Raiders and the ball came loose. The Raiders quickly jumped on the ball for what appeared to be a game-clinching turnover, but Patriots coach Bill Belichick, in either a brilliant or desperate move, challenged the play on a largely unknown rule, the Tuck Rule, that states that a QB that loses the ball when trying to bring it back into his body is considered to have thrown an incomplete pass. The call was overturned, the Pats made a game-tying field goal and went on to win in overtime on their way to their first ever Super Bowl win.

2. Two OT Game - In 2004, the red-hot St. Louis Rams hosted the Carolina Panthers in the game that effectively marked the end of the "Greatest Show On Turf" era in St. Louis. The Rams offense was well off its dominant pace of the regular season and the Panthers played steady defense to take a 23-12 lead in the fourth quarter. St. Louis rallied, however, and after a Marshall Faulk TD with a successful 2-point conversion, the Rams would recover an onside kick and drive down with a chance to win. In a baffling occurrence, the normally hyper-aggressive Rams head coach Mike Martz, inside the Panthers 20-yard line with under a minute left and a time out remaining, elected to play for the tie and sent the game into overtime. The game would end up going into a second overtime (which prompted most fans to start wondering if there would be a second halftime; turns out, their would have been), but on the first play of the second OT, Panthers QB Jake Delhomme hit Steve Smith for a game-winning 69-yard TD. The Panthers would go on to lose the Super Bowl to the Patriots.

3. The Drunken Canadian Kicker Game - In 2005, the Indianapolis Colts looked like they were going to finally get over the hump. The day before this game, the Colts arch rival New England had come up short against the Denver Broncos (27-13, yay!) in Denver, meaning a Colts win and they would face the Broncos at home for Peyton Manning's first shot at a Super Bowl. The Steelers were the #6 seed in the AFC and had "snuck in" with a 10-6 record, facing division rival Cincinnati in the opening round and dispatching the Bengals after blowing out Carson Palmer's knee in the first quarter. The game took a stunning turn as the Steelers jumped out to a 14 point first quarter lead and led 14-3 at halftime as Manning again struggled against a 3-4 defense. The Steelers would add another TD in the third quarter to lead 21-3, and the game looked like it was slipping away.

Then in the fourth quarter the Colts offense came to life, scoring two TDs to get within 3 points. With 1:20 to play, on fourth and 16, Manning was sacked at the Colts 2 yard line, seeming to end the game. But on the Steelers' next play, tailback Jerome Bettis, relegated to a goal-line back role in his final season, fumbled the ball (his first fumble of the season) on a dive play and Colts safety Bob Sanders picked up the ball with just one man to beat: Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger. Big Ben would make a miraculous tackle, though, and the Colts would take over at their own 42 with all three timeouts in hand. Manning would try to move the Colts for a TD, but after limited success Indy was forced to try a 46-yard field goal to tie with 0:17 to play, and Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt would miss the kick badly, wide right. The Steelers would go on to win the game and the Super Bowl.

The game would be even more memorable because of the infamous rant from Manning at the Pro Bowl that year where he called out Vanderjagt, who had gone on a talk show in Canada, his home country, and ripped Manning and Colts coach Tony Dungy for lacking emotion in their leadership. Manning fired back in a Pro Bowl interview calling Vanderjagt "our idiot kicker who got liquored up and ran his mouth off."

4. "4th and 26" - In 2004, this game became infamous for one play. In a tight game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers in which the Eagles had rallied from a 14-0 second quarter deficit, the Pack led 17-14 with 1:12 left in the fourth quarter. The Eagles had the ball and were facing 4th down with 26 yards to go, and Donovan McNabb found wideout Freddie "FredEx" Mitchell (FredEx because he "always delivers"... or maybe because that's where he works now...) for 28 yards as safety Darren Sharper had inexplicably dropped beyond the first down marker allowing Mitchell to run freely to the sticks. The loss would cost the Packers defensive coordinator his job and the Eagles would go on to win the game in overtime before losing to the Panthers in the NFC Championship game.

These are just a few of the great games we've seen in this round this decade. Not included are a couple other famous Colts losses, the Giants upset of the Cowboys last year, and many others. Let's just hope the trend continues this year. Now on to the picks (as usual, the odds can be found here). I'm going with scores this time for a little added amusement.

Game 1 - Baltimore Ravens (+3) at Tennessee Titans (Saturday, January 10th, 3:30 CST)
The Take: I love the Ravens defense. They were the best unit to play last weekend, hands down. They can stop the run, they can pressure the QB, they can make big plays (turnovers, third down stops, etc.). Heck, they can even score from time to time. That said, there is a reason the Titans earned the #1 seed in the AFC. They have a great defense, too, and this has been lost over the last six games as the Titans went 3-3, but that was with stud defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch out and with Albert Haynesworth missing time at the end. The Titans say they're now healthy, and after a bye week I'm ready to believe it. As much as I love the Ravens defense, their offense scares the hell out of me. The Dolphins showed a little last week against Baltimore's offense, but I think we found out that Miami wasn't as good as I thought. The Titans' defense IS as good as we thought weeks 1-10 of the season, and they'll prove it tomorrow. This could be a great game to watch if you love defense, because neither offense is going to do much. In the end, though, I think the Titans get more out of their veteran QB Kerry Collins than the Ravens get out of their rookie QB Joe Flacco.
The Pick: Titans win and cover narrowly, 17-13.

Game 2 - Arizona Cardinals (+10) at Carolina Panthers (Saturday, January 10th, 7:15 CST)
The Take: By now you've probably heard all the reasons the Cards are dead in this one, but if not, here they are one more time: The Panthers were the only 8-0 home team in the league this year. The Cards were just 3-5 on the road. The Cards were winless in the Eastern time zone this season. The weather could be a factor and the Cards can't run consistently. The Panthers have a solid defense and a great rushing attack. The Panthers have an elite pass rusher in Julius Peppers and Kurt Warner likes to fumble when hit, or touched, or breathed on wrong. That enough? No? Then how about the Panthers game-breaking wideout Steve Smith who's been uncoverable this year and the fact that the Cards have no answer for him in their secondary? I think that about covers it.
The Pick: Panthers to win and cover, 34-21.

Game 3 - Philadelphia Eagles (+4) at New York Giants (Sunday, January 11th, 12:00 CST)
The Take: This seems to be the year of the Wild Card "dark horse." Everyone seems to love three of the four wild card winners (Eagles, Chargers, Ravens) to pull an upset. Frankly, I don't see it. As well as the Eagles played down the stretch of the season and in their win at Minnesota last weekend, the Giants are a whole different animal. Many want to point out that the Eagles beat the Giants in week 15, but how can anyone take a game seriously that was: a) meaningless to the Giants, b) critical for the Eagles, and c) the week after Plaxico Burress decided to take target practice in his pants. Certainly that Giants team was not the one we'll be seeing Sunday. My biggest question in this game is the health of Brandon Jacobs for the Giants, but I think this is only a minimal concern given how well Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw have run in his absence. Interesting note: amazing how neither of the #1 seeds currently have a "star" wide receiver (thanks to Plexiglass's shooting spree). Maybe those prima donna's aren't worth the headache after all.
The Pick: The Giants to win and cover, 20-10.

Game 4 - San Diego Chargers (+6) at Pittsburgh Steelers (Sunday, January 11th, 3:45 CST)
The Take: The size of this point spread is rather surprising considering how much love the Chargers seem to be getting in the media this week. It looks like the betting public isn't buying into the hype, and you can count me in on that. The Chargers are a nice story (unless you're a Broncos or Colts fan) and their turnaround is impressive, but I don't understand why everyone is underselling the Steelers the way they are. Pittsburgh has all the same ingredients this year as they had in 2005 when they won the Super Bowl: a great defense that can kill the run and rush the passer, a good running game (this has been less potent than the Steelers have had historically, but with a week off Willie Parker may be his healthiest of the year (they hope)) and a quarterback that has a knack for pulling off big drives in close games. Seems promising to me. Certainly Roethlisberger's health after his week 17 concussion is a question mark, but I don't think he has to be much better than average for the Steelers to pull this one out.
The Pick: Steelers to win, Chargers to cover, 16-14.

This is the point where I remind you that this is for entertainment purposes, only:

Last Weekend: 1-3 vs. spread, 1-3 choosing winners.
BCS Bowls: 3-2 vs. spread, 3-2 choosing winners.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the blog, please post below or I can be reached at chrisf884@gmail.com. Thanks for reading.