Only in the NFL

The unexpected happens in the NFL, especially in December.  Teams headed to the playoffs lose to horrible teams.  Rookies step up.  Good teams look vulnerable.  It all makes the end of the season very interesting.   Yesterday was filled with some great matchups!  

Favorites from NFL Week 15

Detroit Lions got their fourth win of this season and their first win on the road since 2007.  With a record of 3 – 10, the Lions went down to Florida and beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a playoff contender, 23 – 20 in overtime.  They did this with their third string quarterback, Drew Stanton.  Lions fan should be excited about where they will be next year with a healthy Matthew Stafford.

New York Jets bounced back after losing two games in a row and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 22 -17.  Pittsburgh attempted a come back, but it was unsuccessful.  After being humiliated by the New England Patriots and Miami Heat, the Jets got their first win in December and held on to the Wild-Card playoff spot.

Baltimore Ravens beat the New Orleans Saints, 30 -24 at home.  The defending Super Bowl champs had not lost a game since October.   Baltimore’s offense and defense was on point.  Ray Rice led the offense with 153 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while the defense limited the Saints to just 27 rushing yards.  Both teams are fighting to keep a Wild-Card playoff spot.

Redskins fans had been boasting a better record and a victory over their division rival, Dallas Cowboys.  All of that is over now.  While the Redskins experimented with benching quarterback, Donovan McNabb for Rex Grossman, the Cowboys are ending strong.  Dallas led the entire game.  Washington fought back but missed a field goal to tie the game.  Dallas won, 33 – 30.  The Cowboys and Redskins are tied for third place in the NFC East at 5-9.

While Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Washington failed at coming back, but quarterback Michael Vick and the Eagles got it done.  Philadelphia was trailing the New York Giants by 14 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter.  Vick passed, ran and scored a touchdown to get the Eagles 28 points in the final quarter of the game!  This is why he is leading Pro Bowl voting.  Philadelphia won, 38 – 31.

Rookie Debut

Quarterback Tim Tebow made his first start in the NFL.  He had 138 passing yards, 78 rushing yards and a touchdown.  It was a good start to his NFL career, but not enough for the Denver Broncos to beat the Oakland Raiders.  The Raiders won, 39 -23.

Are you ready for some football?

Tonight MNF is going to cold Minnesota, but not to the Metrodome.  The Chicago Bears will play the Minnesota Vikings at TCF Bank Stadium, home of the University of Minnesota football team.  This is the result of Metrodome collapsing last Sunday.  Officials ruled that it could not be repaired in time, the Bears petitioned the NFL to disallow the game at TCF Bank, but the show is going on.  Outside of the Brett Favre drama, this game is centered on Chicago keeping its playoffs hopes alive.  Right now Chicago is leading the NFC North, 9-4; but the Green Bay Packers are right behind them.  They meet for the final game of the season.  I think that Chicago will keep it together, while the Vikings still figure out who they are after a crazy season.  MNF kicks off at 8:30 pm on ESPN.

Ciao! 

Heels & Helmets®

If the NFL playoffs started today

Since the regular season is coming to a close, I thought I better get you prepared for the playoffs.  The postseason in the NFL is a three-week playoff system and the Super Bowl.  The rounds are: Wild-Card, Divisional, and Conference Championship.  The conference champions play in the Super Bowl.  Let me explain the how teams get on the road to the Super Bowl.

The NFL is divided into two conferences, the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC).  Each of those conferences has four divisions (North, South, East and West).  The playoffs are comprised of 12 teams, 6 from each conference.  The four division winners get playoff spots.  This is the reason why there is such a focus on division leaders.  You may have heard someone comment, “they are leading the AFC East” or “they are only two games behind first in the NFC North.”  It is all about making it to the playoffs.  After the division leaders are determined, two more teams are selected from each conference.  These are the teams that have the best record in the entire conference not including the division winners.  They will play division winners in the Wild-Card Round, hence they are referred to as “wild-cards.”  The best two teams in each conference are off during the Wild-Card Round and they have an automatic home game.  They play the winners of the Wild-Card Round in the Divsional Round.  The overall best team in the conference gets all of its games at home, not including the Super Bowl; unless, of course the Super Bowl is in their home stadium.   Jerry Jones thought his team would do it this year, but they are not even going to make the playoffs.

Take a look at the teams that would be in the playoffs if they started today.

With three weeks left in the regular season, there are several teams “in the hunt.”  This means that they are close to becoming a Wild-card.  I’ll use the current NFC standings to illustrate this.  At the moment, the New York Giants have a record of 8 – 4 after 12 games.  They would have a Wild-Card spot if the playoffs started over the weekend.  Tampa Bay is at 8 – 5 after 13 games.  They are hunting for the wild-card spot.  The Giants game this evening against Minnesota is pivotal.  If they win they move to 9 – 3 making Tampa Bay’s hunt more difficult.  If they lose, they will be tied with the Bucs.  This helps Tampa Bay with its hunt to become a playoff team. 

All of this leads me to tonight’s games.  The New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings are playing in Detroit at Ford Field because the roof of the Vikings home stadium, Metrodome collapsed early yesterday morning.  As I shared, it is a big game for the Giants.  Minnesota would love to mess up things for the Giants, but I don’t think they are equipped to do so.  They don’t know who is going to be their quarterback (Favre is still trying to recover) and they did not know they had to make a road trip until yesterday evening.  The Giants better stay focused and get it done tonight.  Next week they have Philadelphia at home.

Are you ready for some football?

Monday Night Football is traveling to the Lone Star State.  The Baltimore Ravens play the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium.  Even at 5 – 7, the Texans are still in the hunt for a playoff spot.  After a tough loss last weekend, Baltimore’s offense will be solid.  Joe Flacco, Anquan Boldin, Derrick Mason and Le’Ron McClain should not have any problems against the Texans’ 31^st ranked defense.  On top of that, the Ravens’ defense is ranked #7.  I don’t see Houston’s Matt Schaub and Andre Johnson doing too much damage against Ray Lewis and the gang.  I’m going with the Baltimore Ravens tonight.  MNF kicks off at 8:30 pm on ESPN.  This week we’re going to the hippest part of Washington, DC for the game, U Street.   Join us at Ben’s Next Door.

Ciao! 

Heels & Helmets®