NFL Divisional Round Recap

Well, the final four is set, and as expected, things were pretty exciting on the way there. A brief recap of each game, only because I care [about increasing readership]:

Colts 15, Ravens 6
I hate to say it, but this was a pretty dull game. Not even just speaking in relation to the other 3 games, which were excellent, this game just wasn't really entertaining at all. Though this is quite a story for Indy... they've won 2 straight games and Peyton Manning has been positively mediocre. I know the Ravens D rocks, but Manning did not play well. Fortunately, the suddenly stout Indy D was superb. I think Benny is right... it's been a good thing for the Colts to be a little more under the radar than in years past.

Saints 27, Eagles 24
Now the Saints, they are a fun team to watch. With all due respect to LT and the like, none of them get me as interested when they have the ball as when Reggie Bush has the ball. The cutback, across field, 20 yard run was a good example of that... you just never know what's going to happen. For the Iggles, they were 5-6, lost their starting QB, and then went on to win the division and win a playoff game. Nothing to hang your head about there.

Bears 27, Seahawks 24
This was vintage Rex Grossman out there. When he has some time, he can make some great throws... the long TD pass to Berrian was a beautiful throw. However, when there's even a hint of pressure he gets antsy, loses his mechanics, throws off his back foot, is fumble-prone, and makes bad decisions. It happened today when the Seahawks were able to get pressure, and it's happened every time I've seen a team get pressure on Rex. At the end of the day a playoff win is a playoff win, but they eeked out a win at home against the worst team left in the playoffs, a team that also happened to have a banged up secondary. A meh performance in my opinion, but they won, and that's always a plus.

Patriots 24, Chargers 21
I expected this game to be awesome, and it didn't disappoint. Well, the Chargers disappointed a little by their play, but the game was close. I have ragged on Marty a lot, and I think he's not very good, and I think he maybe had a couple of errors, but this one is all on the players. They are more talented, they were put in position to make plays, and they very often did not. As for the Patriots... Deion Branch who? Adam Vinatieri who? Gostowski was perfect, Caldwell and Gaffney were brilliant, and Tom Brady just did his thing at the end of the game. You couldn't script it any better than that for the Patriots.

Overall, 3/4 with my picks for that round... I'll take it. How did you do?

dan

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