Wild Card Observations
Published on January 11, 2010
Three out of four games were complete duds, nearly unwatchable unless you root for or bet on the right side - (I did neither). Rarely is the NFL product that poor. The fourth game made up for it to an extent, but the ending was incredibly anticlimactic, an easy walk into the end zone on a fluke play. It's amazing that three plays earlier, Aaron Rodgers just flat out missed a wide open Greg Jennings for what would have been an 80-yard game-winning touchdown. Rodgers would have had 500 yards with 5 TD passes and a rushing TD, too. I underestimated the extent to which the Eagles missed center Jamaal Jackson. Backup Nick Cole fumbled a couple snaps, and it's fairly well known in handicapping circles that you stay away from a team missing the guy who sets the entire rhythm for the offense. I thought maybe that already having played for a game and a half would help, but apparently not enough. What's with Cris Collinsworth and Anthony Spencer? You'd think Spencer was Lawrence Taylor and Ray Lewis rolled into one the way Collinsworth goes on about him in every Cowboys game he does. Mark Sanchez played fantastic in Cincinnati and should have had an even better day had Braylon Edwards not dropped a perfectly thrown bomb in the end zone. I don't think Sanchez will keep it up throughout the rest of the postseason, but if he does, the Jets can beat anyone. Incidentally, Edwards' drops are beyond anything I've ever seen from a receiver, on a par with Chuck Knoblauch's throwing yips for the Yankees 10 years ago. What's up with the epidemic of kicking meltdowns this season? From Shaun Suisham against the Saints to Nick Folk to Kris Brown to terrible misses this weekend by Shayne Graham and Neil Rackers, I've never seen anything like this. Julian Edelman might not be as quick as Wes Welker, but the guy can sure break tackles. He's a player and should be a focal point of the team's offense next year with Welker still recovering from his knee injury. I assume Randy Moss was trying, but unless he was hurt, I don't understand why the Pats didn't send him deep and throw the ball up to him even if he was double covered. When you're down three scores, there's only so much upside to dink and dunk. Take a look at Kurt Warner's career playoff stats. (9-3 with 31 TDs, 13 picks, 312 ypg, 8.6 YPA).
