The playoffs are upon us here in the National Football League. There are four games the first two weekends, and this weekend started off with a nice little storyline between...
The first ever team with a losing record to make the playoffs, the Seattle Seahawks, going against LAST YEAR'S world champs, the New Orleans Saints. The Saints did get out to the lead first with Garrett Hartley kicking a 26 yard field goal. He also added the extra point on Drew Brees' 1 yard touchdown pass to Heath Evans. Seattle regained themselves nearing the end of the first quarter, with Matt Hasselbeck providing a response to the New Orleans scoring by finding John Carlson for 11 yards and the touchdown, with Olindo Mare adding the extra point. New Orleans got back out to a 10-point lead with Julius Jones running 5 yards for a touchdown, and Hartley adding an extra point. Hasselbeck didn't let it get to the Seahawks, finding Carlson again for 7 yards, allowing Mare to add an extra point, and later a field goal of 29 yards to tie the game at 17. It didn't stop there, as Seattle took the lead on Hasselbeck's 45 yard touchdown pass to Brandon Stokley, with Mare adding another extra point. Making it only 24-20 for the Seahawks at halftime, Hartley responded for the Saints with a 22 yard field goal. Seattle came out roaring in the third quarter, showing a burst of power with Hasselbeck's 38 yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams, who was double covered on the play. Mare made the extra point, and then put the Seahawks up 34-20 with his 39 yard field goal. New Orleans was not about to let this little peon team from the NFC West just walk all over them, and came back with 10 straight points, on a 4 yard Julius Jones touchdown run and Hartley's subsequent extra point and later 21 yard field goal. The Seahawks, showing signs of drain, got a spark of life when Marshawn Lynch decided to go Afghanistan on the New Orleans defense, breaking anywhere between 5 and 7 tackles and getting numerous blocks on a 67 yard tank style run for a touchdown to make it 41-30 for the Seahawks after Mare added the extra point. The Saints weren't done yet, however, and Brees found Devery Henderson for 6 yards and a touchdown, but failed to convert the two point attempt on the DeShawn Wynn run. Down 41-36, the Saints attempted an onside kick, but it was drilled to John Carlson, and Seattle held onto the win. At the conclusion of the Green Bay-Philadelphia game tonight, the Seahawks will know their new opponents for the second round, and Saints will be sent home packing away from Qwest Field.
The latter game for Saturday had the Indianapolis Colts hosting the New York Jets. The first quarter was scoreless, and the second quarter had only slightly more scoring, with Indianapolis taking a 7-0 lead into halftime thanks to Peyton Manning connecting with Pierre Garcon for 57 yards and a touchdown, with Adam Vinatieri supplying the extra point. New York came out and tied it in the third quarter on a 1 yard touchdown run by LaDainian Tomlinson, followed by a Nick Folk extra point. Vinatieri allowed the Colts to retake the lead before the start of the fourth quarter with his 47 yard field goal. Tomlinson and the Jets were put ahead 14-10 with another 1 yard touchdown run and subsequent Folk extra point. Indianapolis rallied back on the foot of Vinatieri, taking a 16-14 lead after field goals from 32 and 50 yards. However, the football gods had different plans for Indianapolis this January, and allowed Folk to win the game as the clock ran down in the fourth quarter with a 32 yard field goal, sending the Colts to the golf course and allowing the Jets to make travel plans to Foxborough, Massachusetts to take on the New England Patriots next week in the second round. PSA: Please cover your ears if you hear Rex Ryan this week, as he will probably be running his mouth as usual, unless of course you are one of those two Jets fans out there, and then as such, just carry on with your lives.
Heading to the other AFC wild card game, between the host Kansas City Chiefs and visiting Baltimore Ravens, the winner heading off to Pittsburgh next week to play the Steelers. Billy Cundiff led off the scoring for Baltimore with his 19 yard field goal. Kansas City thought this was unacceptable and did take a brief lead thanks to a 41 yard Jamaal Charles touchdown run, with Ryan Succop making the extra point. The Ravens had other plans however, and took a 10-7 lead into the locker rooms thanks to Joe Flacco connecting with Ray Rice for 9 yards and a touchdown, with Cundiff supplying the extra point. Cundiff extended the Baltimore lead to 16-7 with two 29 yard field goals, and added the extra point to make it 23-7 when Flacco found Anquan Boldin for 4 yards and the touchdown. Consider the cake iced in the fourth quarter with Willis McGahee running 25 yards for the touchdown, and Cundiff adding another extra point to bring the game to its final score of 30-7 Ravens over Chiefs, with Kansas City moving to the offseason and Baltimore heading to AFC North rivals Pittsburgh for the second round.
Lastly for this weekend, we have the NFC wild card match between the host Philadelphia Eagles and visiting Green Bay Packers. Green Bay got on the board first thanks to an Aaron Rodgers touchdown pass to Tom Crabtree for 7 yards, followed by a Mason Crosby extra point. Rodgers kept the Packers going with his 9 yard touchdown pass to James Jones, with Crosby adding the extra point to make it 14-0. Philadelphia got on the board before the end of the first half with a David Akers field goal of 29 yards, making it 14-3. Michael Vick helped the Eagles cut the lead down further in the third quarter with a touchdown pass of 24 yards to Jason Avant, followed by an Akers extra point to put the Eagles within 4. Rodgers put the Packers a little farther ahead with a 16 yard touchdown pass to Brandon Jackson, and with the Crosby extra point, Green Bay had a 21-10 lead. Vick cut the lead down to 21-16 with his 1 yard touchdown run, but his two point attempt to LeSean McCoy failed. However, the Eagles did recover the ball on the onside kick, in a similar situation, but not identical, to yesterday's NFC wild card game. They, like the Saints before them, failed to put the ball in the end zone in any way, and Green Bay punched their ticket to Atlanta, sending Seattle to Chicago.
That's all the football we've got this weekend. Same deal next week.
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