NFL Divisonal Playoffs this weekend have come to a close. I didn’t really keep up with yesterday, going out to dinner with the family and doing a ComedySportz show at DSI last night. I did catch some of the Redskins/Seattle game – enough to know that my Redskins were stinking up the joint and would probably lose, which indeed happened. Going into the weekend, I had picked Seattle and New England, so I was 1-1 on the day with the Denver win. I’m not much of a Broncos fan (though moreso than Holly, who freakin’ hates them), so neither winning team does much for me.
Today was a different story – we had to go out in early afternoon for someone coming by to look at the house, but aside from that I got to watch the bulk of both games. Indy-Pittsburgh up first. The Stillers are more on the positive side of my love-hate meter, where the Colts are pretty far over on the other side (one of my earliest sports memories is the Mayflower vans leaving Baltimore in the middle of the night, so boo on the franchise). Plus, Peyton Manning is guilty by association from his brother being a prick. So I was pulling for Pittsburgh, even though I didn’t give them much of a chance.
So I was surprised when the Steelers jumped out to a large early lead, but not so surprised when the Colts started their comeback. Indy was aided by one of the most mind-boggling instant replay calls I’ve ever seen. The Steelers player intercepted the pass, rolled on the ground with the ball, got up, and knocked the ball out of his hands with his own knee. Ruling on the field was an interception. The ref went upstairs and said that because his knee was on the ground when the ball got knocked loose, incomplete pass. Nobody could figure out how the hell he came up with that ruling, and how it fit the criteria of “indisputable visual evidence.” That got me thinking that the comeback was on.
The closing two minutes were as thrilling as they were weird. Pittsburgh sacks Manning on 4th down at the Colts 2 with about a minute and a half left. All they need to do is punch it in or run time off the clock (Indy still had some timeouts) to win. First play, Jerome Bettis is hit going into the hole, fumbles, and Indy recovers. They would have taken it back for the winning score if not for a fairly lucky tackle by Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger. Then, Indy drives down and gets set for a 46-yard field goal with seconds left to play, but Mike Vanderjagt of Indy wasn’t even in the same zip code with his kick. Steelers win by 3.
After the game, Manning was his usual jackass self by blaming his offensive line for the loss.
Next up, Bears vs. Panthers. I had my Mike Minter jersey on, and was ready to go. In this game, I’d picked the Panthers to win, but was worried about the potent Bears defense. Not so much about the Bears offense, with Rex “Grey’s Anatomy” Grossman making just his second start of the year, and only the 8th or 9th of his injury-plagued three year career. The question would be whether the Panthers O-Line could protect Jake Delhomme.
Delhomme was fine (1 sack, 1 INT), but the real story was the Steve Smith show. Carolina’s running game went nowhere, but the Bears couldn’t find a way to stop the deep ball to Smith. He burned them for over 200 yards in the air. The Panthers jumped out to an early lead, though it wasn’t as big as it should have been, with the Bears defense limiting the Panthers to field goals on a couple of occasions.
The second half featured Grossman settling down and making plays. Carolina scored again, but missed the PAT to make it an 8-point game. Chicago was driving again, but got intercepted by Carolina’s Ken Lucas. Chicago’s defense stopped again, though, but Grossman wasn’t able to get it done, throwing incomplete on 4th and 1 to seal the win for Carolina.
Condolences can be sent to Ben Moser.
The Panthers lost their second running back, though, as DeShaun Foster broke his ankle and is done, leaving 3rd stringer Nick Goings as the starter. There was also a scary moment as monster DE Julius Peppers hurt his shoulder and was done for the game, but it looks like he’ll play in Seattle next week.
So for the championships next week, I’m going with the low-seeds making good, as Carolina will top Seattle and Pittsburgh will beat Denver.
