Heading into this weekend in the NFL, there was a lot of drama surrounding the AFC Wild-Card Picture, with Pittsburgh, Denver, Houston, the Jets, and Baltimore all having legitimate chances of making those last two spots. But for all the hype, the weekend ended with the two teams that had control of their playoff destiny, the Ravens and Jets, taking care of business and securing their playoff places.
AFC
Byes: Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers
Wild-Card Weekend Games
New York Jets at Cincinnati Bengals (Sat. 4 p.m.)
Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots (Sun. 1 p.m.)
NFC
Byes: New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings
Wild-Card Weekend Games
Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys (Sat. 8 p.m.)
Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals (Sun. 4:40 p.m.)
More Like a Whimper than a Bang.
If you watch a lot of sports shows, you'll hear the majority of commentators talking about how a team wants to enter the playoffs with momentum. Take the Dallas Cowboys, they finished their season with wins over the Saints, Redskins, and the Eagles, a strong three game win stretch. The Cowboys would easily fit the mold of a team entering the playoffs on a momentum streak.
The same can't be said for three of the four top seeds.
Indianapolis has lost two straight. New Orleans has lost three straight. Minnesota has lost three of the past five. In fact, only the San Diego Chargers, riding an 11 game win streak, can be considered “hot” of all the top seeds.
Losers of the Week
Denver Broncos-Losses in 8 of the last 10 games totally wiped out an impressive 6-0 start. Throw in that two of them were to the Chiefs and one to the Raiders and you have a vastly disappointing season.
Pittsburgh Steelers- The defending Champs lost the ability to play defense and protect leads while unleashing a devastating offensive attack. The D gave up 4th quarter leads in five of it's seven losses and can look back to a five game stretch of ineptitude for their season ending so abruptly.
