NFL Playoff Preview: Wild Card Weekend

Ah yes, we've been waiting for this all year. Some of us have been longing for a mercy kill to end our favorite team's miserable regular season, and others of us for the unpredictable exhilaration that is the NFL post-season. Here's the official BNC breakdown of the playoffs for the NFC and AFC.

NFC Playoff Picture

Overview

Thanks to New Orleans and Minnesota stumbling down the stretch like there was some sort of Underachievement Award up for grabs, the NFC is once again looking wide open. The top two seeds are, of course, the favorites, but it wouldn't be a major surprise to see any of the 6 teams in contention run the table and make it to the Super Bowl. The focus in the NFC will be on quarterbacks, with each team having a QB who can either cement a Hall of Fame legacy or catapult his stature from "good" to "great" by getting his team to the Super Bowl. And while the passers will inevitably scoop the glory, the other guys on the field are going to be just as crucial to making a run at the Lombardi Trophy. Let's go in on the teams and matchups.

First Round Byes

1. New Orleans Saints -  The team was cruising a few weeks ago and looked unstoppable after mollywhopping the Pats on the Monday Night stage. The franchise known for losses, the city whose warts and tragedies are somehow part of its charm, suddenly seemed to possess the team of destiny.

"Dude, we are ROCKIN' right now! We are kicking more ass than a ninja assault on a nude beach! Hoo-rah!"

Then they lost to Dallas in a game where they committed a number of uncharacteristic blunders. A disappointment to lose the undefeated season, but hey, no big deal. They were still the number one seed and they had the Bucs coming to town ready to lob them a win like Chris Paul throwing an alley. Oh wait, that didn't happen? They took that L and then finished off the season on a three-game skid by losing to Carolina? They like to ask "Who dat?" down on the bayou. Come playoff time, "dat" could well be anybody.

2. Minnesota Vikings - About the same time that the Saints went on there slide, the Vikings followed suit, almost relinquishing the #2 seeding and bye week that they may need more than anyone else to rest Favre's arm. Brett's play has been discussed ad nauseum--along with the sideline dispute he had with his head coach who looks like the bad boss who fires the single mom in a Lifetime movie after she rejects his advances--but, believe it or not, there are 10 other guys on the offense and an entirely different unit that plays defense. Still, the pressure is on Favre, fairly or unfairly, as he was brought in specifically to push a playoff caliber team over the top and into Super Bowl contention.

Wild Card Weekend

Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles

One of three rematches from the final week in the season, both of these teams are hard to get a read on. I'm a Cowboys fan and I have more faith in this current roster than I've had in the past few years. They have exorcised a few demons late in the season, and yet there's always the potential for them to hurt themselves with critical turnovers, penalties and blown defensive assignments that leave you screaming "Whose man is that!"

The Eagles are even harder to predict. Offensively they look like they should be unstoppable. Desean Jackson is freakishly fast and McNabb... well... after all these years he is still streaky and inconsistent, which is scary for opponents and frustrating for Eagles. If he catches fire and his mobility doesn't take the game off he's a nightmare for defenses, but when he starts missing wide open receivers he comes apart like a LEGO play-set.

I have Dallas winning this one by one score, but wouldn't at all be surprised to see the Eagles pull it out.

Arizona Cardinals vs. Green Bay Packers

Also a rematch of a Week 17 game, but this one feels different. While the Cowboys and Eagles had seeding on the line and hate each other, the Packers and particularly the Cards weren't playing for much. It definitely showed for Arizona, who phoned it in like a guy with a hangover and a few sick days to spare.

"I'm not going to make it into the office today. I'm...uh... pregnant? Or something?"

The Cardinals are virtually impossible to pin down. How good are they? They made a Super Bowl run last year after backing in to the playoffs and obviously didn't care about riding any momentum into the post-season this year. Playing in an absolute cakewalk division means that they've had at least the 4 seed locked up since the first kickoff of the season. Now what? Do they suddenly turn it on?

Meanwhile, Green Bay was the super sexy pick in the pre-season as the surprise Super Bowl contender. This was back when brilliant analysts like ESPN's Mark Schlereth were predicting that Favre's addition to the Vikes would result in Minnesota's utter ruin, handing Green Bay or Chicago the division. Green Bay got off to a slow start then caught fire about midway through the season. Aaron Rodgers has played lights out and on the other end, Charles Woodson has re-emerged as a true game-changer at cornerback.

There's almost no way to accurately call this game, but I'm inclined to believe it will go to the Packers.

AFC Playoff Picture

The AFC playoff picture is clearer as far as favorites go. The past has taught us to never completely write off any lower seed, but San Diego and Indianapolis are obviously the teams to beat, with the Patriots' long-shot chances becoming a mile-long sniper shot with a musket due to Welker's injury and Tom Brady being nicked. The other teams might as well start engraving their names on Also-Ran Medals. Cue the hate mail!

First Round Byes

1. Indianapolis Colts - Are we still talking about the whole "undefeated" business? Yes, it would have been cool for them to go through the regular season undefeated and I don't think it was a good call to pull Manning and other starters to "protect" them, especially when you turn around a week later and play them early in Buffalo when it's looking like The Day After Tomorrow on the field. But it's done. A new season is basically upon us and the ultimate goal is winning a Super Bowl. Even with an occasionally suspect defense and an almost-imaginary running game, Peyton is still running the show and looking like he can will the team to victory whenever he needs to. We'll see if that continues.

2. San Diego Chargers - Some small part of me wants the Chargers to do well just to shut up the Raider fans online who've been reduced to such taunts as "Our franchise may have suffered the second worst decline in quality of the decade behind Comedy Central...

Remember Chappelle Show? Doesn't it seem like that was 20 years ago?

...but at least we've won Super Bowls before, unlike the San Diego 'Chokers'" The fact that Phillip Rivers has never lost a December game is insane, and if his Bolts are on a collision course with the Colts, well San Diego's had their number in recent years. Top to bottom, this might be the most dangerous team in the NFL.

Wild Card Weekend

New York Jets vs. Cincinnati Bengals

First off, I can't be the only person in the world who sees this matchup and gets "Cincy & the Jets" to the tune of Elton John's similarly named song stuck in my head. Right? I don't mean for it to happen, I swear, it just happens...

Moving on, this is yet another rematch from Week 17, which saw the Jets absolutely hammer the Bengals to close out Giants Stadium in much better fashion than the New York football Giants could. Cincinnati had "nothing to play for," but letting a team that they'll play the very next week blank them on the scoreboard and put up 200+ rushing yards on their defense probably wasn't part of the game plan. Cincy has dealt with considerable of off-the-field tragedy this year and it makes you wonder if this team might just be drained with what must have felt like a much longer and more exhausting season for them.

The Jets, meanwhile, are the party guest who no one likes. The guy you knew from high school who you didn't want to invite to your housewarming but had to once he found out you were having one. He's not going to bring a dish but he's going to eat everything that everyone else brought. He doesn't really belong, but now he's here and you just have to deal with it. With any luck though, he'll drink too much too early--forgetting that he's a lightweight--and pass out a couple of hours after he arrives. No offense to Jets fans, but we all know this team shouldn't be in the playoffs, and seeing them advance would just make for a boring divisional playoff game in which they'll inevitably get drubbed. Here's hoping the Bengals wake up and knock the Jets out of the tournament.

New England Patriots vs. Baltimore Ravens

2009 might go down as the year Bill Belichick went from "mad genius" to just plain "mad." I thought the infamous 4th and 2 call was a dumb decision, but a bit overblown. And you can't blame him for playing the starters early in Houston, there's no way he could have foreseen Wes Welker falling prey to the Invisible Knee-Ligament-Monster. But what the hell was a banged up Tom Brady doing in the game in the fourth quarter? Bill's got rings and his stubborn, somewhat eccentric ways have paid off in the past, but this year--from the beginning when he castrated his pass rush and defensive leadership by unceremoniously sending Richard Seymour to the NFL abyss of Oakland--it's all seemed to backfire, and much of it appears to have no rhyme or reason.

"I just... DO things..."

On the other side, the Ravens played a fairly tough schedule, with the Pats, Colts, Vikings, Packers and Chargers as some of their non-division opponents. They don't have a bad loss all year and are probably better than the 9-7 record might lead some to believe. Take away a dropped pass here and a questionable penalty there and this team could be 10-6 or 11-5 and getting a lot more "Don't sleep on Baltimore" talk. I honestly don't think Joe Flacco--in this new QB-centric NFL--is ready to lead his team on an improbable, magical playoff run just yet, but I do think the Ravens can go into New England and get this win, and that they'll be one of those teams "no one wants to play" if they advance.

Anyway, there's your Wild Card weekend preview. Hopefully we see some good games this weekend regardless of the outcomes. No, I'm not going to predict a Super Bowl matchup yet. This is the League. Upsets and surprises are all but certain.

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