Don't Count the Wild Card Teams Out Yet

We all know that New England was a huge favorite coming in to the NFL playoffs and most of us expected them to be facing Indianapolis in the AFC championship game. But after San Diego's cut and paste defense stopped Peyton Manning on two consecutive drives on Sunday, America now knows that this matchup will not occur.

San Diego started their season 1-3 and Marty Schottenheimer was sitting in his living room recliner and watching his former team crash and burn under Norv Turner. But then the unexpected happened.

With the help of the best running back in the league and the acquisition of the Dolphins leading wide receiver, Chris Chambers, San Diego turned their season around. San Diego fought week in and week out to finish with a final record of 11-5.

This 11-5 record guaranteed them a No. 3 seed in the AFC playoffs where they faced Tennessee in the first round. Norv Turner proved he knew what he was doing and led them to a second round matchup against Indianapolis.

As you know if you watched Sunday's game, San Diego used a makeshift defense to pull it out in the end. They also lost Tomlinson and Gates, not to mention Rivers, who was replaced by Billy Volek. San Diego shut down Manning when he was supposed to show he could lead the colts on a game winning drive...twice.

Now I can personally say that San Diego deserves to be where they are now and should not be underestimated as they enter their match up with New England in the AFC championship game. Now chances are that 99 percent of America has already counted San Diego out against New England, but that is exactly the way they want it. San Diego will enter this week’s game with an “us against the world” attitude and when a team has that attitude anything can happen. 

On the other side of the league, the Giants are the surprise team in the NFC. Eli Manning was supposed to have another Eli type year where poor decision-making and multiple interceptions per game dominate Giants headlines.

However, towards the end of the season, after getting crushed by the Vikings, Manning led the Giants on a season ending run that gave them a No. 5 seed in the playoffs. The Giants first round matchup was against a very underrated Tampa Bay team that came in to the playoffs wanting to prove they belonged. Eli found a way to pull out the victory and move on to play the now extremely healthy Cowboys. Tony Romo must have been extremely happy to have his two best receivers back in the line up (Glenn and Owens), but he still was unable to prove he is the future of Dallas’ football team.

Eli Manning finally showed us that he has matured to a level where he can win games when he has to, and that he can play with the best of the best. Now The Giants must face Brett Favre and the Packers, who are looking forward to proving they are the team who can take down this year’s Goliath in the Patriots.

But just like San Diego, New York wants another shot at New England after almost beating them in Week 17. 

I encourage all of you to assess the talent of these two teams and although they may not match up to the better teams on paper, it might just be their mental attitude that makes the difference.