NFL Wild Card Round: 8 Biggest Fails of the First Round of 2012 Playoffs

The NFL Wild Card Weekend was one of the most exciting weekends in recent memory—but it was far from perfect.

Players and teams failed miserably as teams like the Denver Broncos and the New Orleans Saints succeeded with huge victories.

In that spirit, that's take a look at the epic fails of the NFL's Wild Card Weekend. 

Willis McGahee

The Denver Broncos may have won the game, but Willis McGahee did not play that well at all.

McGahee ran for only 61 yards and averaged a subpar 3.2 yards per-carry. Not only did he struggle, but he also coughed up a costly fumble late in the fourth quarter which ultimately ended in a Ben Roethlisberger game-tying touchdown pass to Jerricho Cotchery. 

Matt Ryan

Matt Ryan was just a non-factor in the Atlanta Falcons embarrassing 24-2 loss against the New York Giants. It's almost like Ryan did not show up to the game—he was that invisible.

Ryan completed only 58.5 percent of his passes while accumulating less than 200 passing yards. He failed to throw a touchdown or an interception.

To be honest, Ryan looked afraid to make mistakes, which ultimately cost the Falcons the game as their stud quarterback choked. 

The Entire Detroit Lions Defense

I have never seen such a putrid defensive performance as the one that the Detroit Lions had on Saturday night against the New Orleans Saints.

Detroit's defense allowed New Orleans to score 45 points while accumulating 626 yards—that is just disgusting.

The Saints had the ball five times in the second half and scored touchdowns in all of those possessions. 

All in all, Detroit's defense failed tremendously. 

Ben Roethlisberger

It's certainly hard to blame Ben Roethlisberger, as he wasn't the only guy banged up, but the entire Pittsburgh Steelers roster was suffering from injuries.

Injured or not, Big Ben did not play very well in Pittsburgh's 29-23 overtime loss against the Denver Broncos.

Roethlisberger completed only 55 percent of his passes for 289 yards while throwing one touchdown, but he was sacked a whopping five times while throwing one interception.

Andy Dalton

It's certainly hard to blame Andy Dalton, as he's only a rookie and he had one hell of a season with the Cincinnati Bengals, but he was absolutely pitiful in his playoff debut against the Houston Texans.

The Texans feasted on Dalton's mistakes, as he was picked off three times. One of those interceptions was returned for a touchdown by rookie defensive end J.J. Watt. 

Dalton was definitely the biggest reason why the Bengals made the playoffs, but he also has a lot of work to do in his development as an NFL starting quarterback. 

Michael Turner

Aside from Matt Ryan, Michael Turner is the key to the Atlanta Falcons having success on offense. If Turner can't pick up yards, then the Falcons will struggle offensively. It's as simple as that.

Turner ran for only 41 yards while averaging a putrid 2.7 yards per carry. 

Like the entire Falcons team, Turner choked. 

Cedric Benson

Cedric Benson did absolutely nothing for the Cincinnati Bengals—he fell flat on his face.

Benson ran for only 14 yards on just seven carries as he averaged a pitiful 2.0 yards per carry. How embarrassing is that? 

Benson did not play well and neither did the entire Cincinnati Bengals team and that's why they lost. 

The Refs

The NFL referees made three mistakes in the NFL's Wild Card Weekend—I realize that no one is perfect, but that's why instant replay is there and they failed. 

NBC's ProFootballTalk points out that the league made two mistakes and the league has admitted to it.

One of the mistakes happened in the Denver vs. Pittsburgh game, as the refs blew a backwards pass from Ben Roethlisberger as the refs immediately blew the whistle, which meant that the play we dead and ultimately erased the fumble. 

Two of the final mistakes came from the New Orleans vs. Detroit game as they occurred in the same play: 

"

With 5:39 left in the second quarter, Saints quarterback Drew Brees was hit while attempting a pass.  The ball popped forward.  Believing it to be an incomplete pass, an official blew his whistle.  Lions linebacker Justin Durant thereafter recovered the ball and ran toward the end zone.  Then, it was announced that the ruling on the field was that Brees had fumbled — and that Detroit had recovered.

"

The Lions are robbed of a touchdown as Justin Durant could have easily returned it for a touchdown, but also the ball should have be returned back to the Saints, rather than the Lions, as the whistle blew and the play was dead.