NFL Wild Card Sunday Observations

The fairy tale season for the Miami Dolphins came to a crashing halt on Sunday when they ran into the defensive juggernaut known as the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens took their show on the road and forced Chad Pennington into four interceptions in a 27-9 rout.

And that's what made the win all the more impressive. Baltimore winning was not something unexpected; Vegas had set them as three-point road favorites. What was unexpected was the fashion in which they did it. After tying the Giants in 2008 for committing the least amount of turnovers for a season in NFL history, the Dolphins were forced into five on Sunday, one of them, crushing.

After battling to a 3-3 tie throughout most of the first half, with a little over two minutes left in the second quarter, Pennington committed his second INT and safety Ed Reed brought it back to the house for a TD. Then, after another three-and-out, Baltimore drove down the field and kicked a FG to make it 13-3 at the half.

Although there was still another two quarters to play, this one was over. Miami could neither run the ball nor pass the ball, and the Wildcat formation was stifled each time it was used, so unless Flacco made rookie turnovers, which resulted in defensive TDs, Miami wasn't going to have a shot. And unfortunately for the Dolphins, Flacco didn't make any rookie errors.

So the Ravens move on to face the top seeded Titans, in what should be a spectacular defensive game, while the Dolphins head home after a most improbable season.

In the late game, The Eagles outlasted the Vikings to take the second half of the double header 26-14. For most of the game, neither offense was impressive.

The Eagles kicked off the scoring after an impressive 62-yard punt return by DeSean Jackson set up a FG, and then they followed up with another one.

The Vikings were having a bit of success running the football and finally say RB Adrian Peterson break off a 40-yard TD run to put them up shortly 7-6. But Philadelphia responded to take the 9-7 lead.

For the better half of the game, the Vikings ran an extremely conservative offense because they did not want to expose QB Tavaris Jackson to DC Jim Johnson pressure packed defense, but in an NFL playoff game, you can only do that for so long before you need to take chances to win the game. Unfortunately for Minnesota, this backfired. On a third-down pass in the second quarter, Jackson tried to hit his receiver on the outside, but it was intercepted and taken back to the house after CB Asante Samuel jumped the route.

The Viking were able to respond on the ensuing drive and push the score to 16-14, but after the half, Johnson's defense clamped down and pitched a shut out.

And it's a good thing it did because the Vikings were doing the same until the Eagles got the ball back at their 29 with about seven minutes left. After being held in check all afternoon, RB Brian Westbrook caught a screen pass in the flat and with some beautiful running, followed a wall of blockers; he maneuvered his way to a 71-yard TD catch to push the score to 23-14. Game over.

So the Eagles head up the I-95 to take on the top-seeded Giants at the Meadowlands, while the Vikings head home for the off season knowing they have a lot of work to do with the passing game.