Wide Left Podcast: NFL Playoffs, Helmet-to-Helmet, MLK, Nantz on Tebow, More

It's Monday, and this is the Five Wide version of the Wide Left podcast. We cover five topics in five minutes each (give or take). Josh Zerkle is filling the counterpoint role today. Let's run down the topics.

TOP STORY

The New York Football Giants are an enigma, and they're one game away from the Super Bowl. Did anyone see this coming? Did the Packers have too much rest and too much rust? 

UPON FURTHER REVIEW

Josh and I talk about what is and isn't an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit.

Aaron Rodgers was gifted a personal foul late in the Packers-Giants game when he WASN'T hit in the head and Pierre Thomas was literally knocked out cold for the Saints when he WAS hit in the head by a 49ers defender, with no penalty because the NFL doesn't think a running back is defenseless.

The call in the 49ers-Saints game may have been the correct call (the Packers-Giants call was clearly a terrible call) but that doesn't mean it's the right call.

A team should not benefit from knocking another player unconscious, leading him to fumble. Something should change, and we feel that online outrage is the only way the NFL will take the necessary steps to fix the helmet-hit rule to really protect all players, not just quarterbacks and wide receivers.

HELLO, THE MEDIA

We talk about Jim Nantz's late-game soapbox about Tim Tebow, almost begging us to root for the guy.

We talk about how any members of the media should be covering Tebow—including us—but more wonder why Nantz and Phil Simms seemed to be making excuses for him all game.

How many times did Simms tell us Tebow can't wait for a full offseason as the starting quarterback?

Yes, the Patriots destroyed the Broncos in the second round of the playoffs because Tim Tebow was a backup during a lockout-shortened offseason.

It's fine to cover the guy, but to make excuses for him and to wax rhapsodic about his career at the end of that blowout seemed misplaced and over-the-top. Thoughts?

A DAY OF SERVICE

Josh and I talk about what today means. It's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Let's not take it as a day off from work or school. Don't just listen to this show and go to the movies.

Talk about who the man was and what his movement meant to this country. Do something good for someone else. 

I will admit, two white guys talking about this topic and trying, in any way, to tie it in to sports is as awkward as you might think.

TO THE FUTURE

Josh and I talk about the NFL title games and try to figure out which is the most compelling Super Bowl matchup.

Would you rather see a Harbaugh reunion, or a rematch of the Giants-Pats game from a few years ago?

Are baby pictures of two brothers more annoying than interview after interview about the helmet catch?

Will both home teams win? Can we get an upset or two this weekend? That and more.

Thanks for listening, leave your thoughts in the comments.