Divisional Playoff Recap

Indy @ Ballmer
Imagine you're madly in love with this (wo)man. You've been together forever and getting married just seems like a waste of time because if the relationship was going to end it would have already and marriage is just a social construct that would cheapen the love you two feel.

Then you wake up one morning and find their stuff is gone. Two days later you get a letter from them with a picture of them with their new lover.

So you go out and find someone new, basically doing to someone else what's been done to you and years later your new lover and your old lover run into each other in a bar and start fighting.

Wouldn't you expect your new lover to exact your vengence?

How much would it suck to have your old lover kick the crap out of your new lover?

Ladies and gentlemen, the City of Baltimore v. The Bastard/Bitch that left them. Sadly, the Ravens didn't exact any revenge. And, they really didn't get the crap kicked out of them. In reality, this game was like watching the two lover slapfight each other until one of them was too tender to fight anymore. Seriously, did anyone ever imagine that Peyton Manning v. Steve McNair was going to turn into a defensive struggle? Craziness. Remember the year that these two split the MVP? Yeah, not much left of that in this game.

Cody's right, this game could have gone the other way if the "Greatest Play Ever to Never Happen" had actually happened. Can the Colts move on to the Super Bowl? Sure, if their D holds up the way it has the past two weeks. They're back at home, which is going to help, and it's not like I'm betting on Manning, I'm betting on his D....

Iggles @ Saints
The Saints are the TRUTH. On 'turf. The Iggles had a really, really big problem going into this game. They needed to pick one weapon and shut it down at the expense of letting the other NOLA weapons run wild. In the end, they nearly pulled it off. But, well, they didn't.

The Saints looked scary good. These guys were getting stuff by every which way, it was insane. Seriously, I don't know how they only put up 27 points. The game wasn't really that close...sorry Underdog. Take away three or for big plays (high risk/high reward type) and the Iggles lose this game badly.

That said, I think this game would have been different outside of a dome, on natural grass. These guys were so fast, and Bush cuts so beautifully and McAlister gets such great traction on 'turf...I don't know if they can do that on shitty natural grass...like at Solider Field.

Seahawks @ Da Bears
These assholes are trying to kill me. Which would be easy because of the vast array of meats and cheeses I consume as an ex-pat Chicagoan.

Pats @ Chargers
How do you beat the Chargers? Hold LdT to 123 yards and the Bolts to 148. Honestly, I didn't see LdT being stopped, I didn't see Rivers having to take the game into his own hands. And that's totally what happened here. The new reality in the NFL is bending but not breaking. We saw it in just about every game this weekend. The defensive mindset in the NFL is to give up field goals and high risk/high reward TDs, but to keep your O in the game and let them gut it out.

Look around, there are four teams at home this weekend who were never really out of the game until the 2 minute warning or later. If there is a lesson to this game other than my third football truth, it's that anyone left can win this thing. No one is really that dominant, it's just going to come down to who can put up more points than they give up...which I know sounds really dumb, and like I'm channeling John Madden. But if you think about it, you know I'm right.

This is why I fear the Saints.