2012 NFL Wildcard Round Review

All the home teams may have won this weekend but it was still quite hard work for the winners with the visitors creating plenty of excitement throughout.  


Cincinnati Bengals at Houston Texans

Deep in the 4th quarter of the Bengals v Texans game, the Texans will deservedly win this game and advance their season further.

After an even first half, a brilliant intercept touchdown by Texan JJ Watt definitely changed the game in favour of Houston.

Their excellent defence and running game totally dominated the Bengals in the 2nd half and Dalton is set to lose his first game at Reliant Stadium - he was 3-0 at this venue as a quarterback at high school and college going into this game.

Chin up, Bengals fans though. They've had a season to be proud of, given the rookies they have in the offence and the future is looking very bright in Cincinnati. Dalton and Green have been amazing in their debut season and Jerome Simpson has been sublime.

Anyway, the result means the Baltimore Ravens will play the Houston Texans in Baltimore next weekend.


Detroit Lions at New Orleans Saints

The Detroit Lions scored 28 points and 412 yards in this game. By most accounts, that would win you most playoff games. Unless you're playing the Saints who now have the record for most yards in a playoff game - 619 and counting. Naturally that has resulted in the Saints just missing out on a half-century and a comfortable win - aggregate score of 83 (unheard of in the NFL in January).

Incredible to think that the Lions scored with their very first drive of the game - quite an effective one too, led 14-10 at half-time and looked like they finally figured out how to beat the Saints secondary with their high-passing game and the tall timber of Schefter, Pettigrew and of course Megatron, Calvin Johnson. In fact Megatron had an outstanding game for the Lions - 12 receptions, 211 yards and 2 touchdowns.

It's just that the Saints had the experience, the ability to adjust and ultimately, the better running game than the Lions. It was that running game in the 2nd half that effectively killed off the Lions, especially when it came to 4th down and short. The Saints converted those with aplomb like they had all season and with that took control of a game which they dropped twice in the 1st half.

No shame losing to this Saints side who are a bit like the Barcelona of American football. This Saints offense is so explosive and talented and it should be considered a privillege to watch this team and its quarterback at their very best.

Furthermore, given the recent history of the Lions, this should be a season the people of Detroit should be very proud of. They were beaten by the better team but their never-say-die attitude fostered by coach Jim Schwartz has won them a lot of admiration from the rest of the NFL. And with such a young squad the good days should be back in the Motor City.

Anyway, the Lions can sit back and reflect on a season they can be proud of while the Saints now go to San Francisco to take on a much tougher and rugged team. Will Brees and the Saints be able to put 500 plus yards on a 49ers side that has only conceded one rushing touchdown all season? We shall see.

Atlanta Falcons at New York Giants
Surprised at the way this game blew out but ultimately the Giants deserved to win by the final scoreline. After an ineffective 1st half against Atlanta's rugged defence, they took control of the game with their old time wrecking balls, Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. Eli Manning, Mario Manningham and Hakeem Nicks suddenly came to life just as Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and Roddy White were shut down by Pierre-Paul and his merry henchmen.

It means the Giants get another chance to beat the Packers albeit this time at Lambeau Field while the Falcons have to ponder a third consecutive playoff loss in 4 years. The Falcons are a good team but they are not quite a Super Bowl contender yet and won't be until they have options to take off the load on Michael Turner, Roddy White and Tony Gonzalez. Matt Ryan is a great quarterback but the Falcons are still a bit limited on ammunition.

As for the Giants, they showed that they're in the same vein of form that we know the Giants can produce. And let's not forget the 2007 NFC Championship game at Lambeau Field when the Giants upset Brett Favre's fairytale ending before upseting another fairytale story a few weeks later.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos

I must have been one of the few non Broncos fans to tip a Broncos win. Obviously I was banking on Tebowtime making a big return in the first weekend of the playoffs and against the Pittsburgh Steelers who only just missed out on a bye.

Tebowtime has always been exciting and this was no doubt the most exciting game of the weekend. The Broncos had to strike early, Tebow had to take the big shots for them to have any chance of upsetting the Steelers.

And they did exactly that in the first half. They raced away to a 14 point half-time lead.

The Steelers naturally came back even with Big Ben not at 100% and making critical mistakes in the pocket. Their wide receivers, Mike Wallace and Jericho Cotchery helped somewhat to negate Big Ben's inability to have any flow with his playmaking.

However, the Broncos wide receivers even with the loss of Eric Decker made huge plays, caught the big shots when they mattered and won. Demaryius Thomas was quite impressive and is becoming one of the better wide receivers in the league.

Ironic thought? Tebow scored one of his highest yardage - 316 yards - against arguably one of the top 3 defensive teams in the NFL.      

So the Steelers season is over and Big Ben can now rest his dodgy ankle - not winning the AFC North title would turn out to be quite costly. Meanwhile, the Tebow machine keeps going and goes on the road to New England where Tebow takes on Brady for the second time this season.