The Wild And The Mild: Playoff Thoughts » Brats & Beer

January 8, 2006
posted under: NFL playoffs

It was quite a weekend of playoff football with some real surprises as to who came to play and who didn’t. One thing’s for sure: the old chestnut about defense winning championships still holds, but having a little offense doesn’t hurt.

Washington escaped from Raymond James Stadium with a win, despite the best efforts of Mark Brunell to throw the game away. I swear, that guy should be fined by the players’ union for impersonating a quarterback. Luckily for the Skins, their defense managed to keep the pressure on Chris Simms and force three INTs. Should be interesting to see that unit against the Seahawks next week, though Joe Gibbs better find a better QB or coach up that offense before traveling to Seattle.

Jacksonville just looked downright pitiful against the Pats Saturday night. I know, New England is the defending NFL champions and all, but all they could score was three points? Jack “The Axe” Del Rio should have stuck with David Garrard rather than letting Leftwich dangle in the wind on his one good leg. Of course, I’m a little sad that the Patriots have broken Green Bay’s record of nine consecutive postseason victories, but I suppose someone was going to do it eventually and I would rather it be them than some punk team like the Colts.

The New York Football Giants also made a poor showing, getting shutout at home by the Panthers. Tim Lewis’ defense didn’t do him many favors in advance of his interviews this week, that’s for sure. DeShaun Foster rushed for 151 yards and Carolina was 7-15 on third down.

Finally, it was a disastrous day in Cincinnati when Carson Palmer went down with a torn ACL on the second play of the game. Hopefully for Bengals fans, he’ll be able to recover in time for training camp next season. Still, the Steelers were a bit slow to get started, but once they did it was like a freight train rolling through town. I hope this bodes well for them against Indy next week.