NFL Round-Up: Wildcard Weekend

The playoffs are finally here!!!!!!

If you aren't excited, you should get your pulse checked.

So................

Sit back........

Grab a beer............

Put the kids outside...........

Tell the wife to leave you alone.........

IT'S TIME............................................

NFL Round-Up

Wildcard Weekend

The Scoreboard

(A recap of all the action from the past week in the NFL....)

Kansas City Chiefs (12-5): 30      Houston Texans (9-8): 0

THAT'S RIGHT!  FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 22 YEARS, THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS HAVE GOT A PLAYOFF WIN!!!!

OK, now...I'm good. Just had to get that out of my system. As a Chiefs fan for over 22 years (I became a fan of the team when Joe Montana joined them), I was halfway worried that I had forever jinxed this team as they had yet to taste any kind of post-season glory as long as I've been cheering them on. However, THE CURSE IS OVER! Not only did the Chiefs get a playoff win for the first time in forever this weekend, but they arguably looked like the best team that played this week as well. No matter what you think about the Kansas City offense, they continue to get the job done. Alex Smith is not Aaron Rodgers, but he's also not Brian Hoyer. The guy can win football games, especially when he has a running game and an excellent defense and that's the game plan the Chiefs used here and it worked to perfection. KC isn't going to light up the scoreboard on you, but they are good enough to put up some points if you give them enough opportunities.

Speaking of opportunities, the Kansas City Chiefs defense gave the offense plenty of them by absolutely dominating the disgusting looking Texans offense. Let's forget how awful Brian Hoyer looked. He's not a good QB and he's going up against an elite-type defense. Of course he was going to struggle. The Texans got no help what so ever anywhere else on that side of the ball. I know Houston doesn't have a lot to work with (take away DeAndre Hopkins and they have NO ONE), but you would think that since they are a playoff team....they could at least score SOME points. Then again, KC's defense has been playing lights out and it's going to take a real good offense to take these guys out. Can Tom Brady and the New England Patriots make it happen next weekend?

Pittsburgh Steelers (11-6): 18     Cincinnati Bengals (12-5): 16

I feel for Bengals fans, I really do. I had no real rooting interest in this game, but since I'm a Chiefs fan and they just got their first playoff victory in over 22 years, I really wanted to see Cincinnati end it's playoff drought as well.

Alas, t'was not meant to be though my good sire!

Oh no. Just when you thought the Bengals playoff curse wasn't real....it showed it's ugly head in the worst kind of way in this game. Cincinnati had this game pretty well in hand and it looked like they were going to walk away with the win. However, the shit started going downhill. Pittsburgh was driving the ball downfield to try and steal the game. Then you had Vontaze Burfict making questionable tackles and drawing penalties. That was followed up by Adam "Pac-Man" Jones drawing a stupid penalty of his own by trying to confront Steelers coach Joey Porter (who was on the field for some reason when he shouldn't have been) which put Pittsburgh within field goal range to kick the game winner and send Cincinnati home early once again. The question now becomes, what do the Bengals do now? All signs are pointing to them letting Marvin Lewis once again slide by even though the guy is 0-7 in the playoffs. Congratulations Bengals fans. I hope you enjoy another year of being a very impressive regular season team and floundering in the playoffs. Or what we like to call....

THE MARVIN LEWIS WAY!

As for Pittsburgh. Good luck next week in Denver. Seriously. Everyone knows how I feel about the Donkies and I would love to see you guys send them packing. Let's all pray for the health of Ben Roethlisberger.



Seattle Seahawks (11-6): 10     Minnesota Vikings (11-6): 9

This wasn't the greatest game because of the weather, but it had an ending that was worthy of sitting through 3 hours of mediocre football to see. Hey Vikings fans, is there anything shittier than losing a playoff game because of a kicker (or a holder...depending on who you want to blame)? Seriously though? All these guys work so hard to get where they are at all season long and now they have to go home because everyone but the Minnesota holder knows that kickers need the laces of the football out in order to get a more accurate kick. Did this guy seriously never watch Ace Ventura? 

I feel for you Vikings fans, but don't feel too bad. You guys have a nice little team and chances are good you will be seeing some post-season action again real soon.

As for the Seahawks, is this the luckiest team in the NFL or what? Just when it seems like some teams can't catch a break (the Bengals), you have the Seahawks over here getting lucky once again. I don't know if Pete Carroll is walking around with a rabbit's foot in his pocket or what, but Seattle gets another playoff win and moves one step closer to another Super Bowl appearance. Maybe Russell Wilson is onto something with this whole "God" thing?



Green Bay Packers (11-6): 35     Washington Redskins (9-8): 18

The Green Bay Packers didn't' look like a good football team heading into the playoffs.

That's why he's arguably the best player in the NFL right now.

Redskins? Nice try. You guys should be back next year depending on how things play out in free agency/NFL draft. I have more faith in Kirk Cousins now than I ever did before, so get him re-signed and continue to build this thing up. Let's put the whole RG III experiement into the past and show everyone that a new era in Redskins football has arrived. It's the "KIRK COUSINS ERA"!!!!.....

NFL Power Rankings

(Pretty self explanatory here...)

1. Carolina Panthers (15-1)
2. Arizona Cardinals (13-3)
3. Denver Broncos (12-4)
4. New England Patriots (12-4)
5. Kansas City Chiefs (12-5)
6. Seattle Seahawks (11-6)
7. Pittsburgh Steelers (11-6)
8. Green Bay Packers (11-6)
9. Cincinnati Bengals (12-5)
10. Minnesota Vikings (11-6)
11. New York Jets (10-6)
12. Washington Redskins (9-8)
13. Houston Texans (9-8)
14. Buffalo Bills (8-8)
15. Atlanta Falcons (8-8)
16. Indianapolis Colts (7-9)
17. Philadelphia Eagles (7-9)
18. New Orleans Saints (7-9)
19. St. Louis Rams (7-9)
20. Oakland Raiders (7-9)
21. Detroit Lions (7-9)
22. Miami Dolphins (6-10)
23. Chicago Bears (6-10)
24. New York Giants (6-10)
25. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-10)
26. San Francisco 49ers (5-11)
27. Baltimore Ravens (5-11)
28. Jacksonville Jaguars (5-11)
29. San Diego Chargers (4-12)
30. Dallas Cowboys (4-12)
31. Cleveland Browns (3-13)
32. Tennessee Titans (3-13)