In the 1st game of the day the Seattle Seahawks faced off against the New Orleans Saints. So everyone asked the question "how does last year's Super Bowl Champion lose against a 7-9 football team?" A team that many had written off as a undeserving playoff contender. Now I know just about everybody outside of Seattle had the Saints coasting through this round, but Seattle made a bold statement that they are in it to win it. The Seahawks proved that in 60 minutes a division winner with losing record can hold it's own against the proven champion. They were physical and dominated the Saints on both sides of the football. They showed that in the playoffs it's any one's game. Who would have predicted Marshawn Lynch having a 67 yd touchdown while breaking 8 tackles?
Sometimes during the season he seemed to tackle himself. Matt Hasselbeck played about as perfect of a game against the Saints as he could. You would have thought this guy was coming off a 30 TD season, but that isn't the case. He was a QB that has been abused and exposed to the league all season. He didn't even earn the start last week against the Rams in a playoff deciding match up, but today looked like he never missed a snap. He took command and the Seahawks went on to win 41-36. The Miracle at Qwest.
In the 2nd contest the Colts took on the J-E-T-S! Good ole Rex Ryan and the boys who have filled up the news and media sites all season came ready to play. This game was a personal for Ryan whose Jets keep getting burned by Peyton and the Colts. In order to give their teams a chance Mark Sanchez and Manning both had to protect the football. Well Sanchez was inaccurate, which forced him to hand the ball of to Greene and Tomlinson. This worked well for the Jets as they ran all over the Colts. And as for Manning, his season came to a finish with a performance that was just okay. He looked more like a QB that was trying to play it safe and not screw things up, but that wasn't getting it done in this match up. I thought that in the 4th we would see a glimpse of the QB who was prone to lead his team game winning drives. I was tweeting away that Manning was gonna be surgical and lead the Colts to a TD as time ran out. Well that didn't happen... The Colts failed to convert on 3rd down and forced Vinatieri to kick a 50yd field goal leaving almost a minute on the clock for the Jets to score. That's when every Colts fan cringed at the feeling that there salvaged season was gonna end so bittersweet. The Colts kicked deep to a dangerous Antonio Cromartie who returned the ball into mid-field. And from there we all know what happened, Sanchez looked like a polished veteran and the Colts secondary was again exposed as Jets came back for the victory 17-16.
What we learned on from these two games is that on any given day or shall I say Any Given Saturday the underdog team can prevail. A team with a losing record backed by only their faithful fans can win against the previous year's Super Bowl winner. A team that has faced a lot of unwanted spotlight from poor decisions can make all the right moves against a team that was hot at the right time. What does everyone expect? Today the Seahawks decided to be the 1st team with losing record to win a playoff game and the Jets... well they decided that this is the year that the Colts aren't holding them back from continuing their path to the Super Bowl.
Tomorrow we have two more great match ups. The Baltimore Ravens vs. Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Who will you cheer for?
