Wacky Crazy Zany NFL Wildcard Weekend Recap

     The NFL Wildcard Weekend was full of wackiness, craziness, zaniness, action packed, foolishness and just plain ole stupidness as well.  All 4 Road teams won in which 2 games came down to the end to decide the winner and the 2 other games were won by at least 2 TD's.
     In the first game on Saturday, the Kansas City Chiefs went into Houston and routed the Texans in a blowout and shutout.  The Chiefs dominated in all facets of the game including taking the opening kickoff 106 yards for an early TD and the Chiefs never looked back.  In winning their 11th game in a row, the Chiefs may have lost Pro Bowl WR Jeremy Maclin for the remaining playoffs with a serious knee injury.  The KC defense which has come on strong at the end of the season forced 5 turnovers and dominated the Texans OL all day long. The Texans JJ Watt's re injured his groin and is expected to have surgery to repair the groin injury this Tuesday. This was a game very similar to the game earlier in the season in which the Chiefs also blew away the Texans in Houston. It was more of a tune up game for the Chiefs as the Texans never really showed up to play football. The Chiefs will now travel to New England and face the Patriots and Tom Brady on Saturday.
     In the Saturday night game between the Steelers and the Bengals, one had to watch to actual believe how the end of the game unfolded. On a night where it rained hard for almost the whole game, the Steelers took a 15-0 lead into the fourth quarter but played almost the whole 4th quarter without starting QB Roethlisberger who suffered a shoulder injury. Once again the officials let the teams play but it was a chippy game and both teams were on edge all game long. In the 3rd quarter, the Bengals RB Bernard took a hard but legal hit and fumbled the ball. On the play, Bernard suffered a concussion  and laid on the field for a while. During this time, many Bengals players were visibly upset and pissed off and started to egg on the Steeler players and get the crowd all wound up. The Officials stood around and did nothing at all and this led to a very hard hitting but stupid and foolish finish to this game.  The Bengals came all the way back and took the lead with just under 2 minutes to go. Cincinnati dominated most of the 4th quarter and forced the Steelers back up QB Landry to be ineffective and also to punt the ball over and over to the Bengals. The Bengals were again driving after another Steeler punt when RB Hill coughed up the football and the Steelers recovered on their own 9 yard line. A banged up and hurting Roethlisberger went back into the game and drove the Steelers to just over mid field. they converted a key 4th down play and on the next play, Big Ben tried to connect with WR Brown over the middle. Brown went up to catch the ball but it was too high and even though it was incomplete, the Bengals LB Burfict who has played out of control all year long, decided to take liberties and doled out an illegal and premeditated hit to the head of WR Brown that laid him out on the field for a long time. It was definitely targeting of a player and he was given a 15 yd penalty for it. Tempers started to fly and while Brown was still on the ground getting medical help, another Bengal player, CB Jones decided to take matters in his own hands and in doing so cost the Bengals another 15 yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct which now moved the ball 30 yards down to the Cincinnati 18 yard line. The Steelers took no chances and kicked the game winning field goal. How the Bengals lost this game is beyond me, more so is the foolishness and stupidness of the Bengals, who were out of control and they lost their composure and ultimately cost themselves the game. Fault lies within the Bengals as a team and with their HC Marvin Lewis for he couldn't get his team to calm down and instead their emotions consumed them and the immaturity of the players showed badly. As for the 2 players involved in the play that cost the Bengals the game, Adam Jones is no stranger to the NFL with all of his off field incidents over the years and LB Vontaze Burfict and his cheap hits is now likely to face a long suspension for his hit on Roethlisberger and for his cowardly cheap hit late in the game on WR Antonio Brown. Burfict being a repeat offender should be punished severely as both Roethlisberger and Brown may not play in their next game in which they will face the Broncos in Denver on Sunday.  I am sure the NFLPA will try and protect Burfict as HC Lewis has already been quoted as saying   “He’s trying to go over and defend the play. There were a lot of plays out there and calls went different ways. They deemed that to be a hit to the head I guess, and others not today.” Even 2 days later, the Steeler fans are thanking the Bengals for their foolishness and acting so stupid on that last minute play as they advance to the Divisional round and the Bengals and their fans are left to debate all the what ifs, should ofs, could ofs, of a real good season that once again didn't go anywhere once the playoffs started.
     In the Sunday matinee game in which the Seahawks faced the Vikings, it was played in freezing sub zero weather all game long. The game was nothing like the last time these 2 faced each other in week 13 where as Seattle throttled the Vikings. This game was a defensive and field position game where the Vikings kicked 3 field goals and led by 9 going into the 4th quarter. On a botched snap around mid field early in the 4th quarter, QB Russell Wislon scrambled to pick up the ball ran around 2 Viking defenders and threw to a wide open WR that ran it down inside the 5 yd line. The Seahawks scored and it was now a ball game. On the ensuing series RB Adrian Peterson fumbled as he was stripped of the ball and the Seahawks recovered. A few plays later Seattle kicked a FG to take a 10-9 lead. The Vikings got the ball back and drove down the field on a very questionable pass interference call and also on a nice toss from QB Bridgewater to TE Rudolph to get to the Seahawks 20 yard line, instead of trying to drive down for a possible TD, the Vikings ran 2 plays to set up a  potential game winning FG with lest than 30 seconds left.  The Vikings placekicker Blair Walsh who had made 3 straight FG's in the game, badly shanked the FG attempt and it sailed wide left letting the Seahawks escape with a 10-9 win as they advance to play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Both teams played each other earlier this year as the Panthers scored on a last minute TD to beat the Seahawks in Seattle.
     The final game of the Wild Card weekend was in Washington, DC where the Redskins hosted the Packers. The game started just as the Redskins wanted, they rushed out to an 11-0 lead but it could of been allot more if not for a huge gaffe by WR Jackson going into the end zone for a TD and a delay of game penalty on the same drive. The Redskins let the Packers back into the game and the Packers never looked back.  The Packers dominated on both sides of the ball and were able to run and pass whenever they wanted too.  The Redskins were badly out coached on both sides of the ball and why they didn't blitz Rodgers as all the other teams did the last half of the season is beyond me. The Packers OL was banged up and Rodgers was sacked and running for his life week in and week out but for most of the game, the Redskins allowed him to sit back in the pocket and do pretty much whatever he wanted to do.  Washington must not have looked at the game tapes of previous games for they were penalized on at least 2 occasions for illegal substitutions on defense as well as jumping off sides. It was pretty clear from the onset that the Redskins weren't ready or prepared for a pressure packed Playoff game and it showed. Even more disturbing was the absence of  WR DeShawn Jackson in a game that He was needed. He seemed to be more interested in trying to tell the line judge that the Packers were off sides than running routes and playing football. On a pass play, instead of coming back to the ball he stood there and let the defender break up the pass. I would think Washington fans would be upset at how poorly he played in such a big game. Give credit to the Packers for they were ready to play and made the big plays when needed. The Redskins defense looked dazed and confused for most of the game and the offense was out of sync as it seemed it took a long time to get plays called in from the sidelines. In fairness, the Redskins were an 9-7 team in a very weak NFC East who put together a modest 4 game winning streak to win the Division. The Packers who started the season 6-0, played poorly in the second half of the year but as a veteran playoff team, they  put it together to win on the road. They will travel to Arizona and play the Cardinals on Saturday in which the Packers look to avenge an embarrassing shellacking they took from the Cardinals in week16.
     The Wild Card games were very entertaining to say the least, great defensive battles and also explosive offesne shows as well. But now we are onto the Divisional Round where teams will have to play great on both sides of the ball and as anyone knows, any team can beat any other team on any given day. @cupofjoeinthed