Centerfield

Ravens HAD a great D this season. Wasn't great yesterday (but not bad). The difference was that the Colt's D showed up and Manning shorten his routes. They deserve to relax today. Now I pin my hopes tonight on New England which has it's hands full. If they can upset Chargers they go all the way.

I think Bears might surprise if they can look good today against Seattle.

Any win is a good win, I understand. But New England's win this afternoon has to be one of the ugliest I can remember seeing in a long time. When your victory hinges on throwing an interception, forcing a fumble, and recovering it -- on a single play? How bad is that?

If New England is hoping to survive next weekend, they better atually show up ready to play.

I watched the Saints-Iggles with great interest. I think I may have been clinically depressed through the middle of this morning. I can't be disappointed with the way the season ended overall, but I really had my hopes up before and during last night's game. I can't imagine why Reid didn't go for it on 4th and 15 given the amount of time left in the game, the way the Saints were able to run the ball and how tired the Eagles defense was. And looking at it politically, no one would have faulted him for going for it and failing, but a lot of people are faulting him for not going for it. It's going to be a long winter for Philly sports fans. The Flyers and the Sixers are two of the most powerful Hoover vacuums this year.

The Ravens had a solid D, but our offense wasn't there. They couldn't stop Peyton Manning from getting within field goal range. We had too many turnovers. I'm thoroughly disappointed, but there's always next year. The Colts just brought their A-game, and we weren't prepared.

The Bears beat the Seahawks in a heart-stopper, and the Pats beat the Chargers (!).

Now that my Ravens are out :-(, I'm rooting for the Saints.

Oh when the Saints, Oh when the Saints, Oh when the Saints go marching in... oh Lord I want to be in that number, when the Saints go marching in!

I am so ready just to forget the NFL for this year. The two teams I despise the most are in the AFC championship game. I would like to see the Saints win; but I really feel that neither NFC has a chance. I hope I am wrong and the Saints can win because I do not thing I can handle another off season of Brady worship or an even larger explosion of Peyton Manning commercials. Come on Saints and save me from this nightmare scenario!

Saints-Colts... Saints to win, and what a story.

But New England's win this afternoon has to be one of the ugliest I can remember seeing in a long time. When your victory hinges on throwing an interception, forcing a fumble, and recovering it -- on a single play? How bad is that?

Uhhh... It's the NFL. A win is a win is a win, baby. Furthermore, I think the fact that New England was even close enough to get a lucky bounce and win the game says a lot about their coaching and experience. All we heard for weeks was how San Diego was the most complete football team, Shawn Merriman, LT, blah, blah, blah... The truth is they have a half-assed conservative football coach who continues to choke in the play-offs and a rookie quarterback who is way overrated. They should have kept Drew Brees.

I was bummed to see my beloved Seahawks lose to the Bears, but was ecstatic that they got to the second round and played well after the injuries they suffered all year long. We always have next year.

If New England is hoping to survive next weekend, they better actually show up ready to play.

Agreed. The Patriots won a game where they were outplayed at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and that's rare. That's the thing with playoff football between 2 good teams. You can play much better than the other guys from down to down, but if you make more mistakes, you can still lose. San Diego dropped passes, interceptions, punts, and took a costly stupid penalty. None of those are things Marty Schottenheimer did by the way. With a little bit more mental discipline, the Charger win by 2 TDs.

I can't imagine why Reid didn't go for it on 4th and 15 given the amount of time left in the game, the way the Saints were able to run the ball and how tired the Eagles defense was.

100% agreed. I think some coaches fundamentally misunderstand probability. The choice was between trying to make one big 4th and 15 play or hoping to make 3 big stops and maybe get the ball back with a minute and no time outs still needing to go 40 or 50 yards.

I'll be rooting for the Saints unless the Patriots make it. I am a Patriots fan from way back. Old school. Grew up with them, and oh how we suffered in the days before our current good fortune. So if we are fortunate enought to beat a very good Colts team, I'll be rooting for the Evil Empire to crush the hopes and spirits of the Saints fans and all of the rest of America, which can be expected to be rooting against us.

This would be a great story line. If it happens, I even expect a fair number of casual NE fans or non-fans, like say from Cambridge, to say that they'd prefer to see NO win because those folks have suffered so much while we've enjoyed so much good fortune. For myself, if its NO v. NE., I'll be rooting for the Patriots, but I will be happy for NO if they win.

I don't agree with whoever said neither NFC team has a shot. Both the Patriots and Colts have exploitable flaws. The Patriots beat the Bears 17-13 in the regular season.

San Diego dropped passes, interceptions, punts, and took a costly stupid penalty. None of those are things Marty Schottenheimer did by the way.

True. But Marty threw an almost inconceivably ill-advised red flag, costing his team what turned out to be a badly needed time-out at the end of the game. Doofus move, big time.

Oh yeah, with hindsight any coach's decisions can be 2nd-guessed, and I'll agree that MS had a few. Especially his decision to eschew an early FG attempt from 47 or 48 yards. Not to mention SD's foolish tendency to turn to passing in the 2nd half whenever the Patriots held LT to 3 yards or less on 1st down.

The challenge flag certainly looks ill-advised if you are fully informed. but consider this...at the time, the Chargers had an 8 point lead andeither 2 or all 3 time outs. The Chargers had to make the decision to challenge before the Patriots lined up and ran another play. SD's qb was buttonholing Schottenheimer that he saw something worth challenging. If the challenge were successful, the game would be over. As we regular watchers know, the certainty that a call will or won't be overturned does not always come in a timely enough fashion to make the appeal based on good info.

I hear ya, but every head coach in the NFL is regularly faced with the same situation. I haven't seen a worse challenge decision all season.

True dat. Me neither. I can't imagine what Rivers thought he saw that made him lobby Schottenheimer. It wasn't even close.

I'd say similiar situation, though. The amount of time available to decide to appeal really varies, as do both the stakes and the cost. In this case, the stakes were very high and the cost seemed low. Circumstances made the cost higher.

On that count, let's not forget to notice how crappily Rivers managed the dwindling clock available to him, (unless it was the playcaller's fault, which it may have been to some extent). With under a minute and no TOs, you just HAVE to use the sidelines. One or two 8-yard passes to the middle of the field followed by a little dawdling can use up most of that minute.