Pocket Change – The Weekend in Football

Wild-Card Weekend.  It used to be that this was the week where the teams that squeaked into the playoffs would get their “bowl game”, a nice “pat-on-the-head” or “atta boy” for having a somewhat successful season, before being dispatched to the pile of other unworthy so-called contenders.  In the last few years all that has changed.  We’ve seen teams playing on the opening weekend of the playoffs make it all the way to Super Sunday more and more frequently.  It happened only a handful of times before about 15 years ago.  Now it seems like the hottest teams can come out of that weekend, and as we’ve seen in the past, being a HOT team at the right time can mean EVERYTHING.

Since 1997, nine Super Bowl teams started their journey on Wild-Card Weekend, with six of those teams winning the title.  The other three teams – 1999 Tennessee Titans, 2003 Carolina Panthers, and the 2008 Arizona Cardinals – all came within a whisker of winning it all.  That goes to show that all you need to do is GET IN the playoffs, and you have a shot.  It seems that the “disadvantage” of having to play that extra game sometimes will actually work in favor of those teams.  A hot team at the end of the regular season can benefit from having to play an extra game instead of shutting it down for a bye week.  It could be argued then that the number 3 seed is actually in the best position, if that team is rolling and not stumbling into the playoffs.

Once again we see a team’s future potentially decided by injuries, only this time the season is on the line.  Pittsburgh has been really banged up and now Rashard Mendenhall is out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury.  This could affect the Steelers in a major way if they didn’t have good depth at the position already.  Issac Redman actually has a better yards per carry average, and although he has carried the ball less than half as much as Mendenhall did this season, he played well enough when he was in the game that the Steel City should have confidence with him filling in.  How well the Steelers will handle the rest of the injuries (and playing without Safety Ryan Clark) will determine their fate this week.

Pittsburgh’s opponent awaits in Denver.  The Tim Tebow Train has arrived (somehow) in the playoffs and for the first time since the AFC Championship Game in January 2006, the Broncos will be making a post-season appearance.  Again they’ll be up against the Steelers, who have been the Denver opponent in the playoffs more times than any other team.  The Pittsburgh defense is formidable, and the Broncos running game will be up against it with the loss of one of their starting offensive lineman last week.  This game could very well turn on the field position battle, and even with all the hobbled Steelers playing in the game, the Broncos will need to run the ball and score when they have an opportunity.  In their three game losing streak to end the season the Broncos have scored a combined 40 points.  They gave up more than that in two of those games, and now face a defense better than any they’ve seen all season.

The who-knows game is in New York this week.  The Giants are about as consistently inconsistent as a team can be.  With Atlanta in town it won’t be an easy task for the home team, given the schizophrenic nature of their regular season.  Even with the poor historic record of dome teams playing outside in the playoffs, the Falcons have been getting better over the course of the last few weeks and should give the Giants all they can handle.

The shootout should be in New Orleans, where the hottest team in the league will welcome in the Detroit Lions, who can score with anyone.  The Superdome will be rocking for this one, and both teams should be able to put up points in the neighborhood of around 35 (at least).  This could be the best game of the playoffs for offensive numbers, given the fact that the other games will likely all be outside where weather could be a hindrance.

Welcome back to the NFL Playoffs to the city of Houston.  It’s been nearly 20 years since there last was a home playoff game in Houston, and I’m sure they wished they had all their big guns with them for it, but win or lose it’s been a great season for the decade-old franchise.  Cincinnati has had a good season in their own right, boasting two rookie sensations in starting quarterback Andy Dalton and wide receiver A.J. Green.  This could be the “futures” game in the playoffs this season, as both teams seem to have pieces in place that would make them both contenders for some time to come.

This is the time of year where the contenders show up big.  The teams playing this weekend will have to take the long road to Super Sunday but as we’ve seen lately, it’s entirely possible.  As odd as it might seem, NONE of the 12 teams appearing in this year’s playoff tournament should be counted out, because just when you think you know exactly what’s going to happen, the teams in the NFL show us that nothing is for certain.  With that being said, here are the picks for this weekend’s games:

• Texans over Bengals
• Saints over Lions
• Falcons over Giants
• Broncos over Steelers

OK so there you have it.  Unbelievably the playoffs are here already.  The season’s gone by so fast and now only eleven games remain, not counting the Pro Bowl.  The road to Super Sunday narrows…which of the 12 teams left will find their way?  The answers will begin to be answered this weekend.