AL East: It is still a three horse race in the AL East, despite the Red Sox being 7 games out of first (in any other division they would be within a game and a half). Boston has dealt with a rash of injuries, and while they have stayed competitive, I find it hard to believe they can outlast the Yankees and Rays for the top spot (or the wild card). I wouldn’t write them off just yet, but it looks as though Boston will be staying at home this October. The Yankees and Rays are both likely to be in the playoffs, and it will just end up being a matter of who wins the division and who gets the Wild Card spot. New York still has some pitching woes, but with that offense I think they hold on to the division lead. Tampa is an impressive young team, but they are built too much on defense, speed and pitching (which is great). Their inability to add any bats at the trade deadline really make me question their chances to go far this postseason.

AL Central: The Central has quickly become a two man race as the Tigers have fallen 9 games out of first place and don’t look like they can recover. The White Sox hold a slim lead in the division, but they desperately need to find some bats to supplement their quality pitching staff. I don’t know if Chicago has enough to hold off the Twins in the race for the Central. Minnesota is a more well rounded team, and could get a great September boost when Justin Morneau rejoins the team. While it is possible the 2nd place team could be in contention for the Wild Card, I really believe it is coming out of the East this year. I like the Twins to squeak this division out during the last week of the season.

AL West: This division race is pretty much officially over. If the Rangers don’t win this division it would be a major upset. The Angels are absolutely reeling right now and have fallen to 3rd place in the division (and under .500). The A’s could make a run, but they are really built for next year and the future. I would not be shocked if they close the gap, but I don’t see anyone overcoming the Rangers and their incredible offense.

NL East: Since the trade deadline this has become firmly a two team battle, as both the Mets and Marlins have fallen out of the race. The Phillies are in second place, but should get some key players back from injuries down the stretch, that should push them over the top. The Braves desperately want to win in Bobby Cox’s swan song, but will need to fend off a strong Phillies team. Atlanta might need to make a waiver wire deal to ensure their spot atop the East. Unlike in the American League, the Wild Card race is fairly wide open, so whomever loses the East could still be in the playoffs.

NL Central: The Central like the East is down to two teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds hold the division and are the better all-around team, but the Cardinals have the better star power plus the experience making them a safer bet down the stretch. Both teams could be looking for some outside help, but the Reds should be able to hold on to the division. They have a better farm system and will get some much needed extra arms to help close out the season. St. Louis isn’t fully out of it, but I don’t know if they have the offense to overcome the Reds (and right now their pitching staff isn’t too hot either).

NL West: The West is still fairly wide open as I think 4 teams still have a shot at the division. The Dodgers and Rockies still have a ways to go, but I wouldn’t count them out for late season pushes. The Dodgers were the most active team at the deadline bringing in 4 veteran upgrades. While the team hasn’t responded yet with too many wins, that influx of talent could help them in the closing weeks. The Rockies didn’t add any pieces at the deadline, but they are a young team that keeps getting better each week. Unless the Padres or Giants really run away with this division, I wouldn’t count out the Rockies if they are within 5 games in final two weeks. As for the Padres or Giants I got to go with San Francisco. They have better starters, in addition to a better lineup (though not by much). The Padres did add some bats at the deadline though neither has yet to significantly contribute. Both teams could still look at some waiver wire pickups, but I still think the Giants will end up on top.

By Fanspeak Contributing Writer Geoff Nelowet:

Between Ray Allen’s eight three-pointers and Rajon Rondo’s triple-double, the LA Lakers would have had to bring their absolute best work Sunday night.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, they didn’t. Not only that but, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum combined for 21 fouls. Ron Artest fouled out, and the others nearly did as well. For most of the fourth quarter, Kobe Bryant was nursing five fouls, which essentially opened the floodgates for Rajon Rondo, as Bryant was assigned the task of guarding him throughout the game.

The Celtics playing in LA has been an interesting dichotomy – the Celtics have been the best road team in the playoffs, and the Lakers were previously 9-0 at home. In game 1, the Lakers dominated the underperforming Celtics, and the reverse happened in game 2.

At some point, both teams will show up, and it will make for an epic game. At this point, though, the Celtics have all the momentum as they head home for game 3. Ironically, after looking back at Phil Jackson’s perfect 47-0 series record after winning game 1, that figure now seems entirely irrelevant.

It is interesting to see how well Rasheed Wallace and Nate Robinson have played in the playoffs. Wallace had a quiet seven points and seven points in just 18 minutes, but he led all players with a +/- of +17. That statistic, point differential when on the court, can be misleading at times, but in this case it probably isn’t – Wallace has been a very solid player this post-season, and one could argue that he should be starting over Kevin Garnett. As for Robinson, he has been a spark for the Celtics off the bench, and he proved against Orlando in game 6 that he can be serious threat in the fourth quarter. It seems that everything is coming together for Boston at the right time.

It is hard to argue against Phil Jackson’s 47-0 series record after winning game 1, but at this point Boston looks like a better team. The LA Lakers massive foul trouble is indicative of that. Across the board, the Lakers’ key players could not guard the Celtics’, which accounts for a roster fraught with players with five-plus fouls. The likes of Kobe Bryant, a superstar that tends to have calls go his way, was on his way to fouling out at the onset of the fourth quarter. Guarding Rajon Rondo is clearly a difficult task, and that will take the Boston Celtics a very long way.

Just How Good is Peyton Manning?:  When the Colts were down by 11, I think the Jets and their fans thought they could be Super Bowl bound, but they forgot about Manning. He absolutely went off on the number 1 ranked defense yesterday. And it didn’t seem to bother him that Darrelle Revis took away half the field, because Manning dominated the other half. For all we hear about Manning’s weapons of Wayne and Clark (a pair of former 1st round picks), it was Pierre Garcon (6th round 2008, Mount Union) and Austin Collie (4th round 2009, BYU) that dominated the Jets defense. It was just an all-around incredible performance by Manning yesterday, and showed why he is the best quarterback in the league.

Future Looking Brighter for Sanchez:  Mark Sanchez has had a tough rookie year and has been the weakest quarterback in the playoffs so far. He had shown flashes of being a good quarterback, but that was mostly against weaker competition and had also cost the Jets a few games this season. Of late though he’d been fairly mistake free, not because of major improvement in his game, but rather because of a much simpler passing attack. Sanchez was pretty much regulated to ‘safe’ intermediate and short throws so far in the playoffs. Yesterday though Sanchez had his best game of the playoffs (and his young career), he showed much better decision making and poise in the pocket. He didn’t try to force the ball in to coverage, and really showed something against a big team in the biggest game of his career. Now Sanchez has some things to work on, accuracy being the primary concern, but in 2-3 years Sanchez could become a pretty good starting quarterback.

Saints Go Marching On:  Who would have thought it would have been the Saints defense and special teams that sent them to the Super Bowl? While their defense got torched with yards and penalties, they came up with enough big plays to win yesterday. And how huge was the Peterson fumble right before half after the Bush muffed punt? That Saints defense all season has just been relentless in getting takeaways, and showed it again last night. Gregg Williams and company deserve most of the credit for that victory, because Favre had a great game yesterday. Think of what he would have done if he actually had time in the pocket? The Saints pass rush completely dominated the Vikings offensive line and had Favre on the ground quite a bit. The Saints defense was the key to the game, and is why they will be making their first Super Bowl appearance.

Just How Tough is Brett Favre?:  Now I realize all the talk now is about that last interception, and on whether or not it was Favre’s last game (again). But really we need to acknowledge that yesterday’s loss was on two things:  the offensive line play, and lack of ball control. Not only did the Saints recover a fumble inside the Vikings 20 yard line, but Minnesota coughed it up twice when they were at the Saints 10 yard line! And the offensive line, which had begun to collapse at the end of the season, looked awful yesterday. They couldn’t handle the stunts and blitz packages New Orleans was throwing at them, and Favre paid the price. Not only was he getting hit hard (and sometimes illegally), but he was injured and in obvious pain. Favre played well enough to win that game by a couple of touchdowns, but his 0-line and the fumbles cost them dearly.

-Its true what they say ‘Defense wins championships’:  Not one time this season did the Chargers fail to score 20 points until yesterday. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a less meaningful 300 yards passing by San Diego. Sure they got that last touchdown by driving down through the air, but there was no consistency in the passing game. This was a passing attack that many thought was the best in the league, given their combination of weapons.

-Size doesn’t matter:  Usually when size is referenced regarding a game with the Chargers on the field, people are talking about Darren Sproles, but the true “Small Wonder” yesterday was Jim Leonhard. Leonhard at 5’8″ was covering guys 9 inches taller than him and making plays all over the field. He had one interception and a forced fumble that was ruled incomplete (not sure if I buy that call). Leonhard’s play epitomizes the Jets defense and their attitude, and is so fun to watch.

-Revis Recount: I realize that Player of the Year awards are based solely on regular season performance, but I think Darrelle Revis is the rightful winner of the Defensive Player of the Year award and not Charles Woodson. No disrespect to Woodson, but these playoffs have separated the two corner backs by a wide margin. Woodson could do nothing to stop one of the greatest playoff passing performances we’ve ever seen, including some big catches by his man (for most of the game) Larry Fitzgerald (and those were with some safety help as well). Revis shut down Chad Ochocinco in week 1, with his only real catches coming when the Jets went into prevent (Revis also had a big interception). Yesterday Revis was just as dominate, he didn’t shadow a single receiver but took away which ever player he was on. Despite giving up 6-7 inches he made a great play on that deep jump ball to Vincent Jackson, and had the wherewithal (plus a little luck) to intercept the ball and pick up a few return yards. Revis also made a great play on that screen to Tomlinson in the 1st quarter, stopping him for a four yard loss. And he was just one block away from returning that missed field goal for a touchdown before half, on a great heads-up play.

-Rookie leads the Jets to victory:  Nope not Mark Sanchez, their top pick and the guy that is so hyped in the media, 3rd round running back Shonn Greene is the real offensive hero (well him and the offensive line). Greene averaged 5.6 yards a carry for 128 yards, including that big 53 yard touchdown run in the 4th quarter. Greene has been huge down the stretch for the Jets and runs like a veteran, not some rookie.

-The ‘need’ of a Franchise Quarterback?:  Every April when the draft comes along we hear how teams NEED to draft a franchise quarterback to be successful. Well the Jets listened, but their success is IN SPITE of their ‘franchise’ quarterback, not because of it. He was just plain awful this season, and really can’t handle anything 15 yards plus down the field. He doesn’t do well with pressure, can’t scramble around, and can really only succeed with three types of throws: screen passes, sideline passes, and short to medium throws off play-action. Now I’m not trying to beat up on Sanchez. While I’ve never been a fan, I think there is a chance that he could develop into a very good QB down the road, but right now he is a well below average quarterback and the Jets are winning. Back-to-back weeks New York has gone into a ‘franchise’ quarterback’s home stadium and made them look silly.

Speaking of looking silly:  How big of an idiot is Phillip Rivers? How can he go up and yell at the Refs, who you know are actually watching the play and in position to see it. Rivers is 20 yards away and has about 19 bodies between him and the ball, yet somehow he thinks he knows what happened and can disrespect the officials. The worst part about it, is its not an isolated incident. Year in year out, week in week out, Rivers constantly yells and screams at the officials for any calls he doesn’t like or ones they don’t make. Funny I never see him scream at them when his players aren’t called for holding or offensive pass interference (I guess he only wants the refs to call a perfect game in his favor). Look from home we see that the refs aren’t perfect, they’ll miss calls, and they will blow some calls, but it does even out in the end (not to mention they were 100% right with this call). And if you have an issue with their calls, there is a system in place to deal with it. First there is this thing called instant replay, also after the fact a team can always appeal to the league if a call was really blown. Its one thing to voice your displeasure at a call, but quite another to yell and scream at them. If this was baseball, he would have been thrown out of the game, and if it was basketball he’d be called for a technical (and potentially thrown out of the game). Why does the NFL, (and media) allow Rivers to get away with this childish behavior? I hope next year they start issuing unsportsman like penalties on Rivers (I mean they do it on coaches and other players). And Phil as all your yelling and screaming EVER reversed a call? NO, why because officials aren’t going to let the players run the show. So grow up and leave your attitude back in preschool where it belongs, its time to be a man and a role model for all those out there watching.

By Fanspeak Contributing writer Geoff Nelowet

The Dallas Cowboys will continue their late-season success

The Dallas Cowboys have now won four straight games including a 34-14 romping of the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. That thrashing of the eagles was also the Cowboys’ first playoff victory with Tony Romo as quarterback, and it was the team’s first playoff victory since 1996.  The Cowboys, though, can not give even most of the credit to Romo, as their defense has played an integral role in the team’s overall success over the past few weeks.

The Cowboys find themselves in the playoffs mainly because of their defensive play. Over the last four weeks, the unit has not allowed more than 17 points, and three of the games they have gone up against two of the best offenses in football – the New Orleans Saints and the Eagles twice. For this reason, the Cowboys should be considered the favorite against the virtually untested Minnesota Vikings.

The 12-4 Vikings enjoyed a successful regular season with Brett Favre in command, but they had a notably soft schedule. Their resume is sparse, as their only impressive wins – or wins against teams with winning records – came against Green Bay twice, Baltimore and Cincinnati. All three were low playoff seeds, and only Baltimore is still alive this post-season. In short, the Vikings have much to prove even after notching 12 victories.

Both teams are of the same mold: They have tough, talented defenses (Minnesota’s D ranked 6^th overall) and quarterbacks that continually walk a narrow line between brilliance and implosion. The Cowboys and Vikings can expect consistently solid play from their defenses, but predicting the unpredictable  play of Favre and Romo can be enigmatic. Both are aggressive gunslingers that can easily decide the game with their fantastic or horrific play.

Favre and the Vikings have had an ideal season, but they have stumbled as of late. At this moment, the Cowboys are a superior team, and both Romo and their defense have played at a consistently high level. The Cowboys are the hottest team in the NFL right now (aside from maybe the Chargers), and they will hand Favre and the Vikings a disappointing early exit from the playoffs. Final score: Dallas 30 Minnesota 20

Colts Begin Road to Miami?

Simple answer to that question is an emphatic YES! The Indianapolis Colts I think are the best team in the NFL, and have been all season. While they will now have to prove it against the Ravens vaunted defense, I don’t think anything can stop Manning and the Colts right now.

I realize the Ravens are a good team, that runs the ball REALLY well, and plays good defense, but I think Manning and the Colts will be too much for them this week. As good as Baltimore’s defense has been this season, they’ve had their share of lapses. And the Colts are one team they can’t give an inch to. Manning and the Colts have too many weapons for the Ravens to cover, and Baltimore’s pass defense is their one area of weakness. I think the Ravens may have some success on offense, but it won’t be enough. The Colts are notorious for giving up a lot of yards, but keeping teams off the scoreboard. Most of the yards the Colts give up are, garbage yards at the end of the game. They are susceptible to the run, but generate a ton of pressure that allows them to stop good passing attacks.

Now I think there are some concerns for the Colts, not the least of which being, how do they come out after not playing for three weeks. I’m normally not a fan of taking it easy at the end of the season, but I don’t see it affecting the Colts. Manning and company are too professional, and have the experience to overcome the rust from the layoff. While there are holes in their defense, I think the Colts will do enough to slow down the Ravens and their running game. I think Manning and the home crowd will be enough to overcome Baltimore, 31-17.

By Fanspeak Contributing writer Geoff Nelowet

The New Orleans Saints will dominate the Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals played in one of the most exciting playoff games of the decade last week, and they are fortunate to have walked away with a victory in a 51-45 shootout over the Green Bay Packers.  This week, the Cardinals will go up against a different animal in the New Orleans Saints, and it does not look like a match-up that favors the Cardinals.

The Saints and Cardinals are two high-powered offensive teams fraught with talent at the skills positions. The Saints’ Drew Brees has been arguably the best quarterback in the NFL, and he has made his entire team better. The Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin at wide receiver has been the best receiving tandem the NFL has seen for numerous years, and quarterback Kurt Warner is an imminent hall-of-famer.

Despite the Cardinals’ offensive brilliance, this still sits as a bad match-up, as the Cardinals’ strengths are second-best to the Saints’. New Orleans had far and away the best offense in the NFL this past regular season, and they rarely ever had trouble moving the ball – even against some of the best defenses the NFL has to offer.

Couple that with the Saints’ ability to force turnovers on defense (3^rd in the NFL in interceptions), and the Cardinals will find themselves outmatched. Last week’s game was truly an anomaly, and the Cardinals will surely find themselves in a lower-scoring game in which late-game good fortune will not be enough. Drew Brees will lead his team as he has all season, the Saints will end the Cardinals’ playoff run. Final score New Orleans 38 Arizona 21

Three blowouts and one great game if you like offense, that is all you need to know to summarize this weekend’s playoffs. Overall though I can’t complain, because every team I was rooting for won. A couple quick points I want to make about the games this weekend:

–For all the talk about this being a quarterback league and that you need a franchise quarterback to win the big games, defense and the run game were the difference in the first round. The four highest paid QB’s in the first round all are going home and of those matchups you can really only say that Romo was better than McNabb (and that is a pretty close comparison). Though Warner is a ‘franchise’ guy, and Flacco and Sanchez could one day be as well, none of them were the best quarterback on the field.

–Running game and defense were the difference in ALL the games.

While you wouldn’t think the Cards could play defense with the way they were torched by Rodgers, they made two big plays early, as well as the fumble return that won the game in overtime. They also put more consistent pressure on Rodgers than the Packers defense did on Warner. The Cards out gained the Packers on the ground 156-90. The Ravens defense absolutely dominated the Patriots from start to finish, they forced four turnovers and had Brady completely confused. They won with just 34 yards through the air (Flacco had a 10.0 QB rating!), because they controlled the running game 234-64.

As for the Saturday games: The Cowboys forced four turnovers, and also chipped in with four sacks. They out gained the Eagles 198-54 on the ground. The Jets game is the one exception as they didn’t out rush the Bengals, both teams finished with 171 yards, but the Jets defense controlled that game from start to finish, with 3 sacks and forcing two turnovers. For the Bengals, running the ball is the only way they could move it (not good when they spent most of the game trailing) as Darrelle Revis absolutely shutdown Chad Ochocinco.

–Another interesting thing was of the three repeat matchups from week 17, only the Cardinals changed their fortune: We heard all week how you should take the results from week 17 with a grain of salt, because the playoffs are different, or they ran vanilla offenses, or that the Bengals, Eagles and Cards were resting their players, or that they weren’t trying because they had nothing to play for (even though the Eagles definitely did have something to play for). Despite all the talk and rhetoric all week, the exact same result happened when the Bengals and the Eagles got on the field this weekend (and the Bengals were now at home).

–The thing I love the most, is the four teams that were considered the “sleepers” or “dark horses” are now out of it: All year we heard about the Patriots being back this year, now that Brady was healthy New England was going to pick up where they left off in 2007. And the talk didn’t die down when they lost to the Colts or the Saints, or a few other games a ‘dominate’ team should have won. Instead it turned to how they would be a different team in the postseason, and a team that could go to the Super Bowl. In reality they weren’t a great team and got blown out yesterday (how hard is it to figure out the Raven’s offense: run right, run right, run left, run center, run right?).

The Bengals all season we heard how they were a new team with a ground game and defense to go along with Palmer and Ochocinco. Well the running game worked, but Palmer was off all day on Saturday. And what happened to that defense, not only did the Jets run over them, but they couldn’t figure out the Jets simple passing attack or get any pressure on Sanchez (has anyone ever seen two more simplistic offenses than the Ravens and Jets be successful in the playoffs??).

In the NFC, for a long time the Eagles became a favorite third option for all the analysts who didn’t want to pick a front runner. And Philly looked like an even better pick once the Vikings and Saints started struggling down the stretch. They looked anything but a Super Bowl contender on Saturday. The Packers became another favorite pick down the stretch, despite the fact questions about their O-line, pass defense and running game hadn’t been answered. All the talk of how they were a new team after the Cowboys game and that if they faced the Vikings and Favre again the outcome would be different is all for naught.

Running to Victory:

The Jets and Bengals will meet up for the 2nd straight week, though this time the Bengals will the home team, and will hope for a different result. Last week they got absolutely demolished 37-0. Now the most ardent Bengals fan will tell you that they played a ‘vanilla’ game and they rested their starters in the 2nd half. What they forget to mention is that Carson Palmer has had some bad performances in recent weeks (even if you excuse Sunday night’s debacle) against the Browns, Vikings and Chiefs. Now you can understand Vikings game, they were on the road, and Minnesota is a pretty good team. But struggling against the Browns and Chiefs is a bit more problematic, those are the two worst teams in the AFC this season (they also lost to Oakland earlier this year). What’s more, is it wasn’t just Palmer who has struggled some, their running game has come to a halt of late, and their defense isn’t dominating like it did earlier in the year. The one saving grace for the Bengals is they face the New York Jets and rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez.

One dimensional doesn’t even describe the Jets offense right now, as all they truly do is run the football (the only positive is you know you can run some play-action passes against the Bengals today). While we’ve seen our fair share of run-oriented teams with a strong defense make the playoffs in recent years, and the Ravens, Steelers (in 2005), and Bears all went to the Super Bowl, none of them compare to the Jets this season. Mark Sanchez has a bright future, and may one day end up being a franchise quarterback. That day won’t be today, as the Jets know the more passes Sanchez attempts the lower the teams chances of winning are. And it wouldn’t shock me in the least if Wildcat quarterback Brad Smith dusted off the old arm and put the ball in the air a few times.

The fact is I don’t think the Jets will need to throw the ball too many times, as I see their running game having no problems carrying the load today against the Bengals. The Bengals defense has fallen off as the season has worn on, and the Jets have too many weapons running the ball with Thomas Jones, Shonn Greene, and Brad Smith all figuring to get their share of carries. The Jets also have one of the league’s best offensive lines, who have opened up big holes all season for Jets’ runners. With that kind of ground game, I think the Jets will call a couple play-action passes and a few screens to keep the defense somewhat honest. Outside of that I think New York will keep on running it until the Bengals show they can stop it.

It will be up to the Jets defense to keep the Bengals from scoring and give the offense some short fields to work with. I see their defense having no trouble either task. The Jets were first in the league in points allowed, total yards and passing yards (thank you Darrelle Revis). Their rush defense was 8th and quite a force as well. To see just how dominate the Jets passing defense was, one only needs to look at this stat: The New York Jets had the 31st ranked passing offense (in terms of yards) yet in 10 out of their 16 games had the top passer of the game (Sanchez 9 times, Clemens once). Of the 6 games where they didn’t have the top passer (solely in terms of yards, not interceptions) the QB’s that beat them were Brady twice, Brees, Henne, Garrard and Manning. That is pretty impressive considering only Brady threw for over 300 yards (in the 2nd game) and in the first game against Brady he had bad overall numbers just enough yards over Sanchez. I think the Jets defense puts up another great performance and shuts down the Bengals 24-13.

By Fanspeak Contributing Writer Geoff Nelowet:

Can Tony Romo Finally Win a Playoff Game?

Not only is this an NFC East divisional rivalry, but also this is a rematch of just last week’s meeting. Dallas trounced Philly 24-0 at home days ago, and it culminated in a season sweep over the Eagles. Last weekend’s contest determined the winner of the NFC East, and gave Dallas home field for the opening round of the playoffs.

The Cowboys have been up-and-down this season, and they have been a bit unpredictable, but they are a talented group that has come together at the right time. The Cowboys finished the season beating New Orleans, Washington and then Philly when many people had written them, as they had collapsed late in the season so many times before.

Unfortunately for the Cowboys, there is still plenty of time left to collapse, and Tony Romo is still working on his first playoff victory. Should the Cowboys lose, there will be a lot of talk of Romo’s inability to pull out wins in the playoffs, which may be unfair and results-oriented, but that is criticism that comes with being a quarterback.

With that in mind, this is arguably Romo’s biggest game as a pro. He is going up against a team that he has already taken down twice this season. He beat the Eagles only a few days ago, and this playoff game is essentially a replay. The only difference is that it is the first game of the playoff tournament, and anyone that thought Romo was incapable of carrying a team in the playoffs will now have much more ammunition if the Cowboys lose.

If it has not been made clear yet, the Cowboys losing to the Eagles is a definite possibility. The Eagles have one of the most talented offensive teams in the NFL, and when Donovan McNabb connects on his deep plays – mainly to DeSean Jackson – they are virtually unstoppable. The Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints, are waiting for the winner of this game, will most likely be rooting against the Eagles because they are team nobody wants to face – even the Cowboys.

The Eagles will avenge both losses earlier this season, and they will hand Dallas yet another devastating and frustrating playoff loss that will re-open the “Romo can’t win in the playoffs” talk. Final score: Philly 30 Dallas 21

Well the regular season is over and there wasn’t much drama in yesterday’s playoff picture. The Ravens and Jets are in and the Texans, Steelers, and Broncos came up just short. Now 12 teams will go forward towards the goal of winning it all, and 20 teams will go home and wonder what went wrong. I’ll talk about the playoffs more later in the week, but I wanted to make a few quick points.

First, how odd is it that three of the four first round match-ups just played each other yesterday? And as a follow-up, how hard did the Bengals, Cardinals and Eagles try yesterday, because all those losses were pretty bad (especially Cincinnati ouch). I realize the Cards and Bengals played a lot of back-ups especially in the 2nd half, but those games weren’t even close. I’m sure they ran pretty watered down offenses, but you have got to do better than that. My final thought is how far can the Jets go on defense and their running attack? Sanchez right now is in over his head and can’t get into any kind of rhythm. I find it hard to believe that the Jets can go forward without some semblance of a passing attack (note to the Bengals, try 11 guys in the box next week, make Sanchez beat you). If you are a team sitting at home this playoff season, take a look at the Jets and realize that, you can win with mediocrity (or just awful play) from your quarterback, but you need to run the ball and you need to dominate on defense. On top of that, your defense needs to cause turnovers and give your one dimensional offense a short field to play with.

So for 20 teams, they now begin their offseason in hopes of emulating the the Bengals and Packers, and their impressive turnarounds. Today also marks a new direction for a number of franchises, as they begin to make coaching decisions. Last season we saw some surprises with Shannahan and Gruden being let go, and Dungy retiring. This season I don’t think we will see any surprises (unless the Cowboys fire Wade Phillips) on the coaching market, Jim Zorn has already been fired in Washington, and the Bills are looking for their next full-time coach. The Raiders and Browns seem likely to make coaching moves, but neither will be a big name given the situations (Gruden could still be a possibility under Holmgren, but he’s not going back to the Raiders). A few other teams seem to be on the fence, but all have given some vote of confidence to their current coaches. So who do you think will be looking for a new coach when it’s all said and done?