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Playoff football. Thank goodness. O, blessed entertainments... commence!
The first couplet of games come to us from the still sun-kissed southwestern parts of the nation: Arizona and San Diego. Non-wintry wintertime excitement ahoy!
* Atlanta vs Arizona
Saturday, January 3, 1:30 PM PST
Wild Card 2009
The N00bs' Battle
The Arizona Cardinals haven't been in the playoffs since 1998. The oldest franchise in the NFL has seen a lot of suffering over the last couple decades, shackled to a notorrriously penny-pinching ownership. Things have turned around in last five years as the Bidwell family has opened up the pursestrings. Brand new stadium and hiring Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt from PIT as steps toward an actual long term solution have seen the Cards grow from doormat to sleeper to (ZOMG) this year's NFC West champs.
There has never been a home playoff game in Arizona. Ever. This is new territory for these guys.
Atlanta has been subjected to a full cold custom restart of their team. The issues faced by the Falcons have been positively outrageous: QB Mike Vick's incarceration, Head Coach Bobby Petrino disgraceful mid-season defection. As bad a level of organizational chaos as could be imagined.
Now to have this team playoff-bound with a rookie Head Coach and a rookie quarterback is as ridiculous a storyline as were the problems that the franchise overcame in 2008. Impossible to shoot a movie about this year's Falcons, though: too unrealistic.
And now, these two unaccustomed-to-success teams meet in the postseason, the big stage, the playoffs. Expect lots of jitters on both sides.
Photos via the Associated Press
* Indianapolis vs San Diego
Saturday, January 3, 5:00 PM PST
Wild Card 2009
The Written-Off Battle
San Diego? Was more like Sad Diego, amirite? The Chargers were left for dead mid-season as the evil Denver Broncos took control of the AFC West. SD lost their best offensive and defensive players to injury: the steroidtastic OLB Shawne Merriman, and stolid RB LaDainian Tomlinson. A season in which they'd been projected as a possible Super Bowl contender seemed flushed.
Then two funny things started happening: Denver started losing, and San Diego just kept on winning. The Chargers rode the arm of douchtastic QB Phillip "Marmalard" Rivers and the legs of tiny-yet-electrifying RB Darren Sproles to run the table, winning their last four games.
And in the final game of the regular season, much to Dani's delight, the Chargers went into Denver and earned their way into the playoffs by beating the AFC West title out of the Broncos. Wacky.
Since Head Coach Tony "I'm-scared-of-the-gays" Dungy came to town, the Colts have been accustomed to success. And playoffs.
But things were in disarray in the first third of the season. Arch-QB Peyton Manning wasn't fully recovered from a knee surgery. Silent-but-deadly WR Marvin Harrison got dinged up. And a plethora of injuries desiccated the defense, most notably to the fireplug-size fireball SS Bob Sanders.
The Colts sank to 3-and-4, out-slugged by the Tennessee Titans.
Then a funny thing happened: Indy notched nine straight wins (including a final game shutout over the Titans), snatched a Wild Card seed and here they are, yet again in the playoffs.
These teams have had some mightily entertaining battles over the past couple seasons. The Colts have made it all the way once already. The Chargers have been powerful, yet misspent their players' talent in a froth of coaching problems (Norv!). To have this matchup in an early round is like getting to open one Christmas gift early. Usually you'd see these teams meet later on, but to see them now? Sure, let's do!
Ahh, playoff football. You warm the heart, even as the weather gets colder and cozier. I love you.
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