NFL Wild Card Round – Winners

Some how in my picks for for the NFL Wild Card Round this weekend I actually managed to do pretty well.  I picked the road team in all the match ups and for the first time in NFL playoff history the road team swept the games.  I was close in my prediction and that there would be one come back win.  The Chiefs blew out the Texans and the Seahawks came back to beat the Vikings.  The Bengals almost came back to beat the Steelers but then decided that they did not want to win.  The Packers were behind early but took control early in the third quarter.  Not sure that would qualify as a come back win.  The NFL Wild Card Round is always very exciting.  I really hope that the NFL does not change their playoff format anytime soon.  They have such a fantastic playoff now.  For me it is even more exciting than March Madness.  I say why mess with success.  Adding more teams would just dilute the tournament in this case and would not make things more exciting.

The Results

The first game in the NFL Wild Card Round went exactly as we thought it would.  Well it was an even bigger blow out than we thought it would be.  The Chiefs destroyed the Texans.   I am not sure that the Texans thought they had a chance to win this one.  They did some strange things.  I know J.J. Watt is a great athlete but really lining him up in the wild car for the direct snap?  That is more like preseason hi jinx than a play you would actually run in a game.  Pretty sure this was just a we have no chance to win this so lets just do what ever we want.  We already lost so what the heck.

Chiefs 30 Texans 0   Record (1-0)

Game two was quite entertaining.   The Steelers has this game won.  The Bengals came back and had it won.  Then the Bengals decided that they really did not want to win the game and helped the Steelers down the field to kick the game winning field goal.  The Bengals showed that they have some of the dirtiest players in the league and the Steelers showed that they have some of the dirtiest coaches.  This may not have been one of the best football games that has ever been played but it certainly was one of the most entertaining.  If this game had been a Hollywood script they could not have written it better.  Big Ben goes down to the terrible blow of the villain.  Miraculously he is able to make his way back on to the field to lead that final drive to victory.  I mean really if this had been a movie it would have been cheese all around.  But then I like cheesy movies to it worked out.  And since I picked the Steelers it really worked our for me.

Steelers 18 Bengals 16  Record (2-0)

In the early game on Sunday the Vikings had this game wrapped up.  Then they forgot to wrap up Russel Wilson on a botched snap.  Wilson worked his magic and put the Seahawks back in the game.  After being able to do nothing in the sub zero game that one play completely saved the Seahawks and gave them all the confidence they needed.   They were able to score and then force Adrian Peterson to fumble and go kick a field goal for the lead.  They almost let the game get away from them after that but the Vikings kicker bailed the Seahawks out by missing a chip shot field goal.   For anyone that has been a doubter of Wilson.  How many times does he have to do something that is just crazy to make you believe.  He may have his bad moments but when they need a play he is always there making one.  With out him do you really think that they would have had the same success?

Seahawks 10 Vikings 9  Record (3-0)

In the final game of the weekend.  The Packers rolled into Washington looking like a team that had accidentally made the playoffs.  The Redskins were on a roll and looked like they had the franchise quarterback rather then the Packers.    The game started off looking like it was going to play out that way.  The Packers offensive line has been a mess and lived up to that label early by giving up a safety.  Then the defense gave up what appearded to be a long touchdown to DeSean Jackson.  But Ha Ha Clinton-Dix made what turned out to be the play of the game by forcing Jackson out of bounds right before the goal line.  The defense held the Redskins out of the end zone forcing a Field Goal.  It seemed that this gave the Packers offense hope and a mission.  They went to the hurry up and Washington had not answer.  By half time the Packers were in the lead.  To start the second half the Redskins marched down the field and took the lead back.  After that the Packers put up 18 straight points to put the game away.  This was the game I was the least sure about and at the last second picked the Packers to win by one.  I did not imagine that it would happen this way.

Packers 35 Redskins 18 Record (4-0)

There were a lot of things that had to go right for me in the NFL Wild Card Round to get these picks correct.  In the next round I may go 0 – 4.  The NFL playoffs are so exciting and the games were amazing.  Watch for my round 2 predictions later this week.