Wild Card Recap

The only result that surprises me here is the Cardinals victory. There were a lot of questionable calls, though, that came against the Packers: there was a missed hold and OPI on the Larry Fitzgerald touchdown; there had been a roughing the passer that shouldn't have been called earlier. (Also, a helmet to helmet hit on the play preceding the fumble that cost the Packers the game, which probably would have been properly called as a tuck rule.)

I guess I can't complain; the Packers benefited from two absolutely inexplicable horsecollar calls (apparently you now cannot touch the back of the pads, ride the ball-carrier for a few yards, and then bring him down primarily with your other arm, even though that had been demonstrated on the NFL Network as precisely the proper way to cope with the rule, back when it was new.)granted

The loss of Atari Bigby was huge; the Packers hadn't been stopping the Cardinals before, but they became really easy to hit up the middle.

So I mostly think that that game should have gone the other way, though I'll admit that with the injuries to their left tackle and safety tonight, the Cardinals will probably play better next week than the Packers would have. But the other games this weekend were Dennis Green "they are who we thought they were" specials. The Ravens can turn takeaways into points better than anyone in the league? Yeah, we thought that. Tom Brady's skittish this year, particularly with no stopgap? Yeah, we thought that. The Jets will suffocate their opponent without playing any kind of exceptional football? Yeah, we thought that too.

Tomorrow we will be back to our usual doses of art and literature; glad to have you for a weekend of leisure.