Nothing fancy. Just some simple, standout numbers from the Wild Card weekend and a look ahead to the Divisional round.
4-0 - Record of the home teams in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. No Cinderella story this season. No feel-good story of a hot number-six seed advancing through to the Super Bowl. Ah, but don't you worry, there's plenty of drama and storylines awaiting in the Divisional round.
188 vs. 44 - Rushing yards for the Indianapolis Colts compared to that of the Kansas City Chiefs. Everyone expected the stats to be reversed. The Colts defense had other things in mind, as did Joseph Addai. It's tough to blame Larry Johnson for this one. If you watched the game, the Chiefs were just in an offensive funk and the play calling was miserable. Just about every offensive category was heavily weighted in favor of the Colts. Total yards were 435 to 126. First downs were 28 to 7. Oh, and that little thing that call time of possession was teeter-tottered over to the Colts by a margin of 39:23 to 20:37; almost a 2:1 ratio.
141 - Rushing yards for Brian Westbrook in Sunday's playoff game. On the year, Westbrook averaged 5.1 yards per carry for 1,217 yards, and he caught 77 passes for an additional 699 yards. After signing that big contract last season, there has been no letdown. It's a joke he's not going to the Pro Bowl.
11 vs. 8 - New England Patriots wide receiver Jabar Gaffney caught just 11 passes during the regular season. In the Wild Card playoff matchup this weekend, he snagged a weekend-high 8 passes from Tom Brady to also lead all competition with 104 yards receiving.
3 - Interceptions thrown by Peyton Manning on Saturday against the Chiefs. He threw just nine picks in 16 regular season games. And all turnovers came deep in Chiefs territory Saturday. Manning still had a solid game and kept his head straight as expected, but he'll need to tread a bit more carefully with the Ed Reed and that swarming Baltimore Ravens defense this weekend.
1 - Games this weekend with a point spread over a touchdown. Only the Bears are favored by more, boasting an 8.5 spread over the Seahawks. The rest of the games have spreads of 5 points of less. Interestingly enough, that game in Chicago also carries the lowest over/under with 37.5. Parity is rampant across the league, but just how do you think the Chargers and Ravens feel. They were number one and number two in the AFC and their reward for their first playoff game of the year is the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. Whoever makes it out of the AFC is certainly going to earn it.
2 - That's how many catches Terrell Owens had in Saturday's playoff game against the Seahawks. He mustered just 26 yards on those two catches. Marion Barber III carried the ball just three times for four yards. Neither found the end zone this weekend, despite scoring a combined 27 touchdowns during the regular season - mind you, both individually outscored the entire Oakland Raiders offense this regular season, who managed just 12 TDs. The morals of these two stories? Your big playmakers need to make plays in the postseason or at least be given the chance to, and you can't let a guy who's been out of the NFL for ten years and running a bed and breakfast be your offensive coordinator.
11-1 - That's Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick's record in the playoffs since the dynamic duo got together. After an incredible 14-2 season, the both offensively and defensively loaded San Diego Chargers get to host the Brady, Bellichick, and the Pats this Sunday afternoon. With those "Martyball" demons looming, you can bet Marty Schottenheimer is feeling the pressure in this game, and he gets to stare across the field in that awful cut-up sweatshirt.
232, 2, 0 - Yards passing, touchdowns thrown, and interceptions for Rex Grossman way back in Week Four when the Bears hosted the defending NFC Champions at Soldier Field on Sunday Night Football. The Bears offense and defense poured it on that game, thumping the Seahawks and making their 2006 presence known. Ricky Manning Jr. picked Matt Hasselbeck twice to lead the defensive efforts. Now, which Grossman will show up Sunday? And will he be giving 100%? Just how will the fans react to his play? And will Manning Jr. and the rest of the Bears defense find a way to get back to their dominant ways? The questions are endless. The answers are coming.
34 - Come gametime, that's how many days it will have been since Drew Brees last had a multi-touchdown game. He had a bye last week, played just a series in the final game of the season, threw just one touchdown pass despite walking to a 30-7 victory over the Giants in Week 16, and had a dismal game against Washington in Week 15 where he was skunked. But back on December 10th, he racked up a 140.8 passer rating and tossed five TD passes against the Cowboys. Will the rest get him back to form and lead an emotional city to one game closer to the Super Bowl? Or will the soaring Eagles and Jeff Garcia become the feel-good story of the NFC?
Got questions or comments? Email them to pete@petekhazen.com.