Category: NFL (Page 1160 of 1282)

Heading into Sunday’s conference championship games, I was rooting for a Saints/Colts Super Bowl. With that matchup, there would so many great storylines…the city of New Orleans bouncing back after Katrina…Peyton Manning going to his first Super Bowl after so many near misses…Archie Manning’s connection with both franchises. Also, the two teams are much better on offense than on defense, so that Super Bowl matchup would promise to be entertaining, at least for the first half. But the Saints won’t be going to Miami this year and head coach Sean Payton has only himself to blame.

Why didn’t the Saints run the ball? Not counting Drew Brees’ eight-yard scamper, they finished with 11 carries for 48 yards, a 4.4 average. Payton was intent on throwing on just about every down and his quarterback finished with 49 pass attempts. Sure, a lot of those came in the fourth quarter when the Saints were down big, but the playcalling wasn’t balanced in the first half when the game was still close. Not counting the Saints’ final drive in the first half when they were in hurry-up mode, Payton called 18 passes and only six rushes. On those six rushes, the team gained 17 yards. That’s certainly not a great average, but it’s not like the Bears completely shut the running game down.

On the season, the Saints were in the middle of the pack in rushing yards, but Deuce McAllister and Reggie Bush had just racked up 195 yards in the Divisional round against the Eagles and 236 yards in their last meaningful regular season game against the Giants, so the team had to be feeling good about their rushing attack.

And what about that vaunted Bears defense? Over their last five meaningful games (Vikings, Rams, Bucs, Lions, Seahawks), the Bears gave up a total of 550 yards on 117 carries to running backs (a 4.7 yard per carry average), and that included two teams (Bucs & Lions) that finished near the bottom in total rushing offense this season. They proved throughout the second half of the season that they were vulnerable to the run, as Ronnie Brown gained 157 yards in Week 9 and Tiki Barber rushed for 141 in Week 10. The yards were there; the Saints just didn’t go after them. Hopefully, Payton learns from this and doesn’t repeat this mistake in the future…but really, how many chances do you get to go to the Super Bowl?

At least the Colts came back to win. I don’t think I could have handled a Bears/Pats matchup.

Here’s an interesting stat…the four NFC playoff games have been decided by a total of ten points, including one overtime game.

Even though most pundits don’t think the NFC representative in the Super Bowl will have much of a chance, the parity in the conference has made for some very exciting playoff games.

Just when everyone figures that the Donovan McNabb-led Eagles should be left for dead, 36 year old Jeff Garcia leads Philly to four straight victories and a postseason berth. Three out of the four wins came on the road for the Eagles with Garcia throwing four touchdown passes to just two interceptions.

At 9-6, Philadelphia now has the opportunity to clinch the NFC East with a win over the reeling Falcons. Atlanta has dropped six of its last eight, but amazingly still have a shot at one of the Wild Card spots in the NFC. Michael Vick always brings another dimension to the gridiron, so Philly better not be fitting itself for NFC East Champion caps yet.

Click here to check out Bullz-Eye.com’s NFL Game of the Week.