Wild Card Weekend in the NFL playoffs has come to and end and what a crazy weekend it was. Every game was back and forth. With the exception of the Seattle/Washington game, every game ended with a close score. That game was actually close until late in the game when Seattle got a couple turnovers and put the game on ice. This weekend's game are exactly what you'd expect out of the wild card games. It's win or go go home now so every team is playing with a sense of desperation, even when they have the lead. An interesting tidbit is that every team that won this weekend trailed at one point in their respective game.
In the first game of the weekend Seattle took a 13-0 lead into the fourth quarter and suddenly found themselves trailing 14-13 when the Redskins scored twice in less than two and a half minutes. The Seahawks were in shock but were able to answer back on a 20 yard TD pass from Matt Hasselbeck to D.J. Hackett. The Seahawks were up 21-14 after successfully converting a 2-point conversion. On the Redskins next drive, QB Todd Collins was intercepted by Marcus Trufant who ran the ball back 78 yards for the score. That put the game out of reach and as time winded down Seattle's Jordan Babineaux picked off Collins and ran the ball back 57 yards for another score. What became an exciting, close game in the fourth quarter ended up turning into a route and a final score of 35-14.
The second game on Saturday night was probably the best game of the weekend. Pittsburgh took the game's opening drive down the field and scored with very little resistance from Jacksonville. The Jags answered back quickly scoring a TD of their own less than a minute after the Steelers score. Any momentum the Steelers had was quickly taken away, especially after the Jags put up a couple more scores in the second quarter to take a 21-7 lead at halftime. The Jags scored again in the third quarter while the Steelers could only muster a field goal. Going into the fourth quarter the Steelers trailed 28-10. It was in the fourth quarter that a switch was finally turned on for the Steelers as they scored 19 unanswered points to take a 29-28 lead. The first score was a 37-yard TD pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Santonio Holmes. Roethlisberger hit TE Heath Miller for the second score of the fourth quarter. And then on a controversial defensive pass interference call on fourth down at the goal line, the Steelers were given another chance to score. They did just that on a 1-yard run by Najeh Davenport. Jags' QB David Garrard didn't seem to be worried that his team was now trailing and made the play of the game when he ran for 32 yards on a fourth-and-2 play with less than 2:00 left in the game. He set up kicker Josh Scobee for a 25-yard field goal with 0:37 left. He would hit it and the Jags won the game 31-29, becoming the first team to ever beat the Steelers twice in the same season in Pittsburgh.
Sunday's action kicked off with the New York Giants taking on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs struck first on a 1-yard TD run by RB Earnest Graham. It took a little while for the Giants' offense to get anything going. In the second quarter they finally got on the board on a 5-yard pass from Eli Manning to Brandon Jacobs with 10:02 left in the half. Six minutes later Jacobs scored again on an 8-yard run. The Giants went into the half leading 14-7. They would add a field goal in the third quarter. The game started off promising for the Bucs, but the Giants defense stepped up and kept Tampa Bay's offense in check. Michael Strahan was all over the field and all over Jeff Garcia for most of the game it seemed. The fourth quarter saw the Giants score again on a 4-yard TD pass from Manning to Amani Toomer with 8:03 left in the game. The Bucs would finally put another score on the board at the 4:38 mark when Garcia hit TE Alex Smith for a score from six yards out. Unfortunately for them, it was too little, too late. The Giants would leave Tampa Bay with a 24-14 victory.
The last game of the weekend was the one that everyone thought would be the blowout of the weekend if there was going to be one. That was not the case as the San Diego Chargers had to come from behind to beat the Tennessee Titans. The first half was very non-eventful. The halftime score was 6-0 in favor of the Titans. The Chargers couldn't get anything going on offense and LaDainian Tomlinson was held in check for almost the entire game. The second belonged to the Chargers though. The Titans' lead was cut in half on a 20-yard field goal by Nate Kaeding. With 2:35 left in the third quarter the Chargers took their first lead when Philip Rivers hit Vincent Jackson for a 25-yard score. LT would add another score on a 1-yard run with 8:45 left in the game. It was a close call on the score as LT leaped over the pile and didn't score initially but got the ball across the goaline on a second effort. He finished the game averaging just 2.0 yards per carry but the Titans couldn't keep him from scoring his 192nd career TD. The Chargers defense gave up a few big plays but never broke. They swarmed to the ball and put Vince Young on his back on multiple occasions. Thanks to that and the offense finally putting a few scoring drives together, the Chargers would win 17-6. It is their first postseason win in thirteen years!
Divisional Round Schedule:
Saturday
Seattle Seahawks @ Green Bay Packers - 4:30 PM on FOX
Jacksonville Jaguars @ New England Patriots - 8:00 on CBS
Sunday
San Diego Chargers @ Indianapolis Colts - 1:00 PM on CBS
New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys - 4:30 on FOX
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