One of the most exciting final week since several years. Many surprises in both conferences. Some teams which were supposed to accede to the post-season, stopped their route here.
This week 17 ends up their season a bad way. You have to know there are 6 teams that rally the playoffs for each conference. The 4 winners of each division (north, south, east and west) and also the two best second teams. The best team of each conference will have homefield advantage at least until the Super Bowl.
In the NFC, East division, the Dallas Cowboys faced the Philadelphia Eagles, the equation was very simple, win or go home.
It's a very disappointing outcome for America's team which everybody already saw playing at least a Championship game against the defending champs New York Giants.
But Philly took the Wild Card spot by beating the Cowboys on a 44-6 score.
Unfortunately for his team, Terrell "big ego" Owens (photo #81) could not do anything against his former team.
Another big surprise, in the NFC North, that's finally the Minnesota Vikings that reach the playoffs over the Chicago Bears.
The Vikings won their game over the Giants meanwhile, the Bears lost against the Texans. Their last game made the difference to reap their division.
In the NFC South, the Atlanta Falcons got their ticket just behind the Carolina Panthers with an unexpected final record of 11-5. Matt Ryan, for his first season as a NFL quarterback, began his career a great way.
After replacing Micheal Vick, he's on the run to put this franchise right.
Ryan (photo #2) finishes the regular season with some decent numbers, he threw for 3440 yards scored 16 touchdowns, was picked off 11 times and was sacked 17 times, with a rating of 87.7, he completed 65.2% of his pass attempts.
But he really impressed all NFL analysts with his maturity in his decisions. Even if he threw 2 interceptions against the Rams, he ended the regular season with a very useful win.
Atlanta is among the 2 best second teams of this conference. They stole this place to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that led this division, their record 9 victories and 7 losses.
When you think the Arizona Cardinals won their division with the exact same record.
It shows how different is the average level in two different divisions. So the wild card round in the NFC will see these confrontations:
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In the AFC, the winners of their divisions are, the Miami Dolphins for the AFC East, the Pittsburgh Steelers for the AFC North, the Tennessee Titans for the AFC South, the San Diego Chargers for the AFC West.
The 2 best second teams of this conference are:
-The Indianapolis Colts that realised a pretty good second part of season. They rallied the post-season by beating the leaders of the AFC, the Titans, on a 23-0 score. There's no doubt Tennessee have let many big players on the sideline to have some required rest before the Divisional round.
-The Baltimore Ravens with their huge defense, they could do something in a playoff-scheme.
With some amazing defensive players as safety Ed Reed (photo below #20) who returned an interception for a 108 yard touchdown against the Eagles few weeks ago. Temendous!
The 2 teams that get a first round bye are, the 2 leaders of this conference, the Pittsburgh Steelers and some surprising Titans that nobody expected at this level.
Who could predicted this success after Vince Young's injury at the begining of the season. Apparently Kerry Collins was the one who could lead Titans' offense effectively.
Collins (photo right #5) is not a great quarterback, he won't allow Tennessee to win many games with his phisical abilities, but the key thing is he is a reliable thrower, he doesn't throw a lot of interceptions or lost many fumbles. What he has to do is not to mess things up.
The wild card round in the AFC will see the following confrontations:
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The 2 teams that get first round bye are:
- Pittsburgh Steelers.
- Tennessee Titans.