NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Summary: In the fourth quarter, QB Rodgers rallied the Packers to score 21 points sending the NFC wild-card game into overtime.  Yet, the Cardinals scored on a sack and fumble recovery resulting in a 51-45 defeat in the highest-scoring NFL playoff game.

Game Reviews: ESPN.   CBS.   NFL.

Play-of-the Game: In overtime, Cardinals CB Adams sacked QB Rodgers forcing a fumble, recovered in mid-air by Arizona LB Dansby, and returned it 17 yards for the winning touchdown.

Rapid Reactions:

1. A horrible defensive performance with no pressure, no coverage, and no tackling.  Evaluation: The pressure was underwhelming, the Packers struggled to sort out the Cardinals' route combinations in the early going, and star receiver Fitzgerald eventually got the better of his matchup with Packers cornerback Woodson by scoring two second-half touchdowns. The Cardinals had 531 total offensive yards.  Also, when the offense got the team back into the game again and again, the defense could not stop the Cardinals.  Evaluation: The Packers are going to have to do a lot of work in the off-season finding out a way to stop older quarterbacks that get rid of the ball quickly.  In three of the Packers' six losses, Favre (twice) and Warner carved up the Packers' defense by getting the ball quickly on three-step drops. The Packers  have to figure out a way to play more press coverage and less zone. Teams found a big soft spot in the Packers' secondary down the middle of the field in the 12 to 25-yard zone.

2. In historical NFL wild card OT finish, the offense simply choked giving the game away missing open receivers and breakdowns in pass protection.

3. QB Rodgers had a great game throwing for 422 and 5 total touchdowns.  Yet, he committed two big turnovers. Also, in OT, he missed wide open WR Jennings on the first play that could have won the game and the final play of OT that could have avoided the sack and touchdown fumble recovery for the loss. 

4. When it counted, K Crosby missed another potential winning field goal. Unbelievable and deja vu.

5. The Packers, including specifically QB Rodgers, had the awful habit of starting horribly slow in big games.

6. TE Finley is a future superstar getting 6 receptions for 159 yards.

7. Maybe goodbye to Bigby, Kampman, and Lee, but it is a tossup about Pickett and Harris depending on their future defensive roles.

8. The offensive line gave up 5 sacks.  In the offseason, the Packers need, at least, two solid tackles in the draft or free agency to eventually replace aging tackles. Rookie Lang looked fine replacing injured LT Clifton. The rest of the offensive line, with C Spitz back, will be fine.

Two years ago the Pats were one Giants drive away from perfection. Sunday at home in the AFC Wild Card game against the Baltimore Ravens, they were about as far away as perfect as could be. The Patriots are one and done in the AFC playoffs, as the Ravens stunned them with 24-point first quarter points enroute to a 33-14 win to move on to round two next week against the AFC’s #1 seed, the Colts.

It was a stunning end to the season for New England, as they couldn’t stop the Ravens run game all day, and Tom Brady and the Pats offense was no match for the agressive Baltimore defense. Brady was 23 of 42 for 154 yards two touchdowns passing and three interceptions.

It was the Ravens run game though that set the tempo from the word go. Before many fans were even in their seats, Ray Rice burst up the middle for an 83-yard touchdown on the games first offensive play to give the Ravens a 7-0 lead. Then Brady was stripped by the Ravens Terrell Suggs on the Pats third offensive play, and it took Baltimore five plays to extend the lead to 14-0 as Le’Ron McClain went in from a yard out.

The Pats were already shell shocked, and it got worse from there. After a pair of three-and outs by each team, Brady was picked by Chirs Carr at the Pats 25. Another Rice TD six plays later gave Baltimore a 21-0 lead with 3:55 left in the first quarter. They would end the first 15 mintues with another pick, this time by Ed Reed that led to a field goal to make it 24-0 after the first quarter.

New England did get the only score of the second quarter when Julian Edelman caught the first of his two scores. Despite that, the Pats could never get back into the game, and the Ravens anytime they needed a tough yard on the ground were able to get it. They outran the Pats 234 to 64, and held New England to just 196 yards of total offense.

Joe Flacco only threw the ball 10 times, and was 4 for 10 for 34 yards with a pick and a QB rating of 10.0, but with Rice, Willis McGahee and McClain running over the Pats, none of that really mattered. The Pats were the only undefeated team at home in the AFC this year, but the Ravens, who are 7-2 in wild card games, played like they owned Gillette Stadium.

Brady was 7-0 in playoff games at Gillette. And they had won their last 11 home playoff games there and at Foxborough Stadium, since their last loss in 1978. And the Patriots had never lost to the Ravens, home or away, in their other five matchups. Until now.

New England will face plenty of offseason questions about issues on defense, as well as the decision last week to play Wes Welker, a main cog in the offensive passing game who was on crutches after getting hurt last Sunday in what ended up being a meaningless game in Houston.

The Ravens are one step away from the AFC Title game, where they fell short to Pittsburgh last season. Of course that last step is going to be a tough one, a meeting with Peyton Manning and the Colts, a team that lost just twice all season.

If you are interested in going to the playoff game today, there are still plenty of seats available. PFT.com reports that the Pats are having issues filling the stadium today for the playoff showdown with the Ravens.

Today’s Ravens-Patriots game in New England is officially a sellout, but that doesn’t mean the stadium will be full.

In fact, Tom E. Curran of CSNNE.com reports that the Patriots are urging fans to arrive at Gillette Stadium early today, amid concerns that TV viewers will be treated to the unsightly display of an unfilled stadium for a playoff game.

The Patriots say they’re encouraging fans to avoid security delays, but Curran reports that a large number of season-ticket holders declined to buy playoff tickets. The team may be hoping that a plea for people to arrive early will at least mean that there won’t be too many empty seats when the standard TV shot panning the stadium before kickoff is shown on CBS.

Four days ago we noted that there were still plenty of good seats available for today’s game.

No team over the last decade has given its fans more to cheer than the Patriots. But that doesn’t mean every fan is going to spend big money on playoff tickets, and in New England, there may be some empty seats today.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."—Albert Einstein

The Bengals season came to an abrupt and disappointing end Saturday as they were outplayed and outsmarted by the Jets, 24-14. On one of the biggest nights in franchise history, the Bengals played flat, uninspired football for the majority of the game, letting themselves and the sellout crowd of orange-striped partisans down again. They unraveled. They failed.

As the dismayed fans staggered towards the exits, a city's collective misery hung suspended in the icy air; and suspended in time. A misery that seemed unending, inexorable and tragically inescapable.

Nineteen years worth and counting.

There's no need to recount this one. If you're a Bengals fan, you've seen it before. You know generally what happened. The players didn't execute and the coaches made mistakes. The strengths of the team inexplicably became weaknesses, and the weaknesses were predictably magnified. And as if that's not enough, there were those mystifying and cruel twists of fate; those things that are beyond all comprehension and control. Those unlucky bounces and untimely injuries. Things that prove to us yet again that there are football gods and they hate us.

Make no mistake—they do hate us. At this point, I'd be willing to sacrifice a goat or throw a virgin into the mouth of a volcano if it would help.

Meanwhile, life will go on. Marvin Lewis will take the podium and talk about the future. Players will head into the offseason vowing to do better. Mike Brown will preach progress and being "competitive" once again.

Eventually, as time goes on, the misery will subside. We'll remind ourselves of the turnaround from 4-11-1 to 10-6. We'll remember we swept the AFC North. We'll convince ourselves that we are, in fact, close to the Promised Land. We'll begin to forget the bad juju and the Indian burial ground curses.

And with that perspective will come renewed excitement. We'll spend the next 8 months talking about key free agents and draft steals. We'll remind each other that we'll get Antwan Odom and Rey Malauluga and Pat Sims back from injury. In short, we'll begin sipping the Kool-Aid once more.

Right now, that is a comforting thought. After all, the truth is that as much as this hurts, I know I will remain a fan. I can't quit the Bengals no matter how much I'd like to. The harsh reality is that I love them, even if they don't love me back.

I'll put my faith and my heart in their hands. I'll believe, for better or for worse.

In the meantime, I have my misery. Again.