NFL Wild Card Weekend In The Books!

NFL Wild Card Weekend 2011 is officially in the Books. Lets take a look at a recap of what happened over the weekend. Lets start off with the early game saturday Seattle knocking off the Super Bowl Champion Saints. The Seahawks made history by becoming the first 7–9 team ever to make the playoffs and then did it again by becoming the first to win a playoff game, racking up 31 first downs and 474 yards, including a 67-yard touchdown run by Marshawn Lynch late in the fourth quarter. This marked the fifth consecutive year a Super Bowl champion failed win a playoff game in the next season.

Two early Seahawk miscues enabled the Saints to build a 10-point lead. First Olindo Mare kicked the opening kickoff out of bounds, giving New Orleans the ball at their 40-yard line. New Orleans then drove to the Seahawks' 8-yard line, but had to settle for a Garrett Hartley field goal after Reggie Bush dropped a pass on third down that could have kept the drive going. Then three plays into the Seahawks' drive, Matt Hasselbeck's pass went through the hands of receiver Benjamin Obomanu and into the arms of defensive back Jabari Greer, who returned the interception 10 yards to the Seattle 35. New Orleans subsequently drove 35 yards in nine plays, aided by a third down pass interference penalty on Walter Thurmond in the end zone, and scored with Drew Brees' 1-yard touchdown pass to fullback Heath Evans, giving them a 10–0 lead.

Seattle fullback Michael Robinson returned Hartley's short kickoff 18 yards to the 43-yard line, and the Seahawks struck back with a 57-yard drive that ended with Hasslebeck's 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end John Carlson. The Saints countered as Brees completed 4 of 5 passes for 53 yards on an 83-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by Julius Jones, who had been cut by Seattle early in the season. But Hasselbeck led the Seahwaks right back on a 70-yard scoring drive, featuring a 39-yard reception by tight end Cameron Morrah. On the next play, Hasslebeck threw his second touchdown pass to Carlson, cutting the score to 17–14. After an exchange of punts, Jones lost a fumble while being tackled by Raheem Brock that Seattle linebacker David Hawthorne recovered on the Saints' 18-yard line, setting up a 29-yard field goal by Mare to tie the game.

With 1:15 left in the second quarter, Hasslebeck launched a 45-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Stokley, giving Seattle their first lead of the game at 24–17. But a 40-yard reception by Devery Henderson helped the Saints drive to the Seattle 3-yard line where Hartley made his second field goal to cut the score to 24–20 as time expired in the half. This was only the second playoff game in which both teams scored at least 20 points in the first two quarters.

The Seahawks increased their lead to 31–20 on their opening drive of the second half, as Hasslebeck threw an 18-yard completion to Obomanu and finished the drive with a 38-yard touchdown pass to Mike Williams. Then after forcing a punt, Mare kicked a 39-yard field goal to make the score 34–20 with 9:54 left in the quarter. The Seahawks got a chance to build a three-score lead after stopping Jones for no gain on fourth down and 1 on the Saints' 37-yard line, but they could only gain a few yards with their next drive, and a delay of game penalty on fourth down pushed them out of field goal range.

New Orleans got the ball back at their 13-yard line following Jon Ryan's punt, and mounted an 83-yard drive that ended with Jones' second touchdown run of the game, making the score 34–27 with 13:11 left in regulation. Then they forced a three-and-out and got the ball back with good field position on their 44-yard line with Lance Moore's 8-yard punt return. On the second play of their ensuing drive, Brees threw a short pass to Jones, who took it 33 yards to the Seattle 23. But several plays later, Seattle's defense halted the drive at the 3-yard line, where the Saints settled for Hartley's third field goal to cut the score to 34–30.

After an exchange of punts, Seattle got the ball with 4:20 left in the game. On the first play of the drive, Lynch was stuffed for no gain. But on the next play, he took off for a 67-yard touchdown run in which he broke at least seven tackles en route to the end zone. The crowd in Seattle was so loud during the run that local seismographs recorded it as a small earthquake.[3] With 1:52 left, Brees struck back with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Henderson, but the 2-point conversion failed, keeping the score at 41–36. Then Carlson sealed the victory by recovering Hartley's onside kick attempt, enabling Seattle to run out the rest of the clock.

Brees finished with 39 of 60 completions for 404 yards and two touchdowns. His 39 completions set a postseason record. Jones, who became the first player ever to score a touchdown in the postseason against a team that had cut him in the regular season, rushed for 59 yards and two touchdowns while also catching 6 passes for 61 yards. Hasselbeck completed 22 of 35 passes for 271 yards and 4 touchdowns with 1 interception. Lynch added 131 rushing yards and a touchdown for Seattle, who had not had a 100-yard rusher in any of their regular season games.

Now on to the game that had meaning for me, the Jets get a late field goal from Nick Folk to beat the Colts 17-16. As he had done several times before, Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri gave his team a fourth quarter lead with less then a minute remaining by making a clutch field goal. But this time it was not enough, as New York managed to avenge their previous season loss to Indianapolis in the AFC title game by winning on a Nick Folk field goal as time expired in the game.

The first quarter was scoreless as every drive in it by both teams ended with a punt. The game remained scoreless until just over 5 minutes remained in the half, when Colts quarterback Peyton Manning threw a 57-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garçon. New York responded with a long drive to the Colts' 19-yard line, but with less then a minute left, defensive back Justin Tryon intercepted a pass from Mark Sanchez in the end zone to keep them scoreless going into halftime.

New York managed to tie the game on their opening drive, starting with with Antonio Cromartie's 41-yard kickoff return to the 37-yard line. The Jets subsequently drove 63 yards in 10 plays, featuring a 20-yard reception by tight end Dustin Keller, on the way to a 1-yard touchdown run by LaDainian Tomlinson. Indianapolis countered with a 9-play drive to the New York 29-yard line, with Manning completing a 23-yard pass to Blair White and Joseph Addai rushing for 14 yards. Vinatieri finished the drive with a 47-yard field goal to give them a 3-point lead. But the Jets responded with a 17-play, 87-yard drive that consumed almost 10 minutes and featured three third down conversions. Tomlinson capped off the drive with his second 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 14–10.

With 5:22 left in the game, Vinatieri's 32-yard field goal cut the Colts' deficit to one point. Indianapolis' defense subsequently forced a punt after three plays, but a running into the punter penalty against them kept the drive going, allowing New York to take more time off the clock and forcing the Colts to use two timeouts. Indianapolis got the ball back with 2:36 left in the game, and retook the lead with a 48-yard drive as Manning completed two passes to tight end Jacob Tamme for gains of 15 and 11 yards, along with a 12-yard completion to Blair White. At the end of the drive, Vinatieri made a 50-yard field goal to give the Colts a 2-point lead with 53 seconds left in regulation.

However the Jets stormed back to drive for the winning score, as Cromartie returned the ensuing kickoff 47 yards to the 46-yard line. After that, Sanchez completed passes to Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes for gains of 9 and 11 yards. Then after a 2-yard run by Tomlinson, he completed an 18-yard pass to Edwards, who made a leaping catch near the sidelines and managed to keep both feet in bounds at the Colts' 14-yard line with 29 seconds left on the clock. After letting the clock run down to three seconds, New York called their final timeout and sent Folk out to kick a 32-yard field goal, which sailed through the uprights as time expired to win the game for the Jets.

Manning finished 18 of 26 for 221 yards and a touchdown. His top target was Garçon, who caught five passes for 112 yards and a touchdown. Reggie Wayne, the Colts' leading receiver in the regular season, was completely shut down while being covered by Darrelle Revis, held to just one reception for one yard. Tomlinson rushed for 82 yards and two touchdowns while also catching 4 passes for 17 yards, while running back Shonn Greene added another 70 yards on the ground.

Moving on to the Sunday games, it started off with Baltimore rolling over Kansas City. Baltimore dominated the game on both sides of the ball, massively outgaining Kansas City in total yards (390 to 161), first downs (26 to 8), and time of possesion (44:44 to 18:16) The Chiefs, who only lost 14 turnovers all year, turned the ball over five times and went home with their seventh consecutive playoff loss. Their losing steak has covered 17 years and four different coaches.

Baltimore took the opening kickoff and drove 64 yards to a first down at the Chiefs 1-yard line, with Joe Flacco completing a 27-yard pass to Anquan Boldin and three passes to tight end Todd Heap for 32 yards. But they were stuffed twice for no gain and then Flacco's incomplete pass forced them to settle for a field goal from Billy Cundiff. The Ravens quickly forced a punt, but several plays into thier next drive Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali sacked Flacco and forced a fumble, which he recovered on the Baltimore 46. Following a 5-yard scramble by Matt Cassel, Jamaal Charles' 41-yard touchdown romp gave his team a 7–3 lead. It was the longest touchdown run ever allowed by the Ravens in the postseason. Later in the second quarter, the Ravens retook the lead with an 80-yard scoring drive. Ray Rice finished it with a 9-yard touchdown run to give the Ravens a 10–7 lead with 19 seconds left before halftime.

In the second half, Baltimore completely took over the game, adding 20 more unanswered points and holding Charles, who rushed for over 80 yards in the first half, to negative yardage in the last two quarters. Kansas City gained just 25 total yards in the entire half.

On the fourth play of the opening second half drive, Cassel threw an interception to safety Haruki Nakamura. Kansas City managed to get the ball back when Charles forced and recoverd a fumble from Nakamura during the return, but their second attempt at a drive fared no better and ended with a turnover on downs at the Ravens 38-yard line. Baltimore then drove to the Kansas City 11-yard line where Cundiff made his second field goal of the game. Then Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis forced a fumble while tackling Dexter McCluster that cornerback Chris Carr recovered on the Chiefs 17-yard line, setting up Cundiff's third field goal to increase their lead to 16–7. Just two plays into their next drive, Kansas City lost another turnover when Cassel threw an interception to Dawan Landry, which led to Flacco's 4-yard touchdown pass to Boldin. Then after a three and out, the Ravens put the game away by mounting a 10 minute scoring drive that ended with Willis McGahee's 25-yard touchdown burst with 4:26 left in the game, making the final score 30–7.

Flacco finished with 25 of 34 completions for 265 yards and two touchdowns. He became the first Raven ever to throw multiple touchdown passes in a playoff game. Heap had a career high 10 receptions for 106 yards, setting the franchise record for receptions in a postseason game. Linebacker Terrell Suggs led the Ravens defense with four tackles and two sacks. Cassel was held to just 9 of 18 completions for 70 yards with 3 interceptions, and Dwayne Bowe, the team's top receiver with 1,162 yards and an NFL-leading 15 touchdown catches during the season, did not have any receptions in the game.

The final game of the weekend saw the Packers ground Mike Vick and the Eagles. Green Bay defensive back Tramon Williams' interception in the end zone sealed the Packers victory with 33 seconds left in the game. Green Bay never trailed during the entire game, and got big performances from Aaron Rogers, who threw for 180 yards and three touchdowns, and James Starks, who rushed for 123 yards, which was more then his entire regular season total.

Philadelphia got an early scoring opportunity when they recovered a muffed punt at the Packers 41-yard line. But their drive was halted at the 23 and ended with no points when David Akers missed a 41-yard field goal attempt. Later on, the Packers drive 68 yards in 10 plays, featuring a 27-yard run by Starks. With 8 seconds left in the quarter, Rogers threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to reserve tight end Tom Crabtree. In the second quarter, Williams' 8-yard punt return gave his team the ball at their 43-yard line, and they drove for another touchdown, scoring with Rogers' 9-yard pass to James Jones. Getting the ball back with just over 5 minutes left, Philadelphia quarterback Michael Vick completed a 44-yard pass to Jeremy Maclin and rushed for 14 yards to set up a 29-yard field goal by Akers with 1:15 left in the half, making the score 14–3.

The Eagles scored quickly in the second half, taking advantage of Darryl Tapp's fumble recovery while sacking Rogers on the Packers 24-yard line. One play later, Vick cut the score to 14–10 with a touchdown pass to Jason Avant. But Rogers led his team back, completing two passes to Donald Driver for 26 yards and a 16-yarder to fullback John Kuhn before finishing the drive with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Jackson. Near the end of the quarter, the Eagles mounted a drive to the Packers 16-yard line, but came up empty when Akers missed another field goal, this one from 34 yards.

With 8:50 left in the game, Vick completed 5 of 8 passes for 68 yards on a 75-yard toucdhown drive, scoring on a fourth down 1-yard run. On a two point conversion attempt, Vick completed a pass to tight end Brent Celek, but the it was negated by a penalty against him for putting a foot out of bounds before he came back to catch the ball and their second attempt was incomplete, keeping the score at 21–16. Philadelphia had to use up all their timeouts on the Packers ensuring drive, but got the ball back with 1:45 left in the game. Receptions by DeSean Jackson and Riley Cooper for gains of 28 and 11 yards moved the ball to the Green Bay 24-yard line. But with 33 seconds left, Williams intercepted a pass intended for Cooper in the end zone to put the game away.

Vick finished with 290 passing yards and a touchdown, with one interception, and added 33 yards and another score on the ground.

So the matchups set up for the Divisional Round are as follows. In the AFC it will be Baltimore at Pittsburgh and the Jets at the Patriots. For the NFC it will be the Packers at the Falcons and the Seahawks at the Bears. Preview will come at the end of the week.