What We Learned From Wild Card Weekend
Added on Jan 07, 2013 by Scott in
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Let’s face it. It wasn’t the most exhilarating weekend of NFL football. The quartet of Wild Card games ended up being at times boring and other times unwatchable. There weren’t any real surprises as three of four home teams won, and a hot Seattle team knocked off the equally hot Redskins, due in large to a gimpy RG III. Eight teams remain in the race for the Super Bowl. Here’s what we learned during Wild Card weekend.
Defense still matters – With 5000-yard passers, 2000-yard rushers and a near 2000-yard wide receiver, it’s easy to forget that defense is critical to winning a championship. All eight Wild Card teams made scoring difficult, with the four winning teams posting dominating performances. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues with the high-octane Pats, Broncos and Falcons entering the fray in the Divisional round.
Dalton’s doldrums – In two playoff losses to the Texans, Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton has tossed four interceptions and zero touchdowns. He had negative yards passing in the first half on Saturday and had trouble getting the ball to A.J. Green. Credit Houston’s game plan, but until Dalton proves capable of beating elite defenses, he’ll be nothing more than a second tier signal-caller.
A unhappy ending – Robert Griffin III’s excellent rookie season concluded with him sitting on the bench nursing his ailing right knee. A brace couldn’t prevent him from tweaking the knee twice, once in the first quarter and again in the fourth quarter, before being replaced by Kirk Cousins. As dynamic as RG III is, his style of play is conducive to injury. He sprained the knee on a run and first aggravated it on Sunday scrambling. His future is clearly bright, but he’s far from a finished product.
Lesson learned – After being shredded for 409 yards in the regular season, the Packers finally put the clamps on Adrian Peterson. Joe Webb under center certainly helped, but defensive coordinator preached patience and his charges finally listened; Green Bay defenders took better angles and gang tackled frequently. With no real vertical threat to worry about, limiting Peterson is a task easier said than done. Yesterday, the Pack got it done.
