The Wildcard Weekend

After one of the more bizarre regular seasons I have seen we finally get to the still fresh "Wildcard Weekend".  After a referee lockout threatened to make a mockery of the game in the first 3 weeks of the season, once the proper officials came back the season really took off due to some fantastic games with the 49ers shutting out the Jets and the Patriots scoring 31 points in the final quarter against the Bills in week 4.

The season continued to grow with Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III picking up record after record for rookie quarterbacks showing that they were worth being picked first and second in the 2012 draft.  And coming in to the final week of December all eyes were on Washington and thankfully not due to the 'Fiscal Cliff'.  The Dallas Cowboys turned up to FedEx Field needing a win to get into the post season but were defeated by new generation that has Washington atop the NFC East for the first time this millennium. There's Griffin -- the vocal leader, the Heisman Trophy winner, the team captain. And there's Morris -- the out-of-nowhere sixth-rounder from Florida Atlantic who merely ran for 200 yards and three touchdowns in the division-clincher and broke the franchise single-season rushing record.

And after another season of my Browns failing to get a .500 record, I need to look at away from the Browns  this weekend so here is what I think will happen this weekend. (I have put the home team first)

 Houston Texans - Cincinnati Bengals 

After week 15 the Texans were 12-2 but had two tough ties ahead of them (Vikings, Colts) which they both lost meaning they still yet to beat the Minnesota Vikings and have never beaten the Colts in Indianapolis.  This lost them the second place seed which would of given them the week off and home advantage in the next round, instead they play host to a replay of the wildcard weekend playoff match from last year against a resurgent Bengals.

The Bengals have gone from from 3-5 half way through to 10-6, they have not allowed their opponents to score more than 20 points in any of their last eight games and they have won their last four on the road.  With the likelihood that they will be under a lot of pressure offensively, the Texans will require defensive lineman J.J. Watt, who returned an interception for a touchdown in last season’s playoff meeting between these teams and led the regular season in sacks (20.5) to be at his best.

Prediction: Close Bengals win in low scoring game

Green Bay Packers - Minnesota Vikings

Going in to the final game of the season the Vikings new that they needed a win to get into the playoffs and that it might very well be the Packers that they would play. So when Peterson rushed for 36 yards on the last drive and rookie kicker Blair Walsh slotted a 29-yard field goal as time expired to give the Vikings a 37 -34 win, they new they had booked themselves a a rematch at Lambeau Field.

Green Bay will look to Aaron Rodgers to continue his impressive season and at least match his 108.0 passer rating for the season or his performance last week where he completed 28 of 40 passes for 365 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.  Minnesota will need running back Adrian Peterson, who came within 9 yards of Eric Dickerson's rushing record on Sunday, to be on his best for them stand a chance.

Prediction: Green Bay to win a high scoring affair

Baltimore Ravens - Indianapolis Colts

  

Despite being the away team for this match the Colts 11-5 finished with a better record than the AFC North champions the Ravens 10-6.  With Indianapolis being the inform team winning 4 out of the last 5 compared to Baltimore losing 4 out of the last 5 and Baltimore being a past home for the Colts meaning home advantage may not that present for then Ravens, there aren't many good things going for the Ravens here.

For the first time since 29 December 1996, the Colts will start a quarterback not named Peyton Manning in a playoff game.  The Colts’ Andrew Luck will become the 12th rookie QB to start a playoff game and he will face one of only five QB to win a NFL playoff game as a rookie, Joe Flacco. Perhaps all the Ravens can hope for is that Luck chokes in this big pressure game.

Prediction: Colts to win easily

Washington Redskins - Seattle Seahawks

Seattle come into the the playoffs on a 5 game winning streak, the third best in the NFL, the problem is they come up against the team with the second best.  Washington won the NFC East winning their last seven regular season games an all of Seattle’s five regular season defeats in 2012 have come on the road.  A positive for the Seattle Seahawks will be that the only allowed 245 points in the regular season, the fewest points conceded by any team in the league. On average, that is 15.3 per game but all of the talk coming into this game will be about one man.

"R-G-3" 

Before the 2012 draft the Browns, like the Redskins, where in talks with the St Louis Rams for the Second pick in the draft in order to land Robert Griffin III but to my disappointment the Redskins out bid the Browns and got there hands on the one of the greatest dual threat quarterback prospects ever.  And boy has he lived up to that RG3 has thrown 3,200 yards with 20 touchdowns and only 5 interceptions add on to that his rushing where he has ran 815 yards with 7 touchdowns. His touchdown to interception ratio is 4:1, which ranks third in the league behind Aaron Rodgers (4.9:1) and Tom Brady (4.3:1).

Prediction: Redskins to win and RG3 to Star.

Trivia Questions 4

Q: Robert Griffin III became the second quarterback to accomplish a perfect passer rating in a game in his rookie season, who was the first?

Answers to Question 3

Q: How did Arsenal rejoin the First Division in 1919, despite only finishing sixth in the Second Division in 1914–15?

A: The league expanded from 20 to 22 teams but Barnsley and Wolves finished above Arsenal but didn't get put in the first division in 1919.  The League decided instead to promote sixth-placed Arsenal, for reasons of history over merit,  they voted eighteen votes to eight to promote Arsenal ahead of their local rivals Tottenham Hotspurs who finished 20th in the First Division.  There was also some allegations of Bribery as well.