One thing impressed me last night in the Redskins' win over the Cowboys: the Redskins pass defense. Sure the Redskins are near the bottom of the league when it comes to passing yards allowed, but their ability blitz all night demonstrated an impressive amount of trust in their corners. DeAngelo Hall looked about as impressive as he ever has as he mostly shut down Dez Bryant for the entire game. Josh Wilson displayed incredible blitzing speed as he lit up Tony Romo with blindside hits over and over again to rattle the Cowboys quarterback and force him to use up a timeout or two just to regain his composure. Every time I saw Wilson crack Romo, I was left feeling depressed and annoyed that the Ravens let him go after a great 2010 season.
On the offensive side of the ball, Alfred Morris ran the only way he knows how...hard. Morris has to be one of the strongest running backs in the game and he's not even 220 pounds. Robert Griffin III spoke to the media afterward and expressed that when he is slowed down by injury Alfred Morris always seems to pick up the slack and dominate on the ground. The rookie running back set a Redskins single season rushing record of 1613 yards with an average of 4.8 yards per carry and 13 rushing touchdowns. This young man is a football player; that's all there is too it.
The Redskins have what many would deem to be a tall task in taking on the red-hot Seattle Seahawks next week. The Seahawks haven't been stellar on the road over the course of the season, but they've won 5 in a row including two road games during that stretch. The Skins, however, have some important attributes that are are typical of good NFL playoff teams: the ability to run the ball, stop the run, and rush the passer. The Skins certainly aren't my pick to go to the Superbowl from the NFC at this point, but there's no question that they can go toe to toe with anyone and shouldn't be overlooked or underestimated going into the post-season.
NFL PLAYOFFS PREVIEW
The 2012 regular season was unusual to say the least. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady both found themselves on teams with losing records through the first 5 games of the season, but somehow both the Broncos and Patriots now occupy the #1 and #2 AFC playoff seeds respectively. The Ravens and Texans were impressive through the first 11 weeks or so, but fell off sharply in the final 5 weeks of the season. The NFC appeared the stronger division with many stout defenses and impressive rookie quarterbacks who performed just as well or better than many of their veteran counterparts. The Falcons went 12-4, but somehow few seem to regard them as a dominant team (and that's a bit mistake). The Redskins are going to the playoffs for the first time in a very LONG time, and the Steelers and Giants will both miss the playoffs despite having won 4 out of the last 7 Superbowls.
More than anything, the 2012 regular season should be characterized as one in which just about every major contending team was soundly trounced at least a couple of times. Every team was, at some point, questioned and doubted for its flaws exposed in losses. There was no team that went 16-0, 15-1, or even 14-2 this season. Maybe, however, that's not a bad thing. Losses keep teams honest and make them seriously evaluate and correct their weaknesses. The last two Superbowl Champions did their fair share of losing during the regular season, but they learned from their losses and got hot and healthy just in time for the playoffs. Having homefield advantage is huge for many teams, but somehow road warriors have gotten the job done numerous times in recent years. In the end, it all comes down to which playoff teams are healthy and firing on all cylinders in January.
The wildcard round of the playoffs will be played next weekend with two games on Saturday and two games on Sunday. I'll make my official predictions later in the week when the statuses of various injured players become clearer going into the weekend. Now, however, I'll go over the 4 upcoming matchups in a more broad fashion simply to begin to develop ideas of how things might turn out. Let's take a look.
BENGALS AT TEXANS- The Bengals didn't gain any momentum by facing the Ravens 2nd and 3rd string on Sunday, but they'll be facing a familiar playoff foe when they take the field in Houston on Saturday. The Texans have looked flawed and vulnerable many times in the last 5 weeks while the Bengals have appeared to gain momentum with 7 wins in their last 8 games. The Bengals defense has buckled down to an elite level while the Texans defense appears unable to keep even some of the worst teams in the league from scoring. If the Texans manage to once again beat the Bengals in the wildcard round, they'll face the harrowing task of going to New England to play a well-rested Patriots team that spanked them on national TV only one month ago. If Andrew Luck and a poor defense can beat the Texans, I see no reason why the Bengals can't do it. The Texans, however, are much better at home and still have the playmakers to put up big points in Houston.
VIKINGS AT PACKERS- There's simply no denying the work ethic, determination, talent, and sheer explosiveness of Adrian Peterson. This season will undoubtedly leave few doubting his place among the greatest running backs of our generation. The Packers, however, will have homefield advantage, and that will change a lot. The Packers have only a single loss at Lambeau field this season, and they soundly beat the Vikings 23-14 in Green Bay in week 13. The Vikings, on the other hand, are 3-5 on the road thus far, but won the last two road games they've played against the Rams and Texans. The Packers' defense will be much stronger with a packed stadium of their fans cheering. I'm not saying this game is unwinnable for the Vikings, but they barely squeaked by the Packers in Minneapolis last night, and homefield advantage may simply tip the scales too far in favor of the Packers this Saturday.
COLTS AT RAVENS- Andrew Luck is a talented young player. He has demonstrated an ability to come back big in tight games and even beat some teams with impressive records. The Colts, however, are not a great road team, and the Ravens are usually quite good at home. The Ravens also got a chance to rest most of their starters this weekend as they played mostly 2nd and 3rd string players for most of the game. The Colts, on the other hand, beat the Texans, but didn't rest their starters before a daunting road matchup. Reggie Wayne and T.Y. Hilton are fantastic receivers and will cause problems for the Ravens secondary at times without a doubt, but Andrew Luck has thrown 18 picks and the Colts have lost 9 fumbles while the Colts defense has only forced 15 turnovers all season. The Colts haven't protected Luck particularly well, and they don't run the ball particularly well either, so the Ravens will be able to blitz heavily at times to rattle the young lad. With all of that said, it's tough to count the Colts. Their head coach was with the Ravens for 4 years, and their interim head coach ran offenses for years that beat the Ravens with the Steelers. The Ravens are favored, but they've lost 4 out of their last 5 games (though the last one didn't really count) and if they can lose to Charlie Batch in Baltimore, they can lose to Andrew Luck.
SEAHAWKS AT REDSKINS- This will be an entertaining matchup as it will feature two talented, mobile rookie quarterbacks who led their respective teams in red-hot winning streaks to close out the season. The Seahawks don't have a great record on the road over the course of the season, but they've won their last two road games, and have simply dominated teams in their last 5 games. This is a post-season that the Seahawks shouldn't even be in considering the fact that they got credit for a win that even the league admitted they didn't deserve over the Packers in week 4. With that said, the Seahawks may just prove that they absolutely belong in the playoffs if they can knock off the Redskins in Landover on Sunday. The Redskins, on the other hand, are sitting pretty after they won their division and clinched a playoff berth and homefield advantage in the wildcard round last night. Robert Griffin the 3rd is clearly slowed by his lingering knee injury, but the rest of the team has elevated its level of play to compensate. No longer is RG3 the only thing that's working for the Redskins. Suddenly they have a real defense, and as their passing numbers have gone down a bit, their rushing numbers have increased accordingly. I won't even pretend to have a good idea of who will win this game yet.
The wildcard round may not matter much in the AFC as the Broncos and Patriots may be nearly impossible to beat in their respective home fields, but upsets happen one way or another, and Peyton Manning has been known to choke early in the playoffs after fantastic regular seasons before... but then again, he also has been to two Superbowls and owns one ring. The Ravens are a great team when they're healthy, and we'll see just how healthy they've become on Sunday. The NFC is far less predictable in my mind. Every team in the playoffs in that conference is capable of beating any of the other teams; we'll just have to see who gets hot and stays that way. I hope you guys like the new blog layout and logo!
AS ALWAYS
GO RAVENS!!!!
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