Saying Goodbye To Another NFL Season
The NFL regular season ended oddly yesterday with a few interesting matchups, a number of starters resting for the playoffs and the solidfying of the ever-important draft order. So we're taking a break from politics for a minute to take a look.
Teams in three of the four games being played in this coming weekend's opening round of the playoffs also faced off yesterday to finish the regular season -- and all three games were duds, with an aggregate score of 94-7.
The New York Jets demolished the Cincinnati Bengals 37-0 at home and are now set to play at 4:30 pm Saturday. Playing for the NFC East title and the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, the Eagles landed in the playoffs as the No. 6 seed and must travel back to Dallas for a Saturday night affair after falling 24-0 yesterday. And the Green Bay Packers will head back to Phoenix Sunday afternoon, a week after beating mostly second-string Cardinals 33-7.
The Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots play the other wildcard round game Sunday at 1 p.m.
The two No. 1 seeds in the playoffs -- the NFC's New Orleans Saints and AFC's Indianapolis Colts -- both finish the season on losing streaks after winning their first 13 and 14 games, respectively. Both teams rested their star quarterbacks, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning, though Manning threw 18 passes before leaving the game. Both get another week off before their first playoff matchups.
While 12 teams are thinking playoffs, the remaining 20 now must look toward free agency and the amateur draft in April. By virtue of record, the 1-15 St. Louis Rams will pick first, followed by 2-14 Detroit Lions, 3-13 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 4-12 Washington Redskins and 4-12 Kansas City Chiefs. The Redskins so far are the only team in that group that will move forward with a new head coach -- Jim Zorn was fired early this morning, and Mike Shanahan is expected to replace him.