notes on the playoffs

one
baltimore 13, tennessee 10
i'm not suprised that the ravens won the game.

but it's more like the titans beat themselves. they had three turnovers, including two fumbles inside the ravens' 20-yard line -- and one near the goal line!

also, the ravens' defense, lead by ray lewis, ed reed, and terrell suggs, just swarmed all over the titans' offense.

two
arizona 33, carolina 13
now, i AM surprised that the cardinals beat the panthers. and i'm VERY surprised by the point spread.

but jake delhomme, the quarterback for the panthers, committed six turnovers by himself. that includes five -- yes, five -- interceptions. those things will tend to beat a football team.

three
philadelphia 23, new york 11
before the game started, i had no favorite team. but as the game progressed, i started to favor the eagles because they made the nfc championship game from 2001 to 2004. back then, they were my second favorite nfl team; the colts were the first.

and i like donovan mcnabb, despite all the shit that's happened to him. that includes those campbell's soul commercials with his mother, and the accusation by rush limbaugh that he was unfairly favored by a liberal sports media.

four
pittsburgh 35, san diego 17
now, i was cheering for pittsburgh to win because they were one of my favorite teams back in the 1970s, when they had terry bradshaw, joe greene, and chuck noll. plus, you must consider the revenge factor, since the chargers beat the colts last week.

it was 10-7 chargers before the steelers scored three straight touchdowns that put them ahead. 28-10. from there on, they were playing out the clock.

five
three visiting teams won their playoffs games. the only home team to win was pittsburgh.

as for the games next sunday, this will be the first time the cardinals will be playing for a championship since 1948, when they were based in chicago and lost to the eagles 7-0.

interesting.

(by the way, they won their last championship over the same eagles back in 1947. the score of that game was 28-21. very interesting.)

the baltimore-pittsburgh game also will be interesting. both teams have very good defenses. and they strongly despise -- if not hate -- each other.