We had 120 yards of offense produce a win, a reverse-lateral-touchdown inducing bomb and a whole bunch of other treats on the first weekend of the NFL playoffs.
Surely, Wild Card Weekend would yield some random thoughts:
* Clinton Portis ran it from 5 yards to help Washington beat Tampa Bay, 17-10. Sean Taylor scooped and scored on a 51-yarder. Must be a ’Cane thing.
* Sean Taylor was ejected from the Washington-Tampa Bay game for spitting at the Bucs’ Michael Pittman. Must be a ’Cane thing.
* Poor Jon Gruden. On his playoff resume, next to that 2002 Super Bowl title, is the “Tuck rule” game, aka the birth of this Patriots dynasty, and the “My defense just allowed the least amount of yards in a playoff loss” game.
* Keep your Peyton Manning. I’ll take Tom Brady in a big game every time.
* Yes, the Broncos have home field against the Patriots next Sunday. Yes, the Broncos had a bye this past Sunday. Yes, the Patriots should be the favorites. They haven’t lost a playoff game since before marketing people deemed Brady a hunk. (Fun fact: Pete Carroll was the Pats’ coach on Jan. 3, 1999 with they lost to the Jags.)
* Willie McGinest is at least 53 years old and seems to get better each season.
* It’s always interesting to watch how quarterbacks with no playoff experience handle the postseason. We’ll have to wait until next season at the earliest to see how Carson Palmer handles it.
* Did we really expect any team other than Cincinnati to lose its quarterback on his first pass of the game? Not even the Jets could pull that one off with a straight face.
* Quarterback Class of 2004 quick quiz: Big Ben or Eli? Big Ben or Eli? Big Ben!
* What would have happened if Tom Coughlin had actually prepared his team for the Carolina Panthers?
* Nine first downs? Nine? Are you serious, Giants? And two of them were on penalties. Doubtful offensive coordinator John Hufnagel will get looks at any of the seven open head coaching positions after that display.
* Props to Tiki Barber and other Giants players who spoke honestly after the 23-0 rout by Carolina. They made no excuses. They made no plays, either.
* Early week score prediction: Carolina Panthers 4, Chicago Bears 3.
* Early week Washington yards on offense prediction: vs. Seattle > vs. Tampa Bay
* Early week Colts prediction: Steelers win! (What the heck? No one else will predict that except for maybe Roethlisberger.)
* Early week Broncos prediction: Raiders owner Al Davis will be photographed running through the streets of Oakland with “Look, mom, I’m as tall as Bill Belichick” growth chart after the Patriots dispatch Mike Shanahan and his Denver Broncos.