First Round Results

1. Kansas City at Indianapolis Colts - A very entertaining game and something the Chiefs are going to want to forget very quickly. In a way, it sort of represented their season in a nutshell. They jumped out to a 28-point lead, containing a potent offense (like starting 9-0 with a good defense) only to fall apart and let the other team outscore you 35-6 in the rest of the game (finishing the season 2-5). Hopefully the Colts will be just as entertaining in the second round. If I were New England, I'd be a little would be a little worried about facing a team this confident about scoring points, especially with their diminished offensive capability. (0-1)

2. New Orleans Saints at Philadelphia Eagle - So the Saints finally won outside of the bayou. The last eight minutes (which I missed) went pretty much what the Colts-Chiefs should have been where the Eagles got the go-ahead touchdown but the Saints had plenty of time to get into field goal range. The Saints looked sloppy the entire first half except for their running game and they should thank their lucky stars that the Eagles made just enough bad decisions that it was nearly a tied game at the half. The Saints now travel to Seattle and Drew Breese will need to be his Superdome self to overcome that defense. Seattle's offense is soft enough that the Saints defense that played against Philly could hold them down and give New Orleans a chance. (0-2)

3. San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals - Good Dalton played in the first half. Bad Dalton played in the second half. It is interesting that the Chiefs and the Eagles both won the turnover battle and yet they lost. San Diego, on the other hand, won the turnover battle and won the game, as the percentages say you should. Some of this wasn't fully Dalton's fault as his O-line did not do a good job of protecting him in the second half or in creating lanes for the running game. But the key of the game really was the Bernard fumble near the end of the first half. If the Bengals had gotten a TD there, they would have gone into the locker room up 14-7 and the Bengals would never have been down by more than one score through all the bad moments in the second half. San Diego will now play Denver for a third time in a rubber match. (0-3)

4. San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers - This was about as close as I thought it would be. I missed most of the first half due to other commitments, but the second half was entertaining. As expected, things bounced back and forth and the Niners won when they were able to drive the field and kick a field goal as time expired. The key seems to be that the Packers could not contain Colin Kaepernick whenever he was flushed out of the pocket. He personally ran for over 100 yards and picked up several key first downs when needed. There was a moment late in the fourth quarter when the Packers had a chance to grab an interception but the defender couldn't hold on. So, now we look forward to a rematch between the Niners and the Carolina Panthers. Carolina won that game in San Francisco so this should be an interesting match up. (0-4)