Football: An important weekend for various teams with some divisional and playoff spots on the line along with positioning. There were some upsets, though not in the NY area. It shouldn't have come down to that, but a questionable call on a failed two point conversion decided the NY Jets game (23-21, Miami). The NY Giants in Coach Fassel's final game actually got twenty four points of offense, but all but three were basically thanks to the defense, and they still lost to Carolina. The Bengals, strange as it might have been seen not too long ago, had a disappointing 8-8 season (the final game of the regular season is academic, given the Ravens got in with the Bengals' loss to the lowly Browns).

"Lowly" teams mattered this year and this weekend as well. It looked like Green Bay would not get to the playoffs as everything didn't go their way: the SF played sloppy and blew a fourteen point lead to Seattle, Dallas lost to the Saints, and the Viks were winning 17-6 late vs. Arizona. Arizona won (GB was in this position in part because they lost to Arizona earlier), eliminating the Vikings, who were once 6-0, the lowly Giants basically the begin of their downfall. The Rams aren't the first seed because they lost to Detroit. Houston almost pushed the Colts out of first place, but it was the lackluster Jets who helped them out by being beating the best wild card team out there -- the Titans (via losing a tie breaker to the Colts, but with three different QBs and an often injured QB playing, damn if they deserved it on spirit alone).

[Though a rushing record wasn't broken, the Ravens won the night game in OT, so the Bengals wouldn't have gotten in, even if they won. Giants fans got a bit of satisfaction from the Vikings loss. At the beginning of the Fassel Era (1997-03), they lost a playoff game after being up by nine late, partly because they could not protect against an onside kick. Sadly, this was but a prelude. Anyhow, besides having trouble scoring in a must win game vs. that scary Arizona D, the Viks not only failed to block the kick, but lost on the final play, a 4th and 25 at that. Just plain sad. In honor of TMQ, I offer this.]

Still a lot of football out there to play. Will anyone be able to beat the Pats? Will the Colts actually win a playoff game? Will Green Bay continue their recent burst of life? Will the Rams, KC, and the Eagles show their soft side? How long with Dallas/Carolina (who play each other next week) and other second tier teams play? Should be interesting.