2008 NFL Playoffs - Divisional Weekend

This year's NFL playoffs might have reinforced two football axioms:

1. Defenses win championships.
2. That's why they play 'em!

Ironically, it seems to also be saying "Home-Field Advantage" is not necessarily so. In fact, this year home-field tag is synonymous with turnovers! Both number one seeds now at home playing Guitar Hero.

RAVENS at TITANS
My heart goes out to Tennessee and Titans fans everywhere. It brought back the pain of seasons gone by and the incredible disappointment at concluding 13-3 home field season in round one of the playoffs. And for those that think Ray Lewis is finished, did you see that snot-knocker? I think Ravens @ Steelers is going to be a good game.

CARDINALS at PANTHERS
Congratulations to Kurt Warner and the Cardinals. Is it me...or have they had THAT defense all year? On the other side, I can't think of a worse birthday present for a quarterback than Jake Delhomme's 0.0 passer rating. Zero point Zero...ugh! It would seem that the Eastern Time Zone didn't have near the vexing power that the media said it would.

(Ear muffs)

While we on this...Are you FREAKIN' kidding me? How could any intelligent human being make the argument that the Arizona Cardinals can't play in the Eastern Time Zone. Especially when it was a late game, not an early kick off. Media pros made this argument for a solid week. How could a sane individual suggest any team can't play in a certain time zone. Do airline pilots have trouble landing in cities whose name begin with vowels? Do mechanics have trouble working on cars painted blue? Is it possible a minister could preach on a day, other than Sunday? And certainly, NASCAR drivers can't go anywhere that requires turning right! What a ludicrous premise. This is a statistician out-of-control!

PARITY & NUMBER ONE SEED
The NFL continues to have parity among their teams. The number one seed and home crowd is no longer enough to make it happen. Nor is the coin-flip in overtime. Nor is the title of "World Champion!" Oringally, I thought it would be the Ravens vs. Giants. Since I have to reconsider, I'd like a day to think about those Steelers too!