The first round of the playoffs is done, and I'm already excited about the second round. But apparently, Vegas doesn't think the next four games will be any good, or rather, doesn't think the majority of the betting public thinks they'll be any good. All four games have the home team favored by 7-11 points; 6.5 if you want to get technical, but apparently that's because it's extra difficult getting people to bet against the Cowboys. And small wonder they've got the refs on their side. Wait, did I say that? Let's review the weekend's games.
Cardinals at Panthers: The Cardinals had a brief flurry of excitement here -- we can win this thing! -- when they went up 14-10, but there was an air of inevitability. No matter how great your defense is, you can't win if you can't make any plays on offense. It's really hard to believe that Arizona couldn't come up with a better option than Ryan Lindley, but I guess they got kind of thrown by the Drew Stanton infection, or it would have been him out there, and maybe they cobble together a little offense and win. Instead it was Lindley, the offense was a painful joke, and Arizona made the kind of sorry exit to be expected.
Carolina also did about what was expected. Sure Tolbert and Whittaker scored, but it was Jonathan Stewart leading the way. Can they win in Seattle? I doubt it. Cam Newton to Greg Olsen will be their best weapon there, with Seattle struggling against tight ends all season long -- except when they actually faced Carolina and Greg Olsen, and he did nothing. So if you loaded up on Seahawks in your playoff fantasy leagues, I think you'll be fine. Seattle might win about 23-10. Guess in this case I agree with the point spreads.
Ravens at Steelers: Ian called this one, whereas I not only didn't think the Ravens would win, I inadvertently stacked my playoff roster assuming Pittsburgh would win. Not that I had a lot of Steelers, but I had them going to Denver and the Colts going to New England -- so I didn't draft any Colts and did roster LeGarrette Blount. Given this matchup, I wish I had Luck and Hilton instead of Blount and Antonio Brown. My big takeaway: Running backs are marginalized in today's NFL, but if you've got a great one, like LeVeon Bell, you really feel his absence if you don't have him. There were several early plays where Ben Tate got 2-3 yards on a run or a catch when Bell would have gone for 8-10, and maybe Pittsburgh scores first and controls the game, instead of being behind throughout.
For the Ravens, it wasn't terribly surprising that both Smiths were productive against Pittsburgh's secondary. A reminder that soft defenses, like Pittsburgh and Dallas, often get checked out quickly in the playoffs. What, Dallas didn't lose? Oh. I have to think that seeing the Ravens come to town is a nightmare for Patriots fans (Broncos fans aren't too thrilled about seeing Andrew Luck coming to Denver, either, I suspect). New England should be able to slow Baltimore's ground game (as Pittsburgh did) and can stick Revis on a Smith and win, but their offense won't have a huge game; I'm definitely not starting Blount. I'm thinking it's a 20-17 game that could go either way. I would be taking the points.
Bengals at Colts: So that's four straight first-round playoff exits for the Bengals. I do not think Marvin Lewis should be fired, in large part because in at least three of those losses he was coaching the clearly inferior team. Cincinnati wasn't going to win in Indianapolis regardless, but trying to win with a top three of Mohamed Sanu, Greg Little and Kevin Brock? Sorry, but both Lewis and Andy Dalton get kind of a pass from me on this one. A.J. Green might have made a difference, Jermaine Gresham (yes even him) would have helped, and Cincinnati simply didn't have the defense to stop Andrew Luck.
Does Denver? Midseason I might have said yes, but now I'm not so sure. But for T.Y. Hilton dropping a bunch of passes, the Colts would have scored in the 30s easily yesterday. I think they can do it in Denver; the big question is whether it will be Dan Herron or Zurion Tipton getting the most reps at running back, with Herron fumbling twice yesterday and getting benched for the fourth quarter (just one touch). I think the Colts can score on Denver. It's whether Denver's offense, what we saw down the stretch, can keep up; that's the major question. I can see the Colts winning this game.
Lions at Cowboys: So can we talk about something besides the flag that was picked up? Terrance Williams having a big game at a big time? (Although note that Dez Bryant was right behind Williams on the winning touchdown and might also have caught it.) Detroit's offense going in the tank after taking an early 14-0 lead? The fact that Brandon Pettigrew would probably have dropped that pass, or fumbled it away, even if he hadn't been interfered with? For what it's worth, I thought the flag itself was kind of iffy; looked like Pettigrew didn't get hit until after the ball was by him. But you almost never see a flag like that get picked up, and it wasn't the only officiating call or non-call (in this case, both!) that went Dallas' way.
I think Detroit needed to score more, and should have scored more against Dallas' defense. Green Bay certainly will. Even though Reggie Bush scored yesterday, I think Bell and Riddick are the team's two best backs and those are the guys they should be leaning on in 2015. And Eric Ebron has to step up and be a third receiver, because otherwise they simply don't have anyone after Johnson or Tate. I think the Lions will be back, though, and maybe be a little better on offense and win one of those games. Good for Tony Romo, who played big yesterday and really all season. Dallas will need to score more in Green Bay. If they get that ground game working, maybe they win a 27-24 kind of game. If not, they lose about 34-24.
All in all, it was a good weekend of football. I think we're going to get some classics next week: Defense in the Seattle and the New England games, great quarterback matchups in the Green Bay and Denver games. What more can you ask for? We'll talk more about them later in the week.