One problem with these games except for Detroit-Dallas was at least one team in each was severely compromised by injuries. The Cardinals quarterback situation and the Bengals missing A.J. Green (as well as Marvin Jones, Jermaine Gresham and Tyler Eifert) rendered both unable to move the ball, and the Steelers' loss of Le'Veon Bell, though less significant, still skewed the results somewhat. I get that's part of the game, (and in the Steelers case, one could argue losing Bell was no worse than the Ravens losing cornerback Jimmy Smith.) But Smith has been out half the year, and Bell's injury happened last week, so Pittsburgh didn't have a lot of time to replace him, and the problem was compounded by their cutting LeGarrette Blount in November. As a result they signed Ben Tate who had a pass go off his hands and into the knees of Terrell Suggs, effectively sealing the game.
• Instead of taking a three-way split of my season-long Survivor Pool, we let half of it ride with the caveat we could use each team once in the playoffs, but a second time (if needed) for the Super Bowl. The effect, of course, was to re-introduce much of the regular season stress and misery from which we had finally been delivered back into our lives. As a case in point, I took Carolina.
• Ryan Lindley played like you might have expected from a person between the ages of 20 and 50 drawn at random from the crowd. The Cardinals punter was the same except adjust the age range to between 35 and 65. It beggars belief a professional organization in the NFL playoffs could not do better on both fronts, especially at punter. Amazingly, the Cardinals were up 14-13 at halftime.
• Brenton Bersin's decision to touch a rolling punt at midfield with the Panthers up 10-0 and Arizona incapable of achieving a first down destroyed most of my faith in human rationality. Whatever remained was steadily eroded as the Panthers abandoned their highly successful rushing attack to expose Cam Newton to hits and turnovers. While most teams force ineffective running plays in situations where they need to take chances down the field, the Panthers did the opposite, taking chances for no reason at all.
• Eventually, the Cardinals uncanny luck ran out on the Ted Ginn fumble, and the game should have been over, but Carolina unbelievably opened the door for them again on a Newton fumble before Lindley shut it with a red-zone pick on the next play. It was such a low-quality game, though it was nice to get the Survivor win out of the way early (it turned out not to matter because one other guy had Carolina and the third had Indy.)
• It goes without saying domestic violence is a serious problem, but I fail to grasp the point of the sighing/unable to speak celeb and athlete ads they constantly run about it. I'm not disputing it's in fact hard to talk about, but is that really the central issue? I would think it's more that some NFL players (and many non-players) apparently think beating their partners (or kids) is even an option. Shouldn't the message be: "Domestic violence is not an option, it's a crime." Framing it as "hard to talk about" sounds like excuse making. "Sure, NFL players beat their wives and we've known about this for years - hell, we even pulled strings to get Ray Rice out of legal jeopardy even though his offense was caught on tape - but it's hard to talk about." I have no doubt the actors/players in the spots mean well, but as a viewer it strikes me as more bizarre than effective.
• Justin Tucker hit a 52-yard field goal at Heinz Field, the worst kicking stadium in the league. That's like a 60-yarder in Denver.
• The Ravens are a dangerous team for the Patriots for a few reasons. First, they beat them as big underdogs in New England two years ago (with the same coach, quarterback and defensive stars), so the Patriots mystique means nothing here. Second, the Pats - especially with Darrelle Revis - are especially good at taking away an opponent's best offensive option. But the Ravens offense isn't centered around one key player like A.J. Green or Julio Jones - it's balanced among two receivers, a tight end and a running back. Third, the Ravens' biggest weakness is in pass coverage, but the Patriots lack a elite deep threat to exploit it. Rob Gronkowski is great, but Baltimore's average cornerbacks won't necessarily be covering him often anyway. And while Julian Edelman and Brandon LaFell are good targets, neither is major matchup problem.
• After Ben Roethlisberger's head hit the turf, and he was removed from the game for concussion testing, backup QB Bruce Gradkowski entered on 3rd-and-21 and completed two perfectly thrown passes to convert a first down. That likely bought him another five years in the league.
• Of course, Roethlisberger returned some five minutes later, less time than it apparently takes to rule out a concussion, and threw a terrible interception, more or less what you'd expect if his brain were in a deep fog. I can only suppose the concussion protocol shortens as you advance into the playoffs, and by the Super Bowl, it's just your teammates checking you out for 10 seconds in the huddle.
• The Bengals receivers were abominable. Greg Little stopped running on a deep route in the first half - not that he was even close to open, but at least fake it for appearance sake. Mohamed Sanu and Brandon Tate simply never got open. Andy Dalton didn't play especially well, but it's hard to hang this loss on him given the lack of options.
• Andrew Luck played a great game, getting 8.5 YPA despite several drops, and getting rid of the ball on time and accurately in the face of the blitz. I liked seeing him get Donte Moncrief and Hakeem Nicks involved, too. The Colts will probably need at least one of them to have a good game to win in Denver next week.
• Dan Herron fumbled twice, losing one and was replaced with Zurlon Tipton because apparently Trent Richardson was sick. I assume Herron will resume the starting role in Denver, but even if he doesn't you already got your playoff mileage out of him in PPR leagues.
• Jason Garrett, a coach I've savaged over the years for cowardly decision making, courageously went for it down 20-17, on 4th-and-6 from the Lions' 42-yard line with 6:00 left in the game. The result was a 21-yard completion to Jason Witten, setting up the game-winning score. Credit where it's due.
• By contrast, Jim Caldwell, up 20-17, on the previous series, (8:00 left) voluntarily took a delay of game on 4th-and-1 from the Cowboys 46 and punted. The punt travelled 10 yards (five yards past the pre-penalty line of scrimmage.) It was the last time the Lions would have the ball and the lead.
• Even though Caldwell's cowardice on 4th-and-1 supersedes it, I feel obligated to comment on the controversial pass interference (PI) call on Dallas linebacker Anthony Hitchens with 8:25 left in the game that was reversed after an officials conference. It looked like there was some contact on Hitchens, and the call wouldn't nearly have been the worst I've seen, but apparently a second official with a better angle thought it was minor. That Hitchens had his back to Brandon Pettigrew and wasn't playing the ball made it look bad, but apparently playing the ball is more an affirmative defense to PI than not playing the ball is evidence of it. In other words, had there been significant contact, Hitchens would have had no defense, given his back was turned, but barring significant contact he wasn't guilty just because his back was turned. That the refs threw the flag initially and picked it up obviously doesn't play well to viewers, though, especially when the reversal favored the home team with the larger fan base. And, again, there was some contact, so the PI, while ticky-tack, wouldn't have been an egregious call had it stood.
But it's hard for me to get worked up about something over which the Lions had no control, when 25 seconds later, they voluntary gave the ball back to the Cowboys by failing to go for it on 4th-and-1.