Road Rage

Road teams were all the rage on Sunday of Wild Card Weekend as both road favorites came through with victories.  In the early game, it was the Ed Reed Show as the Baltimore Ravens defeated the worst-to-first Miami Dolphins 27-9.  The key to the Dolphins success all season was limiting turnovers, but the Ravens must not have gotten the memo.  Ed Reed was on the receiving end of 2 of Chad Pennington’s 4 picks, returning one for a touchdown, while Miami coughed it up 5 times in all.  This ends Miami’s improbable season, where they recorded the biggest turnaround in NFL history, having gone from 1-15 last season to 11-5 in 2008.

Up in the Metrodome, the Philadelphia Eagles ruined Adrian Peterson’s playoff debut as the Vikings fell 26-14.  Last season’s offensive rookie of the year did his part tallying both of the Vikings’ touchdowns.   The Eagles did just enough offensively, when a Donovan McNabb screen pass to Brian Westbrook turned into a backbreaking 71 yard touchdown with just under 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter.  Philadelphia also cashed in a Tarvaris Jackson interception for their other TD.

The next round features 4 games that are rematches from earlier this season.  On Saturday, the Ravens head to Tennessee to face the Titans and the Cardinals head east to Carolina.  Sunday’s action features the Eagles heading to the Meadowlands to face NFC East rival Giants while San Diego heads to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers.  I’ll have much more on the matchups later in the week as well as my picks for the Divisional Round.  Hopefully, you didn’t blow your mortgage payment on my picks from last weekend.
BEAR DOWN!!!