Chargers OT win, Falcons' loss, and my picks.

I must admit, both of the winners of the first round of wild-card games were not the teams I picked to win. I was certain that the MVP and his Colts would take down the neutral-season-LT-less Chargers and that the young whipper-snapper that is Ryan would send Warner home.

Apparently, they had other plans. I'll start with the Colts-Chargers game. I gotta say, this game was pretty boring in the beginning. Few points scored in the beginning, and it remained that way for a long time (kinda like SB 42, but less exciting). The Chargers proved that they didn't need LT to have a running game, with the aid of Sproles of course. The game really got good at the last minute of game regulation in the 4th quarter, where Rivers tried to move up his team to at least a field goal (which he accomplished, making the game 17-17). But the OT was where it was good. Flags left and right, sighs of relief along with fans/players/coaches/camera-crew/anyone watching holding their breaths to see what would happen. In the end, it was that running back Sproles that changed it by running right past Bob Freaking Sanders and the Colts defense to the end zone to win it. But all-in-all, this Colts-Chargers game was boring, to say the least. I had to leave like 12 times during the game and actually went to talk to my sister (it was that boring). But I guess that's what you get with that kind of match-up, and by "that kind of match-up", I mean an 8-8 team who shouldn't even be anywhere close to the wild-card spot, let alone playing in it, and a team that shouldn't have started out with a losing record. Maybe next year, Peyton.

As for the Falcons-Cardinals game, I was set for the Cardinals to fly into a window head-on. However, my dream didn't come true. Though that's not to say this wasn't a good game. Matt Ryan proved that he has what it takes to be one of the NFL's top quarterbacks, being a rookie and taking his team 11-5 to the wild-card spot. This game was actually fun to watch, as opposed to the Chargers game (it might have been because of John Madden's voice, but I doubt it). Left and right touchdowns, interceptions, and the occasional sacks or two. Now that's a football game. The safety was a little bogus, considering Ryan through the ball after like 3 seconds of being held by Cardinals' defense, but oh well. In the end, the Cards' defense held Ryan and his offense from getting a touchdown to win the game. Although I was upset that the rookie wasn't going to the playoffs, my hat goes off to Warner and their coach for getting them to the playoffs after 60-some-odd years.

As for the other two teams left to grab a spot in the finals, I won't do a Eagles-Vikings pick. Those two teams have proven throughout the season that they can self-destruct at any moment and potentially screw the whole game up. Donovan McNabb has proved it by sucking on and off at the most inopportune of times, Adrian Peterson has by dropping every other ball, and Tarvaris Jackson has by just playing like a freshman high school quarterback. I can't pick between the two.

All I can say about the Phins-Ravens game is that the Dolphins will win. Although I don't like them very much, the have an amazing offense under Pennington and an amazing defense under all of them. Their new coach has also proven to be playoff, if not Super Bowl, material. The Ravens are good, but Flacco hasn't proven to me that he can be consistent in butt-whooping, and the rest goes for their offense. They're good, but they're not Dolphins good. Good defense though. REAL good defense.

My picks: Dolphins over Ravens, no one for the Vikings-Eagles game.

Thanks for reading.