Divisional round thoughts
– I hope everyone got a chance to see New England dominate Indy on Sunday. Belichek once again came through with a plan to stop Peyton Manning that was executed to perfection with third, fourth and fifth string cornerbacks. That?s simply unbelievable coaching on the behalf of the Patriots staff. Now they have a chance to go into Pittsburgh, with Corey Dillon this time around, and drag Ben Roethlisberger back down to earth where he hasn?t been in four months. The rookie quarterback will have a tough time picking up the Belichek defensive schemes as his inexperience in the playoffs will come alive this Sunday at Hines Field.
– Neither Minnesota or St. Louis belonged in the playoffs and both proved it on Sunday. The Rams looked like a freshman football team going up against a varsity squad. Amazed at the speed and execution of the opposition. They might as well have not even shown up because they were embarrassed by the Falcons. Both Michael Vick and Warrick Dunn used their tremendous speed to blaze right past the Rams defenders for big time gains and touchdowns. The Rams secondary was non-existent against the run, as they were nearly always unsuccessfully running down Vick and Dunn. The Vikings only showed up on paper. Randy Moss looked like he could care less as he rarely gave a full effort running up the field. The Viking defense has always been atrocious and didn?t come alive for this particular occasion. If you ask me, both these head coaches should be fired because the talent on their teams is heavily misused and the overall game management has just been awful for both the Vikings and Rams. Just look at the misexecution on the fake field goal by the Vikings. Twelve men on the field and the only player that could get off the field in time was Randy Moss, who was the intended receiver of this trickery by the Vikings. That?s all coaching.
– The Eagle-Falcons matchup should be a great one in Philadelphia this weekend. Donovan McNabb was solid in his first meaningful game since Terrell Owens went down, but faced a weak Vikings defense. The question is, how will he fare against a much better Falcons defense. Vick and Dunn ran the ball very well against a suspect Rams defense. This week against Philadelphia, things will be different. Vick and Dunn won?t have the ability to run right past the Eagles secondary the way they did against the Rams secondary. Philadelphia has a very good defense starting up front. Ever since Jeremiah Trotter took over at middle linebacker, the Eagles run defense has drastically improved. Vick and Dunn will have a much tougher time this week but I don?t foresee Philadelphia completely shutting down the Falcons running game. Look for Atlanta to steal one and head to Jacksonville for the Super Bowl.
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