Wild Card Weekend Day 1

Thoughts on the Saturday games.

Texans 19
Bengals 13

This game was meaningless. Could the Bengals go to Denver and beat the Broncos? No. Could the Texans go to New England and beat the Patriots? The answer, again, is no.

Bengals - It was another year of playing with house money for Marvin "Lovie" Lewis and the Bengals. What they've done getting to the playoffs in back to back seasons, coming out of the same division as the Steelers and Ravens, should be celebrated. They're a WR and an OLB/DE short of being a legitimate threat. Year 3 is make or break for Marvin Lewis and this current coaching staff.

Texans - After having blown home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Texans needed to give their fans a win, and although it was ugly, they did. Now they'll go up to New England in the Divisional Round and get steamrolled. Schaub is an average QB. His average play is covered up by Arian Foster, who rushed for 140 yards on 32 carries.
In the NFL, teams take their cues from the QB and the coach. This is a team that is mentally unstable in both areas. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are up in Massachusetts salivating at the chance to play this team.

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Packers 24
Vikings 10
The news that came down 90 minutes before kickoff gave the game some life, but it was short lived as the Packers dismantled the Vikings.


Vikings - Another team playing with house money. It'll be interesting to see in the coming weeks how much they knew about Christian Ponder's elbow injury. Declaring him ineligible 90 minutes before kickoff was bizarre. If he sustained the injury in week 17, Joe Webb should have gotten more reps in practice just as a precaution. Webb looked and played like a QB who had been told 90 minutes before kickoff he was getting the start.
All that aside, Leslie Frazier did a great job of getting this team into the playoffs. Now he has to put some legitimate weapons around Ponder and Adrian Peterson to prove to the pundits that this year wasn't a fluke.

Packers - Aaron Rodgers is the LeBron James of the NFL. When he gets into the zone that the great athletes can tap into, he cannot be stopped. The Packers will have no problem going into San Francisco and giving the 49ers everything they can handle.