Groundhog Day(s): Your NFL Wild-Card Playoff Preview

This first playoff weekend of the NFL season is akin to Bill Murray's famous turn in the movie Groundhog Day. In the movie, Murray goes to bed and wakes up to the same day over and over again. At first he is angry, but soon he starts to see the advantages of this set-up. Namely, he can try different things each day and see what works. Its like getting unlimited do-overs.

With three rematches from last weekend, its Groundhog Weekend in the NFL. Just like in the movie, we're going to see some corrected mistakes.

Last weekend, the New York/New Jersey Metro-Jets just buried the Cincinnati Bengals with over 250 rushing yards last weekend. I have a hard time believing the Bengals are that bad against the run, and indeed statistics show that they aren't. They aren't great either, but they're bound to be better, if for no other reason, simply by the law of averages. The Jets will turn the ball over and the Bengals will win this one by more than a touchdown.

A second second chapter if you will, or even if you won't, will take place in Dallas at the four hundred Poopillion dollar home of the Dallas Taxcheats Cowboys. Last week the same teams met in the same venue with the Cowboys walloping the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-0 in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated. At issue was the Cowboys running game and the Eagles inability to stop it. The Cowboys were dominant last week, but don't expect a repeat performance tonight. Relatively under-reported in last weekend's debacle was the disappearance of the Eagles offense. That won't happen again. The Eagles are the better team and they'll show it by sending the Cowboys back home searching for answers yet again.

Farther north, the Baltimore Ravens head to the Boston suburbs to take on the New England Patriots, who will be without number two wide receiver Wes Welker for the remainder of the season and probably part of next as well. The Patriots are not the team they were for most of 2007. Tom Brady isn't playing as well, but most importantly their defense is old. The Ravens should be able to run the ball successfully, while the Patriots will be forced to throw into the teeth of the Ravens defense. If Randy Moss takes over the game, all bets are off, but I'll put my money on the Ravens to win a low scoring battle on the road.

The third and final rematch of last week is the Green Bay Packers who will travel back to Phoenix to face Kurt Warner's Arizona Cardinals. Again. Like the other two games, last week's game was a blowout with Green Bay winning 497-1. Or something like that. I'm too lazy to look up the score. The point was the Packers dominated, and I'm expecting a similar performance from them on Sunday. The Cardinals are at home because they won the ridiculously weak NFC West division, but they are by no means the best team. They say its hard to beat the same team twice in a season, but the Packers will pull it off this weekend.
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