Wild Card Weekend
It’s Wild Card weekend in the NFL, which the networks keep trying to convince me is so significant that it rivals watching man walk on the moon. But it’s been almost that long since a team playing on Wild Card Weekend did anything other than become cannon fodder for the teams sitting at home with a bye week.
I’ll save you the trouble of looking it up. The last time it happened was in the 2012 season when the Baltimore Ravens went from Wild Card to a confetti celebration in the Superdome (once the lights came back on). Here’s the slate:
TENNESSEE AT KANSAS CITY: There is no color combination of Tennessee uniforms that I like. (I realize that means nothing.) Kansas City has been an enigma all year, but Andy Reid is a very good coach and Arrowhead Stadium is a tough place to play.
ATLANTA AT L.A. RAMS: The Falcons have a real shot in this game. They played in a far tougher division and they aren’t that much worse than last year when they forgot the Super Bowl wasn’t over after three quarters. The Rams are good, but I wonder about playoff stage fright.
BUFFALO AT JACKSONVILLE: I’ll be honest – I had a hard time typing the word “Jacksonville” just then. But this is the easiest game to pick. Buffalo has no chance in this game. The Bills should break into their happy dance if they get a first down.
CAROLINA AT NEW ORLEANS: Please DON’T repeat after me – it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season. It shouldn’t be. You did it the first time. You did it the second time. Pick one and do it again. I don’t have the time to look up the three-times-in-a-year stat and I don’t care. Carolina is good and semi-dangerous, but the Saints do more things better than the Panthers do.
And why is it Wild Card Weekend when half the teams aren’t wild cards at all?