Hello there old friends! It's been a very long time since I've written anything for the site, but I'm glad to be back and I want to thank Devin for holding the fort down in the meantime. One other side note before we get down to business though. D and S Sports is heading in a new direction soon and we're very excited about it. We've decided instead of the two of us attempting to spread ourselves thin covering everything in the world of sports, we're going to stick to what we know and love best. So coming soon, our site will be focusing on mainly the Buffalo Bills and Sabres, and we'll have a new layout and design to accompany this transition. We hope you'll join us in our new journey! Now, on to some NFL Wild Card action!



Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots: Sunday, 1/10/10, 1:00pm on CBS

The Baltimore Ravens were in complete control of their fate last Sunday and took advantage of the fact by easily handling the Oakland Raiders to earn their way into the playoffs. The Ravens wound up at 9-7 on the year and took an interesting route to get there. Early in the year, the Ravens didn't really resemble years past as they took to the air on offense. Joe Flacco had 3 games with 300+ yards passing in the first 6 weeks of the season and earned his way into the starting lineup of fantasy teams everywhere. During that stretch, the Ravens won their first 3 games, but dropped the next 3 against opponents that all went on to make the playoffs. In fact, it's that second point that has me concerned going into this game. Against teams that went on to make the playoffs, the Ravens went 1-7, with the lone win coming against San Diego in Week 2. While that win might qualify as impressive, I'd also consider that the Chargers struggled a bit the first few weeks before becoming the hottest team in the league down the stretch. The winning percentage of the teams they did beat was well below .500. This screams to me that the Ravens can't handle the tougher competition and could be in some trouble come Sunday.

New England finished up the year at 10-6 and only lost back to back games once on the year. Interestingly, they didn't fare all that well against playoff bound teams either, going just 2-3. Their wins came against the Jets as well as this very same Baltimore team back in Week 4 at home, but more about that game momentarily. Tom Brady made his return after missing virtually all of last year due to injury and played pretty well for the most part. He had some bumps in the road and has battled with nagging injuries throughout the year, but still managed to finish up with just a shade under 4,400 yards along with 28 touchdowns to just 13 interceptions. A big part of that success could be attributed to Wes Welker and another monster year. Of course, we all saw what happened to Welker last week when the case for resting players was made very clearly. Welker apparently suffered both a torn MCL and ACL and will not be back this season. That's a major blow to the Pats because the possession receiver role plays a huge part in their offense. Welker is very adept at running option routes and taking whatever opposing defenses are willing to give up. Julian Edelman is his replacement, and while he showed some skills on Sunday, I don't think his abilities are on par with Welker. Of course, Randy Moss is still on the other side of the field and he accounts for most of the teams touchdowns, so the Ravens defense is likely to focus there instead.

The running game is of great interest to me for both teams. For Baltimore, after that abnormal first few weeks, it was the ground game that returned as their main focus on offense. Ray Rice lead the way with 1,339 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns, while Willis McGahee also turned in 544 yards and found the end zone 12 times. McGahee showed last Sunday that he is still capable of big games from time to time, but keep in mind it was the Raiders that he torched. Rice also contributes a great deal by catching the ball out of the backfield. He hauled in 78 grabs for an additional 702 yards on the year. In fact, the Ravens passing game relies heavily on Rice (who lead the team in catches), as well as tight end Todd Heap, who also had 6 scores. By contrast, the Patriots running game has continued to be a bit of a question mark. Laurence Maroney got the majority of work on the season, gaining 757 yards and 9 TDs, but 4 different backs had at least 60 carries and 250+ yards on the year. In addition to Maroney, Kevin Faulk, Sammy Morris, and Fred Taylor all saw duty in the New England backfield. The Patriots have the truest "running back by committee" scheme of any team in the league, and each back brings something slightly different to the table. Faulk in particular is an above average receiver as well and is often utilized as such. The Patriots are obviously a pass first team, but I think they need to rely a little more on their running attack than usual against Baltimore. Otherwise, the time of possession could heavily favor the Ravens.

As I mentioned before, these teams already faced each other once this season, squaring off in Week 4. New England was home for that game, much like they will be again this Sunday, which is great for them, considering they struggled quite a bit on the road this season. That first meeting was a very closely battled game that saw the Patriots take home a 27-21 victory. Late in that game, Joe Flacco found Mark Clayton for a would be first down inside the Patriot 10 yard line, but Clayton simply dropped the ball and with under 30 seconds left, the Ravens were out of chances. In that game, Flacco played pretty well and put up numbers similar to Tom Brady. In addition, the Ravens were very successful running the football as Ray Rice had 103 yards on just 11 carries. The problem was that they played from behind for the most part and were forced to go to the air. On the flip side, the Patriots garnered almost no rushing attack at all, totaling just 85 yards on 30 carries.

Looking at the keys for each team in this game, the Ravens need to dominate with their running game. The Pats have struggled a bit against the run all year, and that is what the Ravens do best. Joe Flacco is still young, and while he did take this team to the AFC Championship from the same #6 seed last year, he's relatively inexperienced. He needs to manage the game and not be relied on to go out and win it for Baltimore. Conversely, the Patriots will have to find a new game plan with Welker missing and that should include trying to establish the run early on as well as plenty of short passes to the running backs and tight end. The Patriots are one of the best teams at running screen plays and should use that to their advantage against a still very tough, but aging Baltimore defense.

At the end of the day, I think the Patriots are simply the better team and it will show. The Patriots are favored by 3.5 points as of my writing this, and I expect them to cover that. I'm picking New England by 9 in this one.



Green Bay Packers @ Arizona Cardinals: Sunday, 1/10/10, 4:40pm on Fox

If it weren't for the Minnesota Vikings handling them twice this season, the Green Bay Packers would have looked like one of the elite teams in the NFL. Despite those two losses to the Vikings, the Packers still managed a record of 11-5. Their reward? Traveling to Arizona to face the Cardinals, despite having a better record. The secret to the Packers success this year is not really a secret at all. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers had a fantastic season, earning himself a trip to the Pro Bowl in the process. Rodgers stat line is a fantasy owner's dream come true, racking up 4,434 yards, 30 touchdowns, and only 7 interceptions. Drew Brees and Peyton Manning are the only reason Rodgers isn't a serious contender for MVP of the league this season. For the sake of consistency, the Packers record against eventual playoff teams this season stands at 3-3. I mentioned the two losses to the Vikings, but the Bengals also topped the Packers in Week 2. The Cowboys, Ravens, and the Cardinals all fell at the hands of the Packers. Green Bay finished up 7-1 in the second half of the season and their lone loss was by just a single point at Pittsburgh. What does all this mean you ask? Well, I think it's safe to say that the Packers are one of the top teams in the NFL at this point, despite not getting the same recognition as some other teams.

Arizona made it to the Super Bowl last season, and came very close to winning it despite nobody really believing they had a chance when the playoffs started. Part of the issue with the Cardinals is that they are tough to gauge. They play in what is easily the worst division in football and also have a real tendency to look unstoppable one week, while looking putrid the next. The Cardinals finished 10-6 this season, but when you play the Rams and Seahawks twice each, 4 wins are pretty much assured. Only 3 of the teams on their schedule made the playoffs, and Minnesota was the only one they were able to beat. Indianapolis and Green Bay both thrashed the Cardinals, though to be fair, they clearly weren't trying to hard against the Packers. Kurt Warner was pretty solid as usual with 3,753 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions to his credit. It certainly doesn't hurt to have Larry Fitzgerald (97 receptions, 1,092 yards, 13 TDs) and Anquan Boldin (84 receptions, 1,024 yards, 4 TDs) on the other end of your passes though. It was the emergence of a running game that made the Cardinals look a little different this season however. The combination of Tim Hightower and rookie Beanie Wells at running back was a mostly successful one in the desert. Hightower finished with 598 yards and 8 TDs, while Wells had 793 yards and 7 TDs. Hightower also contributed to the passing game a great deal with 63 catches. The Cardinals have been known for their offensive prowess for awhile now, but it was an impressive season for the defense as well, especially against the run. They dropped off a bit later in the year, but in the early going, Arizona proved very difficult to run the ball against.

All signs would indicate this game is going to be a score fest with two high powered offenses going at it. I just discussed the Cardinals ability to both pass and run the ball, but the Packers were the only team in the league to have a 4,000 yard passer, 1,000 yard rusher, and two 1,000 yard receivers. Ryan Grant quietly ran for 1,253 yards and 11 touchdowns this season, while both Donald Driver and Greg Jennings surpassed the 1,000 yard mark while combining for 138 receptions and 10 scores. To top it off, Jermichael Finley has established himself as one of the top threats at tight end as well, hauling in 5 touchdowns himself. With such a variety of weapons at their disposal, it's going to be tough for the Cardinals to choose who to try and shut down.

These two teams are amongst the 3 Wild Card matchups that are repeats of Week 17 games. Unfortunately, I don't think there is much to be learned from that game in this case. The Packers pretty clearly went out and played as normal, while the Cardinals didn't show much effort at all. Green Bay took home a 33-7 victory, but in the end, the result was rather meaningless. Nothing was going to change due to the result of the game, so the Cardinals took the opportunity to rest up their starters. Though, like New England, they might have waited a bit too long to do so, as Anquan Boldin suffered an injury to his leg. As of right now, the MRI results are not available, but speculation is that Boldin will not be able to play on Sunday. Steve Breaston is a very talented 3rd receiver for Arizona, but he's no Boldin either.

Essentially what this game boils down to is who's defense can slow the other team down enough to get the win. The Packers most glaring problem all year has been their inability to keep Aaron Rodgers standing upright. He was sacked a ridiculous 50 times on the year, tying him for the most in the league. The Cardinals also get to the quarterback quite successfully, finishing 6th in the NFL with 43 sacks on the season. This could obviously result in a long day for Rogers, but he's managed to be very successful despite this issue. The fact that he only threw 7 interceptions despite the pressure he faced says a great deal about his ability to withstand it. While Arizona was improved on defense this season, they still ranked 20th overall, while the Packers were #2. Green Bay was also the top run defending team in the league. Add those numbers up, and it tells me that Green Bay is much more likely to slow down the Cardinal defense, especially without Boldin, than Arizona is likely to stop a Green Bay team that is just loaded with weapons.

I've had this funny feeling that we hadn't seen the last of the great Favre/Vikings/Packers saga for the year for awhile now, and it still looks like a realistic possibility to me. Arizona is the 1 point favorite with the odds makers, but Green Bay is going to win this one outright. I'm taking the Packers by double digits.



Saturday Games:

NY Jets @ Cincinnati (-2.5) - #1 Defense in the league + #1 Rushing attack in the league = Playoff success, despite rookie QB. I'll take the Jets to win outright by 3 in an ugly one.

Philadelphia @ Dallas (-4) - Dallas has sold me lately, but I still can't trust them. McNabb has one of his random unreal games and goes off on the 'Boys. Eagles outright by 6.