If you came into Wild Card weekend hoping for a lot of nail biters, we are sorry to disappoint you, but close games were not the norm, though there were two that were pretty tight. If you came looking for upsets, we have what you are looking for, with three of six games won by the visitor, including an unexpectedly dominant performance from the New Orleans Breakers who may just be peaking at just the right time. We had dominant defense from them and from Chicago, we had explosive offense from the Blitz, Panthers, and Stars, and we had some strong performances all across the league. We will discuss that and get into some of the really weird ways the USFL operates in the playoffs compared to the other league that shall not be named, all that plus all the news about post-season retirements and the free agency pool starts to take shape. All coming up This Week in the USFL.
PHILADELPHIA 30 ORLANDO 15
Slow and steady won the race as the Philadelphia Stars pulled off a pretty decent upset on Saturday. The Stars scored the first 10 points of the game and never trailed as they held Orlando at bay all game long. Using a lot of 2 tight end lineups with Brent Celek and Dallas Clark trading off assignments to chip Calais Campbell, Philadelphia held the sack master to only 1 on the day, and in the process gave Kurt Warner time to connect with Steve Smith and 8 other receivers as Philadelphia just outmaneuvered the Renegades at every turn.
Steve Slaton got the first score of the game, and would finish the day with 66 yards on 12 carries. His running mate, Michael Robinson, added 51 more on 1 carries as Philadelphia used a balanced attack all game. Orlando pulled the game to 10-6 but a field goal just before the half again pushed Philadelphia up by 7 at the half, and they would go on to score the next 10 points to build up a 23-6 lead, adding a TD form Steve Smith. Orlando struggled all day to keep pace, with Drew Brees looking a bit rusty, completing only 16 of 29 throws. A Justin McCaerins TD brought Memphis within 10 at 23-13, but a late interception from Antonio Cromartie was returned for a score, giving Philadelphia a 30-15 lead with only seconds remaining to ice the game for the visiting Stars.
PORTLAND 3 CHICAGO 17
This one was all about the Chicago defense as Portland was held to 177 total yards and only 9 first downs all game. Touchdown throws to Donald Driver and Aaron Shea gave Chicago all the points they would need as the Machine held donn A. J. Feeley and the Stags offense. James Stewart managed only 43 yards, while Michael Turner ground out 75. Chicago held the ball for over 40 minutes, holding Portland’s offense off the field for long swaths of the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
Brian Urlacher and Anthony Weaver were huge in this one, but it was truly a team effort, with big stops from Ted Washington, Tommy Polley, Al Harris and Victor Abiami, forcing Portland to punt 8 times on the day. Chicago may not have scored a bucket of points, but they dominated the game through ball control and a slow steady pace. They now move on to the Divisional round and a showdown with the #1 Seed Oakland Invaders.
HOUSTON 21 DENVER 24
One of the better games of the weekend with Denver having to come back in the 4th quarter to earn the win at home. Houston started the game strong with 2 scoring drives, but in both cases the red zone offense faltered and Houston was stuck with field goals. Early in the 2nd quarter Denver erased their deficit and took the league with one Leinart to Colbert toss, a 20-yard strike for the go-ahead touchdown.
Houston again looked solid as the 2nd half started, scoring on the opening drive, a 1-yard Kevin Faulk run, and a 2-point conversion to take a 14-7 lead. Denver would equalize 4 minutes later when Leinart found Peerless Price on a 34-yard strike. The game continued to switch hands as Houston again took the lead, this time with Hasselbeck finding Roy Williams for a 31-yard touchdown. Houston would take that lead into the 4th quarter, but Denver did not panic.
The Gold added a 37-yard field goal to pull within 4, but would need a touchdown to win the game. They got the ball with 6:27 to play, and in only 6 plays were down in the redzone and Keary Colbert caught his second TD of the day to give Denver the lead. They turned to their defense and the Gold D did their job, forcing Houston into a 4th and 11, and when Matt Hasselbeck could not connect with Roy Williams on a desperation toss, the Gold took over and wound down the clock to preserve the win.
BALTIMORE 30 WASHINGTON 25
Another good game in RFK between two familiar foes. Ben Roethlisberger outdueled Kordell Stewart as both players survived 4 sacks apiece. Roethlisberger’s 3:0 TD:Int ratio was the deciding factor as he hit Gates, Dayne, and Heyward-Bey for scores. The young Darrius Heyward-Bey was Baltimore’s lead receiver with 6 catches for 97 yards and a score. It was a 28-25 game after a late Rod Smart TD run, but on their next possession, Chukie Nwokorie nabbed Stewart in the endzone for a safety, which put Baltimore up by 5 and gave them the ball. Washington would not get it back as Ron Dayne locked up the Blitz win with a first down run that allowed Baltimore to run down the clock.
NEW ORLEANS 27 NASHVILLE 3
A surprisingly comfortable win for the Breakers as their defense picked off Jay Cutler 4 times and sacked him another 5 times on the day. Picks by Ahmad Plummer, Daryl Smith, Randall Gay, and Will Hunter shut down the Nashville offense and gave New Orleans plenty of short fields to exploit. The offense got scores from Dwayne Bowe and Early Doucet as Eli Manning had a solid 252 yards and 3 scoring tosses.
Cutler was pressured all day and his mistakes gave the Breakers both momentum and easy scoring opportunities. In a game that only had a 19-yard difference between the two offenses, it was turnovers and takeaways that were the story of the day.
OHIO 19 MICHIGAN 31
Back to back touchdowns from Griese to Ward and Coles in the first half gave Michigan a 14-7 lead that they would never relinquish as the homestanding Panthers defeated their border rival in the final game of the weekend. Griese again put up 4 scores as he outdueled the 3-time MVP Kerry Collins. Despite six sacks by the Ohio defense, they could not rattle Griese, who is having the best season of his career.
Laverneus Coles was the MVP of the game, catching 4 balls, but with 3 of them scoring plays, he was dominant when the Panthers needed him to be. With a combined 148 yards from Justin Fargas and Leon Washington, Michigan presented the Ohio D with a diverse offense that allowed the Panthers to rack up 403 combined yards. Ohio had some good drives, but were unable to put together enough of them to keep pace with the Panthers.
East A Graveyard for Top Seeds
We are not sure exactly what happened in the Eastern Conference this week, but it was unprecedented. All three home favorites, the #2, #3, and #4 seeds in the conference fell to the lower-seeded opponents. While in the past there has been the occasional lower seed victory, to see this occur in all three games is highly unusual. Iin the West, this was not the case, with all three higher seeds winning at home, but something happened in the East where Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New Orleans all found success as road underdogs.
One factor may be familiarity. After all Baltimore upset Washington, their primary rival and a team they play twice a year. New Orleans also upset Nashville, a club that is not only a division rival, but a team they had played the week before, giving them the rare opportunity to learn from last week’s narrow defeat and make the changes necessary to return 6 days later to overwhelm the Knights. This does not explain Philadelphia’s defeat of Orlando, as the Renegades and Stars did not face each other in inter-divisional play this year. Perhaps it is as some have expressed, simply a fact that the Northeast Division, a division which saw 4 of 5 teams make the playoffs, was simply a fiercer battleground all season long, tempering the Stars for the playoffs in a way that the Southeastern Division, from which only Orlando emerged with a winning record, was for Orlando. Philadelphia may simply have been more prepared for the intensity of the playoffs having had to struggle to qualify while Orlando ran through a pretty mediocre division schedule to “ease” their way to a playoff spot.
Whatever the reason, the set of upsets has led to a very unexpected second round of playoffs in the East, with the Stars now set to host a Divisional playoff game after being a road team in the Wild Card round. Many are looking at the path forward for Boston, who went from 3rd to 1st in the NE Division on the season’s final day, and are wondering if the upsets mean that the Cannons have a clearer path to the Summer Bowl, or that they too are ripe for upset. We will likely get our answer when they host the Baltimore Blitz, a team that had spent most of the season occupying the #1 seed in the conference, comes to Alumni Stadium this week.
Bledsoe Hoping to Go Out on Top
Speaking of Boston, how much do we love the trajectory that Drew Bledsoe has had this year. After announcing in 2008 that he would be retiring at the end of the year, Bledsoe suffered a season-ending injury that left everyone feeling that the quarterback’s fate was a cruel one and that it was a horrible way to end a great career in Boston. Bledsoe reconsidered retirement, very much at the behest of his head coach John Fox, and certainly thousands of Cannon fans who asked him to reconsider. He did the hard work of rehabbing and returning to the game, and he delayed his decision until he was sure, turning back to the game and coming back to Boston for one more try.
What resulted was not only a return to the game, but a triumphant one at that, having one of the best statistical years of his career and leading the Cannons to a late season surge that saw them capture the NE Division title and the overall #1 seed in the Conference. Bledsoe has had a stellar swan song, far better than the disastrous 2008 season. With Boston hosting the Blitz this week in the divisional round, he has a chance to make the story even better with a run in the playoffs. Boston faces the #4 seed in the conference, and if they can win, they would face either #6 Philadelphia or #7 New Orleans, the clearest path possible to a Summer Bowl appearance. Could the fairy tale come back story continue to get better? We are about to find out.
Norv Turner Let Go by Texans
In the famous words of former Renegades coach and USFL announcer Lee Corso “Not so fast.” Black Monday came and went and there was no announcement out of the Outlaws camp about embattled head coach Norv Turner. But, 5 days later, as the league was engaged in its Wild Card Weekend, the fans who had been calling for Turner to be let go after a disappointing 5-win season got their wish. On Saturday it was announced that the Outlaws had decided to relieve Turner of duties and begin the search for a new leader for the club.
Apparently, talks had been going on with Turner about his position and the possibility of removing his two coordinators and allowing the former OC to stay on as the head coach, but Turner was unhappy with the proposal and pushed back. That pushback was apparently all Texas owner Red McCombs needed to hear. He called in Turner and presented him with his pink slip, removing both Turner and the entire coaching staff and beginning a full purge of team leadership.
Turner had completed 3 seasons with the Outlaws, and with a 5-9 year had a record of 15-29 over that period. More importantly, the former “offensive guru” had not been able to demonstrate an effective growth trajectory for high-priced QB Joe Flacco, brought in to spark an offensive revival for the run-heavy Outlaw squad. In fact, Flacco’s numbers regressed in his second year, from 3,094 yards and a rating of 84.2 in 2008 to 2,354 yards and a 74.0 QB Rating in 2009. Overall, the Texas offense ranked 26th in scoring and 22nd in yards for the year, not good enough for a coach who was brought in with the hopes of creating a much more dynamic and effective offense. And so now Texas joins Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and St. Louis in the hunt for a new direction and a new captain at the wheel of the ship.
Brett Favre Retires…Again.
In a teary-eyed press conference in Memphis, quarterback Brett Favre, for the second time, announced his retirement from the USFL. The question for many is whether or not this time it would stick. If you recall, back in 2005 Favre made a similar statement at a press conference in Birmingham, and only a couple of months later was wearing a New York Jets uniform and talking about feeling young again as he played his first NFL season. Favre would not last long in New York and by the spring of 2007 was back in the USFL with the Memphis Showboats, Birmingham’s rival. That double move, using retirement to get out of a contract with Birmingham, play a season in the NFL, and then return with a new deal to play in Memphis, was not well-received by Stallion fans or by a lot of others around the league who feared more players using retirement as a way to bypass the guidelines of the NFL-USFL transfer agreement.
Favre’s “bait & switch” retirement from the Stallions did lead to the NFL and USFL agreeing on new terms for the transfer window, changes which go into effect this year with later transfer windows during the early weeks of both the NFL and USFL seasons, and clearer policies that require a 12-month delay in one league signing players who have filed for retirement with the other, a move designed to discourage the use of retirement as a bypass to the transfer system established between the two leagues.
Favre retires, again, now as a 2-time champion, having led Memphis to a league title in 2007 as well as a return trip to the Summer Bowl last season. And, admittedly, after the year Favre had this past season, one that saw him miss 8 of 14 games due to injury, finishing with a very sub-par 67.7 QB rating in the few games he did play, retirement may be a lot more enticing. There was some concern that his injuries this year were a sign that his body was simply not going to allow him to perform at the level he, and the league, expected, and that realization may be the primary driver of his decision to (again) call it a career.
Favre remains an almost certain first-ballot Hall of Fame nominee, despite the controversy of his first retirement. His career numbers are still among the most impressive of any quarterback in USFL history, with over 7,000 passes attempted, more than 60,000 career yards, and over 500 career touchdowns (2nd place is Jim Kelly with 412, so the margin is a wide one). Of course, fans in Birmingham are left with a bitter taste all around, but now Memphis will be the ones scrambling to find a successor and a path forward as Favre rides off into the sunset…again.
Looking at the injuries across the remaining 8 teams, the good news is that neither Boston nor Oakland has any major new concerns, and that most of the teams that came out of the Wild Card round are largely intact as well. Here is our quick rundown:
BOS: WR Paul Hubbard (OUT)
BAL: WR Tory Holt (OUT), HB Antonio Pittman (DOU)
Nothing new for either team, though there is a slim chance we will see Pittman get in uniform. Don’t count on it though.
NOR: OT Mark Tauscher (IR), TE Chris Cooley (OUT), OT Nat Dorsey (OUT), G Paul Zakauskas (OUT)
PHI: G Damien Woody (PROB)
The Stars definitely come in as the healthier team, but New Orleans figured out how to manage a reconfigured O-line against Nashville, we expect them to do much the same against the Stars.
MGN: DT Leonard Renfro (OUT), C Jeff Faine (QUE)
DEN: OT Chris Terry (PROB), CB David Terrell (PROB)
Denver could miss David Terrell if he does not suit up, particularly because Michigan is a far more explosive offense, with a deeper WR group than Houston, so Denver needs all hands on deck in the secondary.
OAK: TE Joel Dreesen (OUT), WR Plaxico Burress (IR) CHI: C Andre Gurode (QUE), DT Ellis Wyms (QUE), QB Brady Quinn (PROB)
The Invaders have adjusted to the Burress absence, making a midseason trade to shore up their receiver group, and Greg Jennings seems more than happy to take on the lead role for Oakland, so we don’t anticipate any major concerns there. For Chicago, Brady Quinn came out of the Wild Card round unscathed and looking solid, so no concerns there that he will need extra support as he faces the Invaders.
Retirements Among the Early Offseason News
This week saw 14 USFL clubs preparing for the playoffs, but for the other half of the league the season is over, the lockers get cleaned out, players return home, and for some, it is a much more permanent departure. In addition to the many free agents who will find new homes for next season, the end of a season also sees a wave of retirements as players say goodbye to the game, or at least their on field role in the game, and step away for good. This year is like every other, with the week between the season finale and the Wild Card playoffs being the busiest for retirement announcements. We start our look at the offseason scenarios across the league with these players who have announced their intention to hang up the helmet and pads and move to a new phase in their lives.
HB Corey Dillon (SEA): The most prominent and well-known name among the early retirement announcements, Dillon has been the lead back in Seattle since being drafted by the team in 1997. A 7-time All-USFL selection, Dillon has had six 1,000 yard seasons in his 12-year career. Amassing 91 touchdowns in that time. The last few seasons he has seen his YPC dip to the mid-three’s and his average attempts this year dropped from 21 to 14 as the Dragons spelled him more frequently. He retires with over 13,000 yards rushing and a title in 2005. Expect to see Dillon’s name prominently among the Hall of Fame nominees in 2014.
DT Chris Hovan (TEX): The 9-year veteran defensive tackle has decided not to go for a 10th season, retring at the age of only 33. Hovan has been a steady feature of Outlaw defenses for his entire career, but injuries have forced him to miss 9 games in the past 2 seasons. He retires without having ever having appeared in a team that won a playoff game, with only a 2003 appearance by the Outlaws in the playoffs. Texas’s last playoff win was in 1998, 2 years before Hovan arrived.
LB DeWayne Dotson (BIR): A 14-year vet with the Stallions, Dotson emerged as a regular starter in 2001 after several years of development and swing duty. He had his first of two 100-tackle seasons in 2004 and repeated the feat 3 years later in 2007. This past season he again rotated with other linebackers, causing him to have only 7 starts in 14 games.
HB Larry Johnson (STL): Part of a messy rotation of backs in St. Louis, Larry Johnson was a highly touted back out of Penn State when he was drafted by the Philadelphia Stars in the 2003 Territorial Draft. After two years in Philadelphia, he was traded to Arizona, but after one year there in which he only started 3 games, he left for St. Louis in the 2006 expansion draft. With the Skyhawks, he has had a few bright spots, rushing for 100 yards on several occasions, but was never able to establish himself as a true lead back, always serving in rotation with Dominic Rhodes and Michael Bush. 2009 was his best season in St. Louis, rushing for 534 yards and a 4.2 YPC average. But, increasing physical concerns, along with a change in leadership for the 3rd time in the short history of the Hawks have led to his retirement after 7 seasons.
CB Ray Crockett (ARZ): A 15-year veteran of the Express (1995-2004), Gold (2005-2006) and Wranglers (2007-2009), Crockett has been a starter at CB since his rookie season in LA. Over his career he has started 189 games, finishing his career with 881 tackles and 39 picks. His best seasons were in LA, where in both 2000 and 2001 he finished the year with 5 picks. Coaching is expected to be in his future as LA is looking to bring him back to work with their secondary.
C Jim Pyne (ATL): The first pick for Atlanta in the 2006 expansion draft, Jim Pyne spent 15 seasons in the USFL, beginning his career in Washington in 1995. He became a starter for the Federals in his 4th year, and joined the Fire after short stints in Chicago and Ohio. With Atlanta, Pyne won his only All-USFL accolade in 2005 and started 49 of 51 games for the Fire over his 4 seasons with the club.
TE Alge Crumpler (PIT): A career long member of the Maulers, Crumpler retires after 9 seasons in the USFL. A reliable receiver and solid blocker, Crumpler finishes his career with 402 receptions for 4,688 yars and 23 career touchdowns.
LB Bobby Howard (NJ): An 11-year vet out of Notre Dame, the career-long New Jersey General came to the USFL in the 2001 draft, starting 4 games in his rookie season and recording 3 sacks. He would be a starter for the Generals each year since, winning titles with New Jersey in both 2004 and 2006. Howard was named All-USFL at linebacker in 2003.
OT Robert Hicks (LV): Las Vegas’s 34-year old Right Tackle, Robert Hicks is also calling it a career after 12 seasons in the league. Hicks began his career in Arizona, played briefly in Ohio, and has spent the past 7 seasons with the Thunder.
OT Wayne Gandy (CHA): One of the two Gandy Brothers who have made a name for themselves in the USFL, Wayne is a 6-time All USFL player at tackle. He began his career with Baltimore in 1994, then moved on to Nashville in 2005, and was drafted in the expansion draft by the Charlotte Monarchs in 2008. His younger brother Mike remains a member of the Memphis Showboats.
Those are the noteworthy names of the recent retirees. In Seattle, Dillon’s retirement means that the Dragons may have an entirely new RB room, as both Ladell Betts and Darren Sproles could also be looking for other opportunities. Meanwhile, in Texas, the DT spot is likely to be 4th year vet Luis Castillo, and in New Jersey, Bobby Howard’s spot on the strong side is likely to filledby either Michael Okwo or Kevin Mitchell (not the KM we all know from Tampa Bay.
With 6 teams now removed from playoff contention, and another 4 next week, expect that we will see more names among the retirement ranks, and, of particular interest is whether any more QB’s will be joining Brett Favre among the newest USFL “AARP ranks”. We expect that regardless of the playoff results, this will be Drew Bledsoe’s last year, but there are questions as well about other veterans such as Kerry Collins, Kordell Stewart, Jake Delhomme, and Matt Hasselbeck.
Free Agent Pool Starts to Fill
As we explore the free agent pool already established by the 14 non-playoff teams, one thing is evident, it is a buyers market for offensive linemen. There is a lot of talent in the pool across the board, with QB always a bit of a slow market, but this year in particular it seems that the O-linemen are looking for a payday and that means that there are plenty to choose form. Here is our quick assessment of the best talent we see in the market already, our Top 15 players from the first 14 teams to release their free agent lists.
15) WR Darnerien McCants (SEA): A solid possession receiver who averages 13.6 YPC.
14) G Gennaro DiNapoli (ATL): The 11-year vet with the Knights and Fire looks for a new gig.
13) FB Madison Hedgecock (JAX): A very good blocking back with limited ballcarrying or catching.
12) TE O. J. Santiago (BIR): A mainstay of the Stallion offense, Santiago will enter his 13th season looking for a new team.
11) CB Mike Rumph (NJ): An underrated cover man with good ball skills.
10) G Lennie Friedman (TBY): A 10-year vet with Birmingham and Tampa Bay moves on.
9) G Stee Sciulo (BIR): The Stallions also potentially lose a guard in this guard-rich pool.
8) WR Az-Zahir Hakeem (CHA): The 11-year veteran slot receiver never really found a place in Charlotte, starting only 10 games the past 2 years. He hopes to go out strong with a final contract that puts his elusiveness to good use.
7) OT Jermaine Mayberry (TEX): The 14-year vet could still contemplate retirement, but is looking for a 1-2 year deal if one is out there.
6) WR Dez White (LA): The former Bull and Express wideout started 14 games this year, bringing in 756 yards and 5 TDs for the Express. He could be a very solid option for a team looking for a #2 receiver.
5) TE Dan Campbell (CHA): The 2008 All-USFL tight end from the Monarchs saw significant less attention this year, and is apparently looking for a more dynamic offense for his 11th season and beyond.
4) WR Santana Moss (ARZ): Speedy and quick at once, Moss is a very good complimentary receiver who can take over games at times. He spent 8 seasons in Arizona, 7 with Jake Plummer, and reached 900 yards 6 times over that span, with double digit TDs in both 2003 and 2006.
3) DE Andre Wadsworth (ATL): The long-time Blitz DE came to Atlanta in the 2006 expansion draft, and has played well for them. He landed 11 sacks this year, his first 10+ sack season since 2000.
2) HB Antowain Smith (JAX): Smith is not going to bust a lot of 20+ yard runs, but he is going to get you a 3rd and 2 when you need one. His 12th season saw him dip below 1,000 yards for the first time since 2003, so he may well be hitting the 30-year wall. But, in rotation, he can be a very effective short yardage and game ending rusher.
1) WR Joe Horn (BIR): After a career that spanned 13 years, Joe Horn is hoping for one more act. His numbers have certainly suffered since moving from Memphis to Birmingham, and particularly after Brett Favre retired (the first time). Horn can still be very effective as a route runner, but is unlikely to take the top off a defense, averaging 10.6 yards per catch this past season.
Explaining USFL Playoff Formatting
So, what is up with the USFL playoffs? Why is New Orleans facing Philadelphia in Round 2 instead of Boston? How does that work Well, it took several calls into league office to verify this, but it turns out that the USFL and the NFL work very differently when it comes to seeding. Here is how it is different, a difference that tends to become prominent in the Divisional Round more than any other.
In the NFL, the teams are seeded from 1-6 and after the first round of games, the lowest seed automatically goes off to face the higher seed, while the two middle seeds face off. If that were the way the USFL handles playoffs, then New Orleans would be facing Boston and Philadelphia would be headed to Baltimore. But the USFL does things slightly differently. In the USFL playoff system, the playoffs are set up as brackets, and those brackets do not shift based on who wins the earlier games. The Bracket was designed to allow the #2 seed and the #1 seed not to meet until the Conference Title Games, so we had #2 seed Nashville as well as #3 seed Orlando in one bracket and #4 seed Washington in a bracket with the winner set to face the #1 seed (Boston).
This worked out more or less as expected in the West, where we now have #4 vs #1 in the second round and #3 vs. #2 in the other divisional game. But, in the East, where all 3 games ended up being upsets, what you end up is not with #2 vs. #3 but with #7 vs. #6. That is why New Orleans will travel to Philadelphia instead of facing the #1 seed in Boston. Philly and New Orleans were in one bracket while Baltimore and Boston were in another. It is a different model, more like the field of 64 in the NCAA Basketball tournament than like the NFL playoffs. You get seeded, those seeds determine the brackets, and then, once the playoffs start, the seeding matters less and the bracket matters more. That is how we get a weird #7 vs. #6 in the divisional round, because those two defeated the #2 and #3 seeded teams, so they move on in that bracket. What that also means is that one of the two lowest seeds in the East is going to the Eastern Conference Title Game. Seems odd, perhaps, but it does add some excitement and a built in Cinderella factor. It also certainly (in this cased) helped out #6 seed Philadelphia because they get a home playoff game, something an NFL #6 seed would never have.
Different, to be sure, better or worse, we will let you decide.
(It took me a while to figure this out, but this is what the simulator is doing, setting up fixed brackets and not realigning them as underdogs win, so we end up with some weird matchups in later rounds because it does not automatically place the lowest seed against the highest. Not an outlandish system, after all the bracket system is what we see in NCAA BBall, but different from the NFL to be sure.)
Saturday, July 18 @ 3pm ET
Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA
Not a matchup we see often, but the Breakers did face the Stars earlier this year, losing at home by a 32-17 score. The problem in that game for the Breakers was the run duo of Slaton and Robinson. If New Orleans can fare better against that threat, they can make this a very interesting game. For Philadelphia, their key is to try to rattle Eli Manning. Manning has had a very up and down season, but when he is in the zone he can be a handful.
Saturday, July 18 @ 8pm ET
Oakland-Alameda Coliseum, Oakland, CA
These two met only 2 weeks ago, with Oakland eking out an 18-15 win at home. We expect a very similar game this time around, with both defenses taking away the primary offensive threats for their opponent and the offenses having to diversify to find success. Don’t expect a high scoring game here as both of these defenses can be tough to crack.
Sunday, July 19 @ 1pm ET
Alumni Stadium, Boston, MA
Got to love a divisional rivalry game in the divisional round. The two split the series, with Baltimore winning in Week 1, but an energized Boston club defeating the Blitz in Boston in Week 16, the game that gave the Cannnons the top seed. Will this game differ from that 28-20 Boston win two weeks ago? We hope not. That was a fun game and a hard hitting one too. Expect this to come down to Boston’s ability to contain Ron Dayne and Baltimore’s ability to get to Drew Bledsoe.
Sunday, July 19 @ 5pm ET
Ford Field, Detroit, MI
These two did not meet this year so there is a level of unfamiliarity to deal with. Denver comes in with the #1 defense for yards allowed, but they face the #1 offense for yards gained. It is a classic immovable object, unstoppable force combination. As much as we like Denver’s offense, potential MVP Brian Griese and that Michigan offense can make even good defenses look bad.