Wild Card Weekend

What an outstanding performance by Vince Young for Texas Wednesday night. But I have to ask, why didn’t USC close the running lane outside to the right? Did they watch any of the tapes from Young’s performance in the Rose Bowl last year? I think Pete Carroll did the right thing going for the first down on 4th and 2… his defense hadn’t stopped Young all night… why would that change? Texas only needed 1 timeout on their winning drive. I would have like to have seen some WRs on the field instead of the 2 TE look… Texas had 9 men in the box against RB LenDale White.

SATURDAY (All Times ET)
4:30 ABC HD (3) Tampa Bay 23 (-2 ½) (6) Washington 20.
Because of turnover margin (+3), the Redskins won this game with an offense that produced 120 yards in 60 minutes.

**8:00 ABC HD (4) New England 27 (-8) (5) Jacksonville 13.
The Patriots played a solid game against the Jaguars, reducing their offense to one dimension. WR Jimmy Smith didn’t have a good night, and the Jaguars are still looking for their first postseason touchdown in New England.

SUNDAY
1:00 FOX HD (5) Carolina 27 (+3) (4) N.Y. Giants 16. New York QB Eli Manning has had some impressive moments in his second season, but threw the most interceptions this side of Green Bay QB Brett Favre. Giants RB Tiki Barber will need to have the success that Cowboy RBs Marion Barber and Julius Jones enjoyed 2 weeks ago. Carolina QB Jake Delhomme has had his own interception issues and the Meadowlands can be a difficult place to throw the ball in January.

4:30 CBS HD (6) Pittsburgh 26 (-3) (3) Cincinnati 13. The Steelers won 4 straight to make the playoffs after losing successive games to Cincinnati and Indianapolis. The key to the winning streak (mostly against the lackluster NFC North) was the reliance on the running game with RB Fast Willie Parker outside the 10 and Jerome Bettis inside the 10. Cincinnati wrapped up the AFC North in Week 15, then lost to Buffalo (close) and Kansas City (rout) to close the regular season.