Season of shocks finally comes down to 1 game

eagle eye

I just felt like writing for some strange reason, so what better to write about than my favourite game.
It all starts off in the late preseason with the shock anouncement that Brett Favre has decided not to retire and to join the New York Jets. Chad Pennington is sent packing to the Dolphins.
On to the regular season and the injury to Tom Brady was a huge shock and left us Patriots gutted. Coming off an unbeaten high scoring season without the Superbowl, we were looking forward to a good run at it all this year and then the worst possible thing happens in the first quarter in the first game of the season.
Also in week 1 the Colts who came into the season with the meanest defence, a new stadium and the best record in the first two months over the last couple of seasons get hammered at home by the Bears.
Many peoples favourites for the Superbowl, well most of those that don't pick the Patriots or the Colts have went for the Chargers. They start at home against the Panthers but lose a thrilling game 26-24.

Strange things are happening indeed already.

Also in week 1 Brett Favre gets off to a winning start to his career with the Jets against the Pennington led Dolphins.
His replacement Aaron Rodgers who we all pity due to the pressure of replacing a legend gets off to a fantastic start in Lambeau with a huge win over their biggest rivals the Vikings in a close game.
Other news sees the Giants make a winning start at home, Dallas look impressive against the Browns, Denver put up huge offensive numbers against the Raiders. The Steelers get off to a great start at home against the Texans. And the Eagles rip the Rams apart for the most impressive win of week 1.
It looked after a couple of weeks like the Colts were getting into gear after they hammered the Ravens, the Patriots suffered a shocking loss to Miami after a great start to the season, and then got hammered by the Chargers who went to 3-3 after having a horrific start. The Giants after a couple of weeks were now the Superbowl favourites and the Cowboys were being put forward as real contendors by a lot of people. All the talk centred around the strength of the NFC East, the Rams looked like the worst team in football, but then they win back to back games over the Redskins in Washington and then Dallas in St. Louis. And Drew Brees is having a phenomenal season.
The experts were predicting that the Titans would eventually lose their way and the Colts were starting to look like the AFC favourites. The Steelers were looking good too.
The Giants then hammered the Cowboys in New York and it was all about Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning. Of course we didn't expect that their other big offensive threat, the one with the great Superbowl winning catch known as Plaxico Burress would shoot himself in the thigh.:rolleyes:
And the Titans did not lose their way, it was the Colts who had a bad patch again.
And the Cowboys then fell apart and Tony Romo blamed it on his injured pinky.:D
The Chargers were in all sorts of trouble hitting a shocking 4-8.:eek:

So we were close to playoff time and Peyton Manning had manouevred the Colts into contention for the no.5 seed, as the Titans wrapped up the division in double quick time. And just when all looked lost for the Chargers they went and won their last four games and ended up inexplicably in the playoffs with an 8-8 record. It cost Mr Shanahan his job at Denver.

The Buccanneers had been moving along nicely but that divison was very competitive with all teams over .500 late in the season. However just like that Broncos they lost their last four after looking certainties for the playoffs and that cost John Gruden his job. So now the Panters looked good and entered the playoffs as no.2 seeds. The Eagles who had fallen apart midseason came back into contention after Andy Reid benched Donovan McNabb during a game and started him every week after that.

The AFC East was the most competitive towards the end of the season with the Jets beating the Patriots in Week 11 to take pole position and looking certain to advance to the playoffs as either divisional winners or else getting a bye. But then out of nowhere came the Ravens on a run to take their playoff place and consign the AFC East to one spot with three teams still in contention with one week to go. And after all that went on the unfancied Dolphins made it to Divisional champs after the Jets managed to fall apart in Week 16 against the Bengals and then lose to the Dolphins on home turf in Week 17 to deny New England the title.

The Divisional champs were as follows

Arizona Cardinals for the first time in who know how long won the NFC West/Worst and were fancied by most to be a handy game for whichever wildcard team got them in the playoffs.
New York Giants were still favourites after recovering from a couple of shaky performance to get back on track and take their place as no.1 seeds in the NFC
Carolina Panthers were unbeaten at home all season and were No. 2 seeds in the NFC.
The Minnesota Vikings came with a late rally to deny the Bears a place in the playoffs and were considered by some as the dark horses.
The Atlanta Falcons, the who????? the Falcon??????????? I hear you say, yes the Falcons made it as a wild card with the help of impressive performances from rookie quarterback (well touted before the draft by myself and tallaghtoutlaws;):cool:)Matt Ryan.
And the unlikliest team from the NFC East with 6 weeks remaining to make the playoffs were the Eagles but they ended up being no.6 seeds.

On the AFC side

The Tenessee Titans shockingly not only won the AFC South but entered the playoffs as No.1 seed.
The Pittsburgh Steelers who many fancied preseason to make it as No. 4 seeds at best were No. 2 seeds.
The Miami Dolphins, yes the team that went 1-15 in 2007, were AFC East champions, now tell me, who the fcuk could have predicted that.:pac:
And finally the no.4 seeds and most undeserving team in there was the San Diego Chargers with an 8-8 record.
The Indianapolis Colts were no.5 seeds as Peyton Manning went over 4000 yards yet again.
And the Baltimore Ravens showed their metal to come through as the final seeds.

So at this stage all the talk was still about the Giants, although a lot of people fancied the Eagles might still do it.
On the AFC side, the predictions were mixed due to the Titans beating the Steelers at home in the second to last week and the Colts and Chargers both making it but having to meet each other. And then there was also the Ravens.

So we get to the wild card games.
The Falcons lose to the Cardinals in a game that was going to be pretty tight according to most.
The Eagles took out the Vikings.
The Ravens destroyed the Dolphins.
And the Chargers ran the ball without LT and beat the Colts.

The Giants had the week off, and the favourites went into the game against the Eagles as hot favourites but were well beaten by an impressive Donovan McNabb and co. Shock no.1 of the weekend, thats the Bowl favs and no.1 seeds beaten at home.
The Panthers too had a week off and a home game against the NFC West/Worst champons the Arizona Cardinals and went into this game as the hottest of favourites. I would say it was the most comprehensive beating in the playoffs this year, as the Cardinals shocked everybody but themselves by winning 33-13.
The Titans too had a week off and as no.1 seeds had a home game, but there was never going to be anything easy about taking on this Ravens team with a cracking defence and another rookie sensation in Joe Flacco. The Ravens pulled off another away win but it was down to inexperience and big errors on the part of the Titans.
Finally the Steelers had to play the San Diego Chargers and a lot of peope were predicting a Charger win here, but the magnificent Steelers defence showed their class as they took the Chargers apart, and with them having no defensive answers of their own the Steelers cruised to a comfortable 35-24 victory to take their place as the only No. 1 or No.2 seed left in this years playoffs.

We go to the Championship rounds.

The Eagles are now hotly tipped by many to win the whole thing. The Arizona Cardinals were overlooked yet again and they don't like being overlooked. A fantstic performance from them in the first half set up the win in a great game where the Eagles came back strongly to lead late. But the Cardinals were not to be denied.
The Steelers faced their bitter yet most respected rivals the Ravens but proved too powerful on defence in the end in a cracking game.

I'm still stunned at how the season has gone. I really hope the Steelers do it although if the Cards put 30+ by that defense they dam well deserve it.

My final note, the teams who made the playoffs this season. You would never have predicted these two teams in the Superbowl at the start of the season, not in a million years.
The playoffs had the 2007 worst team in football the Dolphins(1-15), Atlanta Falcons(4-12) and two other teams who were under .500 as well as two .500 teams from last year as well.

A season of shocks and surprises.

You don't see that happening in other sports and thats what makes the NFL so great.

I love this game.:)

davyjose

Great summary Eagle Eye. You should fire it off to Sport's Illustrated, see if they'll print it

kryogen

very nice post! thanks for the highlight reel lol

ReacherCreature

Nice job on that!