Thoughts From a Wild Weekend

Here are some thoughts from the NFL’s Wild Card weekend that saw the number of those with championship dreams cut from twelve to eight after the completion of four opening round games.

Watching Walpole High’s Todd Collins do battle with former Xaverian high school stand-out Matt Hasselbeck, I was immediately brought back to a Saturday night in September of 1994 where I saw Collins lead the Michigan Wolverines to a hardy victory over Hasselbeck and his Boston College Eagles. While then Collins was the proven starter and Hasselbeck was a back-up who reserved his passes for the occasional fake field goal , these roles have reversed with Hasselbeck, the younger but more experienced starter, leading his Seahawks to a 35-14 victory over Collins, the until recently, seldom-used, veteran quarterback.

The Redskins defeat brought to an end a story-book end to the season of both Collins and the Redskins that saw them win four straight games to qualify for the post season on the last weekend of the regular season.
This weekend also brought front and center the fact that the Seahawks are now led by Hasselbeck and no longer former league MVP Sean Alexander. Hasselbeck’s poise in the pocket and ability to throw to all areas of the field will make Hasselbeck a difficult challenge for Packers coaches to defend this coming weekend.

The real question coming out of Saturday night’s match up between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers is which offensive unit is the real Jaguars offense? Is it the effective offensive unit that displayed the ability to throw and run both during the first half and late drives in the forth quarter? Or is it the dismal sputtering unit that looked ineffective for most of the second half? The answer to this question will go a long way to determine whether or how much the Patriots win by on Saturday night.

For all those inclined to debate the merits of Eli Manning against his brother Peyton, Sunday served as a good measuring stick to use while examining this debate. While it will be difficult, some might say impossible, for Eli to top the record-breaking career of brother, Peyton, Eli took a small step towards earning the playoff stripes that have only come recently to older brother. Eli, pressured intensely throughout the first half, managed to keep his head in the game and make short range, precise, passes that ushered the Giants to victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday afternoon. Eli’s victory will help to further the merits of the selected few who predict similar career success for Peyton’s younger brother. Like most things in life, the answer to whether Eli will ever match or surpass his brother probably lies somewhere in the middle. What is unquestionable, however, is that it will take a Peyton-like performance of 2007 on Eli’s part to defeat the Cowboys this weekend in Dallas.

It was also apparent Sunday afternoon how difficult it must be for San Diego fans to foster realistic Super Bowl dreams in 2008. Gone is the home field advantage of 2007 which would have only required the Chargers to leave tropical Southern California to play in the Super Bowl. And in its place stairs directly in the face of the Chargers a date this weekend against the defending champion Colts and a potential trip to play the Patriots in Foxboro in the AFC Championship game. If Norv Turner and the bolts can pull this off than they will be truly worthy of the title champion.