The NFL Roundup: Wild Card Weekend - What We Learned

Written by John Edward Betancourt

(Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

There's certainly a reason as to why the NFL calls its opening weekend of the playoffs, Wild Card Weekend and once again that reason was on display. Sure it may not have been a round of playoffs filled to the brim with epic upsets, but there were definitely wild surprises, and fascinating stories to be found in every single game, so let's not waste any more time and get right down to looking at the top stories from the field from this weekend's slate of playoff games. 

​The Green Bay Packers are scary good right now.
Of all the games that Wild Card Weekend had to offer, the Giants/Packers game definitely featured a pair of evenly matched teams, and it certainly seemed as though we were  going to be treated to a big time defensive battle...until Aaron Rodgers took control of the game and kicked his offense into overdrive, putting on an offensive clinic that included one of his patented Hail Mary bombs and well...that could mean bad news for the Cowboys in the Divisional Round because Green Bay made a solid team like the New York Giants look like the Cleveland Browns and if this team can continue that kind of rhythm and success, they'll be going far in the playoffs for certain.  

The Miami Dolphins were ill prepared to face the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Sure, there's a level of inexperience that comes with first year head coaches and the playoffs and that's to be expected. But Miami Dolphins fans, and football fans in general have to be concerned over the fact that it seems as though the Dolphins were ill prepared to face off against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in just about every single phase of the game. The offense struggled all day long to move the ball against the vaunted Steelers D, going with a vanilla game plan as opposed to targeting any weaknesses, and the defense? Well that was equally a disaster, allowing 20 first half points, 14 of those on big time plays where they couldn't tackle or cover WR Antonio Brown. Either way, while Miami worked hard to earn their spot in the playoffs, they took it all for granted when all was said and done and here's to hoping the coaches and the players learn something from this and take all of their opponents seriously from here on out. 

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The Seattle Seahawks dismantled the Detroit Lions.
Speaking of preparation, the opposite happened in Seattle this weekend because it's clear Pete Carroll had the 'Hawks ready to play when they took the field against the Detroit Lions. They were patient during an uneventful first quarter as they quietly tested the Lions' defensive weaknesses before finding the end zone and never looking back on their way to a 26-6 victory. But what was truly impressive, is how well the Seattle defense shut down QB Mathew Stafford and the offense as a whole. The Lions couldn't run the ball, and any passing lanes Stafford needed to keep Detroit's post season hopes alive, simply weren't there. It was an utterly dominating win by the Seattle Seahawks and if they can continue preparing for their opponents in this fashion, then Atlanta is going to have their hands full come Saturday. 

The Houston Texans played their best football game of the season on Saturday.
A lot has been made about the injuries the Raiders have suffered at quarterback this year and their influence on this game and well, there's some validity to that. It's tough to expect a third stringer to come out and play like Peyton Manning when his first career start is on the road, in a playoff game. But I don't think Connor Cook is the sole reason the Raiders lost their first playoff game in fourteen years, they lost because the Texans finally played a complete game on offense and defense. In fact, that defense was downright scary. They were able to find holes in the Oakland offensive line all day long and sack Cook at will, rattling his already fragile confidence. But the most impressive part of this game...was Brock Osweiler. I've been incredibly hard on Brock, for several reasons...one of them being the fact he refuses to manage a game and instead play the hero. But at long last, he embraced the role of game manager and finally looked like a professional quarterback and while there's a fair chance they won't advance past the New England game...the Houston Texans need to be proud of this shining moment, when they finally looked like a team.

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