| Everyone agrees that parity in the
NFL has reached unforeseen heights this season. Everyone from Paul Tagliabue to Al
Pacino has been quick to remind us that on "any given Sunday," a down-and-dirty
underdog can rise up and bite even the most imposing-looking favorite right where the sun
don’t shine.
For the most part, the dogs held true to form in the first week of the second season.
As it turned out, three of the four favorites in last weekend’s first-round action
— Tennessee, Washington and Minnesota — are alive and kicking, along with a
Miami team that went into the weekend as the most likely underdog (plus-3½ points) to
spring an upset against a rather suspect Seahawks squad.
Thank god.
Don’t get me wrong. The rush one gets as a spectator when a lowly so-called
pretender knocks off a heavyweight contender on the gridiron is something very special.
But let’s face it. This year’s playoff cast had some real clinkers, headed by
a pair of .500 teams out of Detroit and Dallas that might go down in history as perhaps
the most mediocre teams ever to perform in the postseason.
There’s a reason television ratings for the NFL’s weekend wild-card tilts
dropped 13 percent compared to a year ago: On balance, the matchups left a lot to be
desired — especially the Washington-Detroit and Minnesota-Dallas games.
Detroit went 2-6 over the second half of the regular season, losing its final four
games. Its QB corps had been decimated by injuries, and, with the great Barry Sanders
deciding to retire before the season, its running game was awful from the get-go.
The first half of the year, nobody did a better coaching job than Lions coach Bobby
Ross. Down the stretch, though, the Lions were flat-out lousy, culminating the sorry end
to their season with a pathetic performance in losing 27-13 to the Redskins.
Those 8-8 Cowboys, meanwhile, actually shot out of the gate with some old-time spunk up
in Minnesota the next day. In the end, though, after crashing and burning in a firestorm
of penalties and turnovers that earmarked their season, Dallas’ 17-point loss to the
Vikes was its worst of the season.
Thankfully, there were no crazy wrinkles in the form sheet in those cases. With
second-round playoff action just a few days away, mediocrity is the last thing the NFL
needs.
In a perfect playoff world, compelling matchups should be the order of the day.
That was certainly the case in the first game of this year’s postseason, when
Buffalo and Tennessee, two genuinely worthy wild-card opponents — the best ever, in
fact, in terms of win-loss records — hit a big-time home run in one of the all-time
playoff classics.
Let’s hope form continues to hold true.
In arguably the most unpredictable regular season ever, it was never more difficult
trying to separate the pretenders from the contenders. Nobody could have predicted that
St. Louis and Indianapolis would end up being among the most legitimate Super Bowl picks
this season, considering the manner in which they conducted themselves just one season
ago.
But the Rams and Colts strutted their stuff all season — from beginning to end
— and earned our respect. And they really are the best teams in the NFL at
the moment in the eyes of many.
Here’s hoping they keep on strutting their stuff right up to Super Sunday.
Anything less would be very upsetting. |
