NFL Wildcards; NHL Suspensions/Extensions

Eagles vs. Packers
As I am writing this Michael Vick just threw what will be his most forgettable play of the year. Down by five. Forty-five seconds left, clocks running. Ball at 30 yard line, the ball is thrown, INTERCEPTION. Brutal.

With tons of time for the Eagles to get two or maybe even three plays off Vick sees a man in the end-zone and he's covered man-to-man. It's tempting, tempting enough for Vick to gamble the game away. Can you blame him? The man wants to win and in those types of situations its all or nothing. You either make the pass and become the hero or screw it up, throw the INT and become the goat.

Vick's season has been a great story and I commend the man for his play on field and his attitude off the field. It's a bad end to a great season. Good job to the Packers and to Aaron Rodgers, who didn't throw for more than 200 yards but his three TD passes make up for that and then some. To go into Philly and silence the crowd is huge. Really starting to like Rodgers, classy guy. Great game.

Chiefs vs. Ravens

When the Chiefs came out of the first quarter in the lead I thought that we could have ourselves another upset here. But the Ravens are proving they are no joke, specifically Joe Flacco. Flacco finished the game 25/34, with 265 yards and two TD passes.

What a game for Flacco and what a disappointment for Matt Cassel. In his first playoff start Cassel was unable to get anything done against arguably the best defense in the league. Its never easy to move the ball against Ray Lewis and co. but after Jamaal Charles ran for the games first TD I honestly thought that maybe an established running game could open things up for Cassel. 9/18, 70 yards, and three INT's later and Cassel's first playoff game quickly goes from hopeful to disappointing.

All credit has to be given to the Ravens offense who controlled the ball and therefore controlled the game. Ravens time of possession: 41:44 minutes, Chiefs time of possession: 18:16. The Ravens never gave the Chiefs defense a moments rest, they looked tired and defeated. Watch out Steel Town, the Ravens mean business.

Seahawks/Saints; Jets/Colts
As for the previous two games I was fighting one of the worst snow storms Edmonton has seen in awhile on my way to work when the Seattle/Saints game began. Its hard to comment on a game I never watched but all I can say is WOW. Did not see that coming. Good on Pete Carrol and Matt Hasselbeck, they showed some true character.

I did get to listen to the games on the radio and when the Saints went up 10-0 I figured the Seahawks stood no chance. The crowd fell silent and that's a victory all in itself. Give the Seahawks credit for getting the TD on the following drive and waking everybody up. From there the offense took off. Marshawn Lynch only ran for one touchdown but what a run! Couple that with Hasselbeck's four TD passes and you've got a formula that can take down the champs.

Brees played exceptionally well in the losing effort, throwing the ball 60 times and completing 39 of those attempts for over 400 yards. Not much more he could have done.

The Jets/Colts match-up was hardly the offensive shootout I had expected. The Jets' defense was expecting a heavy dose of Peyton Manning, instead the Colts limited his attempts to under 30 and that resulted in Manning throwing one single touchdown pass. Rather than throwing the ball the Colts were determined to run the ball right at the Jets' defense, rushing the ball for a total of 27 attempts between Joseph Addai and Domenic Rhodes for a combined total of 93 yards.

The Jets did the same. They used their six minutes of added possession time to run the ball 38 times, including one QB scramble by Mark Sanchez and two rushing attempts from WR Brad Smith for a combined total of 169 yards. Sanchez threw one interception and zero touchdown passes. Definitely not his best performance but hey, they got it done, but if the Jets intend to beat the Patriots they're going to need a better performance from Sanchez.

NHL Quick Hits

• Atlanta Thrashers forward and recent Stanley Cup Champion Ben Eager has been suspended four games for his sucker punch on Colby Armstrong. All I got to say is, why? Why did Eager feel the need to first face-wash Armstrong and then when he's not expecting it, cheap shot him with a punch straight to the eye? See it for yourself--->CLICK HERE
• Calgary Flames forward Tom Kostopoulos has been given a six-game suspension for his reckless blindside hit on Red Wings defenseman Brad Stuart. I hate this hit. Stuart doesn't even have the puck and Kostopoulos takes a huge run at him. Again, why? The hit sees Kostopoulos' shoulder hit Stuart's face square on and sends Stuart flying! Almost literally! Reckless, needless play from otherwise tough but good player. See it for yourself---> CLICK HERE
• The Los Angeles Kings have inked defenseman Jack Johnson to a seven-year, 30.5 million dollar contract extension. The dollar amount is reasonable and hopefully this doesn't interfere with getting fellow stud blue liner Drew Doughty signed in the off-season. Most likely won't but weirder things have happened.
  

Both Pictures provided by TSN: Kostopoulos; Rodgers