Playoff Notes

With the NFL regular season coming to a close and the playoffs looming this weekend, I thought I would review some of my thoughts and interesting stats/notes from the season. UH, PLAYOFFS?

Remember when the Broncos were 6-0? I remember. I remember hearing every writer, TV analyst, radio personality telling me how new coach Josh McDaniels showed everybody what a great decision trading Jay Cutler was and how he was the greatest first-year coach of all time. Well, where are those people now? The Broncos benefited from some early luck (see week one against the Bungals) and started off great, but at the end of the season they were exactly in the spot I expected them to be—out of the playoffs. I'm not saying Cutler is a great quarterback because he's proven this year he has some issues he needs to work on, but at the end of the day Cutler is a better QB than Kyle Orton. The Broncos 2-8 finish was fun to watch.

Here's an interesting note I saw the other day. Quickly think of the four teams that earned first-round byes last year in the playoffs. You'll start figuring out that those teams are missing this year. That's right, the top four seeds from last year did not qualify for the postseason this year: Giants, Panthers, Titans and even the defending champs Steelers. That's hard to believe, but true. No way I would have believed that at the beginning of the season and thinking about this year's playoffs, does anybody think the Colts, Chargers, Saints and Vikings will miss the postseason next year?

Another thing you couldn't of predicted prior to the season was 9-7 did not get you into the playoffs in the NFC. Usually 9-7 is a lock in that conference. Hell, 10-6 wouldn't even get the job done for a wildcard. Meanwhile in the AFC, four teams tied at 9-7 and only two made it.

Also, if the NFL learned one thing this year about scheduling is that the Redskins should not be allowed on primetime until they prove they are a legitimate football team and make the playoffs. Somehow they pulled in three primetime games this year. What was the NFL thinking!? That swinging gate play against the Giants three weeks ago was absolutely horrid.

I'll end with a brief mention on the Steelers season. People around the 'Burgh are already calling it one of the most bizarre seasons in 77 years of Steelers football. Well, I've been watching the team for just over 20 years and it sure was a ridiculous season. I don't remember a season by any team where it was in every single game, but also kept its opponent in every single game. A 9-7 season easily could have been 14-2 or better. I could go on and on, but I won't today. I'll have more on what went wrong for the Steelers in a separate post.