Worst Performances of the Wildcard Round

Everyone likes to talk about the top performances from the weekend and hand out game balls all the time. But that won't be happening here. For the second straight year, The Wheelhouse will hand out the worst performances from the latest NFL week. We want to know who failed and really stunk it up each week. So instead of game balls being awarded for good play, this will be like eggs being thrown out for terrible play. We'll hand out a couple here each week, but there's no limit as we'll let the bad play deem how many to give out.

Tom Brady: 23/42, 154 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs, 1 fumble
That felt really good to write Brady's line above from last weekend. The Patriots were never in this game from the start when Ray Rice went the distance of the first play from scrimmage. Brady took the football and responded by turning the ball over all day. Before you knew it, the Pats were in a major 24-0 hole and Brady was forced to pass all day and the Ravens were ready for it. What made it all the more enjoyable to watch was that this was Brady's first playoff game since their loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII and he had been waiting for this game for the past two season. What a shame. Tom Brady gets the only individual egg this week right at his head.

Eagles defense and Packers defense
One of the best coaching moves of last weekend was Packers coach Mike McCarthy kicking a surprise onside kick in the second half. But after watching his defense not come close to stopping Kurt Warner for three quarters, did he really have a choice there? The Packers defense, who are actually ranked 7th in total defense in the regular season, was getting gashed last Sunday in the desert. Warner was pretty much unstoppable, going 29/33 for 379 yards and FIVE touchdowns. The Packers held the Cards to just one punt in the entire game. Now, the Cards defense didn't play much better, but at least they came away with the game-winning score so they can't get an egg here.

Another defense that stunk last week was Philadelphia. Every time you look at the TV, Felix Jones or Tashard Choice were eating up the Eagles D. The Eagles gave up 27 points in the second quarter to pretty much not give their offense a chance to be in the game. It's amazing how bad some of the defenses were last week. Will we see much of the same this week in the divisional playoffs?

Conference Championship Picks

Today's the big day in the National Football League. If you're a fan of the Steelers, Ravens, Eagles or Cardinals, you're going nuts and your stomach has been in knots all week. If you're a general NFL and your team was knocked out already, you're still ready to watch history unfold today. I haven't made any picks all season on The Wheelhouse, but I decided these games were too big to pass up.

Eagles at Cardinals
For some reason I happen to like the Cardinals in this game today. They've been playing just as good as any team in the playoffs to this point. They are at home today in the desert. Their defense has been playing great in the playoffs while stopping two of the best running backs in the game in Michael Turner and DeAngelo Williams. Larry Fitzgerald is a beast and continues to make ridiculous catches. Anquan Boldin should return and be a factor for the Cards. And Kurt Warner has been to the Super Bowl before and got the job done. The Eagles, on the other hand, have been way too inconsistent this year for me to expect them to win for a fourth week in a row. I think the Cardinals contain Brian Westbrook today and Warner gets it going through the air and makes Philadelphia play the Cardinals way in a shootout.
Cardinals 31, Eagles 21

Ravens at Steelers
Here we go again. Baltimore and Pittsburgh meet for the third time in what is quickly becoming one of the best rivalries in football. Just like the first two games in the regular season, expect this game to be a knockdown, street fight between two teams that genuinely don't like each other. Pittsburgh won both games in the regular season on a final game-winning field goal in overtime, and they won the second game on a touchdown with under a minute to play. So it's tough to beat a team three times in one season right? Wrong. Read my post from a couple days ago if you disagree with me. I like the Steelers in this one today. First, the Steelers defense is better than the Ravens all season and they proved it in the first two games against the Ravens. Second, I'd rather have the Steelers offense than the Ravens offense led by a rookie. Joe Flacco has done a great job this year, but he really hasn't been asked to do much with that defense behind him. I just don't see a scenario where Flacco goes into Heinz Field and wins a game to the Super Bowl. Call me bias, but I think that's too much to call on a rookie to do. I think the Steelers move the ball well against the Ravens defense today and PROTECT the football, which is key anytime in the playoffs especially in a game like this. I like the Steelers today, and I actually like them by about two touchdowns. I pray I'm right on this one.
Steelers 24, Ravens 9