The Debriefing: The Seven Deadly Sins of Sunday ... Wildcard Weekend

The Debriefing is a column that runs every weekday at 9:00 a.m. here on FanHouse. It goes deep into one issue and then bounces around to a plethora of smaller ones ... and does it all in a way that will make you feel like the prettiest girl at the cotillion. Bookmark this page, and visit daily.



For those who were left in a position to be jealous on Sunday ...



The Sinner: The Running Game

Here's a bit of advice for the teams remaining in the NFL playoffs: Take the half of your playbook that deals with running plays, tear it out, and give it to Matt Millen so he can color on it. It is of little consequence.

If we learned one thing through the four games of NFL Wildcard Weekend, it was that if you can throw the ball, you can win. Defensive lines -- particularly the ones for playoff teams, and that's no coincidence -- have gotten too big and too good. It's nice if you have an offense that can go through them, but it's not something you can bank on. The better and more reliable strategy is to go over the top of them.

In different ways, each game this weekend served to highlight the death of the "you have to run the ball in the playoffs" philosophy.


Game 1: Seahawks over Redskins. Neither Matt Hasselbeck or Todd Collins are going to get phone calls from the Hall of Fame, asking for the shoes they wore during Saturday's game ... but when the 4th quarter rolled around, and each team needed to make plays through the air, Hasselbeck made them, and Collins couldn't.

Game 2: Jaguars over Steelers. Even though Jags quarterback David Garrard finished with the worst passer rating of any quarterback this weekend, this game was probably the best illustration of the importance of the pass vs. the run. The Steelers certainly could throw the ball ... but for long and crucial portions of Saturday night's game, they chose not to. We'll get into this a little bit more later.

Game 3: Giants over Buccaneers. Well hello, Eli. Please feel free to sit with the adults now.

Game 4: Chargers over Titans. The entire CBS pregame and halftime discussions revolved around the question of who sucks worse, Philip Rivers or Vince Young. Rivers used the second half to answer that question pretty thoroughly. The Titans ran the ball better than the Chargers, but the Chargers threw the ball better than the Titans ... if you aren't sure which one's better, please consult a scoreboard.

Of course, I'd be overstating if I declared the ground game completely dead and useless. If you can manhandle a team up front and jam the football directly up their doopa, that's still the preferred method of victory.

But come January, I don't know if that's a realistic expectation. Most of the remaining teams are going to have a huge, bulgy moose or two up front to prevent you from doing that. And if they can, you better able and willing to move the attack skyward. If you can't, well ... maybe Vince Young, Todd Collins, or Jeff Garcia will have you over for a playoff-watching party.



For the group who played with, gained, or displayed some dignity on Sunday ...

The Sinner: Eli Manning

Eli Manning has proved over the last couple of weeks that one need not look like a confident and capable quarterback to actually be one. As it turns out, Eli looks just as dumbfounded and goofy when he's playing well as when he's playing poorly. Eli was a full-fledged stud yesterday, and the "mommy, why do my underpants feel squishy?" facial expressions served only to belie his true inner quarterback god.

The Giants were at their best when they turned him loose on the unsuspecting Bucs defense. Tampa defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin loaded up the box with eight guys on most plays, saying to Manning, "If you can beat us, doofus, then beat us."

Eli responded by standing tall in the pocket, making decisions quickly, getting the ball out, and avoiding huge mistakes. He was even looking defensive backs off with pump fakes ... it was an Eli we'd rarely seen before.

Ronde Barber was wrong about him. Eli was like a sober Mormon girl on prom night. He could not be had.

What's it all mean in the bigger picture? Has Eli finally "arrived?" I couldn't tell you ... I'm not sure if those questions have answers, or if those answers are even important.

It might just mean that Eli's now had two consecutive games under major pressure, on big stages, against good defenses, and both times, he's responded with magnificence. That means quite enough on its own.

Over the last three years, there have been periods of time when both Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers have looked like the best quarterback to come out of the 2004 draft. Maybe Eli's finally ready to take his turn.



For those who were unable to overcome their own slovenly inertia ...

The Sinner: The Steelers Offensive Line

There are a lot of things you can point to as reasons the Steelers lost to the Jaguars ... Ben Roethlisberger dug them into a huge hole in the first half, the coaching staff made some debatable decisions down the stretch of the game, David Garrard has very nimble feet etc. All of that happened. They were factors.

But none of it would've mattered if the Steelers could block anybody.

Even without their two starting defensive tackles, it was men against boys up front. The Jaguars defensive line had full ownership of the Steelers ... somewhere, center Sean Mahan is still running into something in a white jersey and then curling up into the fetal position. The middle of the line was constantly caved in, and the edges weren't much better. Najeh Davenport had no room (25 yards on 16 carries), and Ben Roethlisberger had even less (sacked six times, by six different guys).

The only thing that worked at all for the Steelers -- and they figured this out for the first drive of the game, and then forgot it until the second half -- was the quick passing game. They finally adjusted to the idea that they couldn't run or execute any pass plays that required Ben Roethlisberger to hold the ball longer than two seconds, and when they did, they clicked. Large Benjamin took himself off the hook with a second half that was as good as the first half was bad.

And this is where some of those odd coaching decisions come into play. We can talk about the two-point conversion attempts, but to me, those are secondary to the Ben Roethlisberger quarterback sweep call on 3rd and 6 with 2:56 to play and a 1-point lead.

What are we going for there, the element of surprise? The thing about a surprise is that sometimes, it's only a surprise because no sane person would ever do it. It would have been surprising if Ben Roethlisberger broke the huddle, took his shirt off, started rubbing his nipples and moaning, "Mmmmm, Ledger and Gyllenhall." That doesn't necessarily make it a good idea.

I understand that you want to burn a little clock, however ... with nearly two minutes left, we're not at a position yet where 30 or 40 seconds are going to make the difference. Best case scenario (and I'm not including "Steelers first down" among the possible scenarios) is that the Jags call timeout after the run fails, and Jacksonville ends up getting the ball back with well over two minutes and two timeouts. That's still a ton of time ... it's not that big of a difference over what the Jags would've had if the Steelers had thrown the ball and failed. The Jags ended up not having to use another timeout anyway.

The point is this: when the only thing you can do is throw the ball, then throw the damn ball. Roethlisberger was 16-of-22 in the second half. I'll take those chances over the chances that 1) the Steelers would magically develop the ability to block and 2) Roethlisberger would have magically morphed into Kordell Stewart ... and 3) forcing the Jags to burn one timeout would magically make the difference in the game.



For the player or team who unleashed their hellish fury on Sunday ...

The Sinner: The Seattle Defense

I don't believe that the glass slipper came off for Todd Collins. I believe that Lofa Tatupu yanked it off his foot, and beat him to death with it.

It's true that Collins hadn't thrown an interception for the Redskins at any point over the last four games, and then he coughed up two of them against the Seahawks. But I didn't feel like Collins played poorly, as much as Seattle just got up in his ass all day and wouldn't let him get comfortable. On the rare occasions that Collins had time, he was fine.

But the Seahawks D was maybe the most dominant of any unit that played this weekend, be it on offense, defense, or special teams.

The Redskins couldn't run, trying 29 times and averaging just 2.6 yards per carry. Collins, again, rarely had time to set up in the pocket ... he was sacked four times, but hurried on nearly every attempt. And the secondary returned two interceptions to the house, putting the game away in the 4th quarter.

Every level of the Seattle D -- the line, the linebackers, and the secondary -- was dominant.

It won't be quite as easy next week. As nice of a run as Todd Collins had, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's still a little bit of a difference between being Todd Collins good, and being Brett Favre good. The Packers are much better in pass protection, too. Nevertheless, Seattle certainly gave the Packers something to think about.



For those who gorged themselves on big, beautiful numbers yesterday ...

The Sinner: Philip Rivers: 19-of-30, 292 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. The most impressive thing about Rivers' numbers is that most of them were compiled in the second half, when Antonio Gates was out with a toe injury. It might not seem like that big a deal, but for a very large portion of the season, Gates was the Chargers passing game ... Rivers clung to him like Linus to his powder blue blanket.

But, his security blanket yanked away from him, Rivers was forced to broaden his horizons, and he made a hero of Vincent Jackson. Jackson (along with Chris Chambers) went over 100 yards, and got into the endzone. Brandon Manumaleuna picked up a huge first down, too.

Eli Manning: 20-of-27, 185 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs

(No Running Backs)

Hines Ward: 10 receptions, 135 yards
Chris Chambers: 6 receptions, 121 yards, 0 TDs
Vincent Jackson: 5 receptions, 114 yards, 1 TD
DJ Hackett: 6 receptions, 101 yards, 1 TD
Antwaan Randle-El: 10 receptions, 94 yards, 1 TD
Heath Miller: 8 receptions, 85 yards, 1 TD



For those who just couldn't stop burying themselves in hopelessness ...

The Sinner: Vince Young: 16-of-29, 138 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT. The Titans are in an odd situation. They've got a good young core, with a very decent running game and a defense (anchored by Albert Haynesworth, who should be in the MVP discussion) that's among the league's best. But they're a 10-6, borderline playoff team ... and that may be their ceiling until they develop a passing game. Whether or not this is possible under Vince Young is up for debate.

Jeff Garcia: 23-of-39, 207 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT.

(Pretty much every running back with 15 or more carries)

Joey Galloway: 1 reception, 9 yards
Justin Gage: 1 reception, 19 yards



The best in photos from Sunday's NFL action, hopefully focusing on cheerleaders more than anything else ...