I talked about this in my podcast as a spur of the moment thing, but I wanted to go deeper into it.
The Saturday night, 8:00 Wildcard games have had some of the most interesting, exciting, entertaining, and bizarre football games over the past decade and I will take a look at them here, starting when they started in 2002.
2002: Raiders 38, Jets 24: A total of 912 yards were gained by both teams in this shootout with a wild 4th quarter. How wild was it, you ask? Well after 3 quarters of play, the score was 16-13 Raiders. The Jets pulled within a TD with 1:57 to go but decided to kick it away instead of trying the onside kick because Herm Edwards had 2 timeouts and too much confidence in his defense. An 80-yard Charlie Garner TD run later, and the Raiders had clinched a spot in the divisional playoffs that would end in perhaps the most infamous play of the decade.
2003: Falcons 27, Packers 7: A solid beating all the way around and a pretty uneventful if you don't take into account the fact that this was the first time that Brett Favre lost a home playoff game. The Falcons would go on to lose to the Eagles in the divisional playoffs in what would be the Eagles' last win ever at Veterans Stadium.
2004: Panthers 29, Cowboys 10: The streak of no Cowboy playoff wins since 1996 continued with somewhat surprising Panther beatdown of the the Cowboys. Jake Delhomme was actually semi-competent back then as he would ultimately lead to a disputed NFC Championship and a Super Bowl loss to the Patriots.
2005: Jets 20, Chargers 17 in OT: More playoff heartbreak for Marty Schottenheimer in this thriller which featured a game-tying touchdown by San Diego in the final minute of the game only to drive down the field again in overtime but to see rookie kicker Nate Kaeding miss a game-winning FG in overtime. After the miss, the Jets drove down the field and Doug Brien booted the game-winner sending the entire city of San Diego in a state of heartbreak. The Jets however would be given a taste of their own medicine in Pittsburgh as Doug Brien missed a game-winning field goal in overtime that was followed by a successful game-winning field goal by Jeff Reed.
2006: Patriots 28, Jaguars 3: This game was an exception of the rule. So much so that I don't even remember it. Pats went on to lose to the Broncos the next week.
2007: Seahawks 21, Cowboys 20: If you ask me what my favorite non-Philly sports moment of the last decade is, my answer would right away and without hesitancy be Romo's fumble in this game. It was a back and forth affair throughout and after Seattle scored a TD late in the game to give themselves a 21-20 lead, Dallas took the ensuing kick to the 8-yard line and with 1:19 left it looked like Gramatica would kick an easy 19-yard field goal to force Seattle's hand at a miracle drive, but a different miracle happened that to this day haunts the career of Tony Romo. He dropped the snap and despite recovering the ball, could not pick up the first down. The Seahawks were able to run out the clock in victory, but they would have no such luck as they lost in OT to the Bears in the divisional playoffs. And just because it amuses me so much, here's the video of The Drop.
2008: Jaguars 31, Steelers 29: The Jaguars squandered a 28-10 lead to the Steelers who scored 19 unanswered points. But with time winding down in the 4th, David Garrard worked some late game magic with his feet to put the Jaguars in position where Josh Scobee could kick the game-winning field goal. The Jaguars lost in the divisional playoffs to the then undefeated New England Patriots.
2009: Chargers 23, Colts 17 in OT: Nate Kaeding got a bit of redemption in this game by kicking a game-tying field goal with 31 seconds left. However, it was Darren Sproles' 328 all-purpose yards and his game-winning touchdown run in overtime that proved the difference as the San Diego Chargers defeated the Colts to advance to the divisional playoffs, where they would lose to the future Super Bowl champions, Pittsburgh Steelers.
2010: Eagles ??, Cowboys ??: ???
How was the Carolina/Philadelphia conference championship disputed? If I recall, Ricky Manning Jr. made the Eagles (and their fans) look like complete losers.
ReplyDelete@ Robert In Arkansas:
ReplyDeleteGreg Favors' cheap shot knocking McNabb out of the game.
Allegations that several of the Panthers were on steroids during that game.
That's how.
The Eagles may have lost the game, but it was that Panthers team that were the true losers in life that night. Simply pathetic.
So how did Tampa screw the Eagles the year before? How is Dallas going to screw the Eagles later tonight? How will ________ screw the Eagles in 2015?
ReplyDelete@ Robert: Did I say that Tampa screwed the Eagles the year before and that was also a disputed championship?
ReplyDelete