Special teams played a limited role in this showcase of tough and aerial football. Both teams had a running game that was halted to a mere trot. Washington’s Clinton Portis ran for 52 yards on 20 carries while Seattle’s Shaun Alexander meekly provided 46 yards on 15 yards. 2.6 and 3.1 yards per carry respectively. Seattle’s defense was fast and effective in shutting down a potentially dangerous Washington running game.

Then again you knew this. It's all blah, blah, blah.

Seattle Seahawks 35 Washington Redskins 14

Well, it didn’t take Washington head coach Joe Gibbs long to ride into the Washington sun. After getting knocked from the playoffs, Gibbs resigned as head coach of the Washington Redskins. Rallying around Sean Taylor’s death, as it turns out, exposed the Redskins as a decent team who happened to over achieve down the stretch.

It really did look as though Washington was going to have a shot at victory and then a momentous momentum shift kicked in the 4^th quarter: kicker Shaun Suisham missed a 30 yard field goal that would have given the Redskins a four point lead. Points off turnovers are killers. It’s like walking a batter in the bottom of the ninth with nobody out in baseball.  

Result? Seattle blitzed for 22 points after that.

Speaking of the ‘Hawks, the Home Warriors Seahawks really don’t like running the football all that much despite the presence of Shaun Alexander. Launching the darn ball is more up their alley.  Hey, they’d fit right into the Canadian Football League. They can always apply entry to the CFL if (and when given that their subpar road record) they get bounced in Green Bay next week.

Known as a physical and aggressive team, many people thought that the Jacksonville Jaguars were going to beat the inconsistent Pittsburgh Steelers. They were right. The Jags blew a 18 point lead but were able to salvage the game on a crucially clutch run by quarterback David “Low Key” Garrard late in the game that set up the winning field goal with under a minute to go in the game.

Jacksonville Jaguars 31 Pittsburgh Steelers 29

As is the case with any post mortem revisionism in sports, fans found much to talk about Pittsburgh’s head coach Mike Tomlin’s alleged weak math skills.  Twice he elected to go for the two point conversion with one of them being from the 12 yard line following a penalty.

Now in case some of you who suffer from BAS – Bad Arithmetic Syndrome – that means the Steelers left two points on the table. Well looka here, they lost by – you guessed it – two points!

To focus on this is a little unfair and a little proper context could help to explain the decision. At the time, it made sense as on both occasions the Steelers were trying to make it a one possession game.

Still, from the 12 yard line? Yeesh. But even if they kick that extra point they still lose. As if that wasn’t enough, Josh Scobee shanked a 46 yard field goal that could have conceivably given the Steelers the win. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. In the end, Jacksonville made the plays and that’s why they won.

Here are some interesting stats from the game: David Garrard completed an anemic 9 of 21 passes for 140 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. His counterpart Ben Roethlisberger hammered 29 of 42 for 337 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Hines Ward had a great day catching the ball with 10 receptions for 135 yards but no TD’s.

Despite being outplayed by an offensively gifted Pittsburgh side, clearly Jacksonville’s stubborn and ferocious defense – particularly the defensive line that simply mauled Pittsburgh’s O-line - got the job done in this one.

The New York Giants marched into Tampa Bay and slay the Buccaneers leaving nothing but a dead behind. If the Seahawks can’t stand to play away from home, the Giants simply love taking their act on the road. New York is now 8-1 globetrotting the nation as they head into Dallas.  The key for New York was the defense as it was sharp enough to force Bucs QB Jeff Garcia onto the plank so to speak. This allowed for the running game and QB Eli Manning to take control and turn in a solid performance surprisingly making less errors than a normally efficient Garcia. Manning hooked up nicely with receiver Amani Toomer who caught seven balls for 74 yards and a touchdown.

New York Giants 24 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 14

So did Eli buy some love with this performance? Is Peyton jr. another Trent Dilfer? Overall, the Giants look awfully good. Now Manning has a date with Dallas Cowboys QB Tony “I’m just a gigolo” Romo next week. Is Jessica Simpson to Romo what Yoko was to Lennon?

Stay tuned.

In Tampa the attention will turn to coach John Gruden. Though he brought the Bucs their first Super Bowl, the fact is they have not won a playoff game under his watch since 2003. This team needs to find an offence – bad.

It was ugly but the Chargers won their first playoff game in 13 years. There’s nothing much else to say here. Sure the Titans are well coached team and are a formidable defensive unit but…they have the ability to attract…I got nothing. Sorry.

San Diego Chargers 17 Tennessee Titans 6

Ok. This was a game that if there was a cheap chick flick on TV, you were going to watch it. Makes you wonder what if the Indianapolis Colts played a tiny bit harder in the last game of the season against the Titans?

Would the Cleveland Browns have grounded San Diego?