What Happened?
The playoff games this week turned out rather odd. The home teams lost three of the four games, with only the Indianapolis Colts holding serve.
Minnesota at Green Bay: Turnovers told the story of this game. The Packers played the Vikings about even if you ignore the four interceptions. It is a very rare team that can go -4 in the turnover department and win the game.
Denver at Indianapolis: Peyton was the difference. Jake Plummer actually stepped up and had a pretty good game--a little better than 8 yards per attempt, only one pick. The rushing games were about even. But Peyton was averaging almost 14 yards
per attempt, which is surreal.
Jets at Chargers: There's no outstanding difference in the statistics, just minor advantages to the Jets all around--8.5 yards per attempt passing to 7.6 yards per attempt, one fewer turnover, 126 yards rushing to 100 (on a few less carries).
St. Louis at Seattle: Same as the Jets/Chargers; a lot of little advantages for the Rams.
How did the quarterbacks do? All of the quarterbacks did well with one exception: Number 4 for Green Bay. In all the games, the quarterback with the higher passer rating won. Manning beat out Plummer 145.7-103.1; Culpepper over Favre 137.1-55.4; Bulger bested Hasselbeck 97.5-93.3 and Pennington outdueled Brees, 115.6 to 101.2.
