Eric Heise dot Com ~ The Monday Analysis 9 January 2006 ~ A Writer's March

A wild Wild Card Weekend! Road teams rule. And a wild time was had by all at the Razor. Let's check out the world champs playing a Florida team in the cold.

At the half with a score of 7-3 in favor of the world champs, if looked as if the AFC Wild Card game at Gillette would turn out to be a defensive struggle, a slugfest between two teams playing lousy offense.

The problem is that Jacksonville stayed in the locker room during the half, and the Patriots made their appropriate adjustments to rake in a 28-3 win.

Tom Brady (15-27 fro 201 yards and 3 TDs, 116.4 rating) played a sloppy first half, and the running game was segregated to Kevin Faulk with 6 carries for 51 yards. Faulk also had 4 receptions for 45 yards. Corey Dillon was unproductive with 17 carries for 40 yards. The Defenses poured on the heat, keeping it a tight game in the first half.

"The outcome is what is important and we won the game," Dillon said after the game. "Whenever I get

the opportunity to go in there I want to be productive and me and Kevin (Faulk) we kind of mix it up and that keeps them off balance."

As part of the audience at the Razor Saturday night, I can tell you the place was rocking, right from the start with Boston's own Kay Hanley (formerly of Letters to Cleo) singing the National Anthem to fireworks and muskets a blazing.

The Krafts also poured on the big guns, fireworks going off in the practice field after each touchdown, and it seemed like it was a heavily battled war going on Route 1 later in the evening.

The second half started off guns a blazing, when Brady found David Givens in the endzone for a 3 yard touchdown pass. Four minutes later, Brady found tight end Ben Watson for a 63 yard touchdown reception, one that broke two tackles. A few minutes after that, Asante Samuel picked off Byron Leftwich for a 73 yard touchdown.

Willie McGinest had a monster game with 4.5 sacks, giving him 16 lifetime in the postseason. Both figures are now NFL records. Rosevelt Colvin also had a nice sack, and Richard Seymour tagged teamed one with McGinest.

The Patriots have now won 10 consecutive post season games, an NFL record. Bill Belichick is 11-1 in the post season, also a record.

"Jacksonville is a very physical team, tough football team," said head coach Bill Belichick after the game, "and the first half, 7-3, was a hard fought half. Fortunately, we were able to put a good drive together there in the third quarter to make some plays and play pretty competitively on defense."

Tedy Bruschi dressed for the game, but never saw a snap. He wasn't needed. Monty Beisel and Mike Vrabel handled the middle linebacking slots just fine all night. Leftwich was the leading rusher with 26 yards on three attempts. Fred Taylor was held to 8 carries for 24 yards.

We're off to Denver, and hopefully a better outcome than what happened in October.

Jim Haslett was FINALLY fired from the New Orleans Saints after a 3-13 season.

The Bills FINALLY fired GM and President Tom Donahue. Owner Ralph Wilson, 87, resumed the president title, and apologized Buffalo fans for not being more competitive in the past five years. And to add to the blast from the past, hall of fame coach Marv Levy is back with the Bills as VP of Football operations. Levy, 81, took the Bills to four straight Super Bowls, all losses.

The Bills also fired offensive coordinator Tom Clements, defensive line coach Tim Krumrie, Don Blackmon (linebackers), Steve Szabo (defensive backs) and Frank Verducci (offensive line).

The Raiders fired head coach Norv Turner after two seasons, and compiling a 9-23 record.

Herman Edwards will indeed become the next head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. The switch was speculated earlier in the season, and Edwards has two years left on his contract with the Jets. However, he told his staff this past Thursday he would no return to New Jersey regardless if a deal could be made between the Jets and Chiefs. As a result, the Chiefs need only to hand over a fourth round pick for Edwards.

The Viking replaced Mike Tice is just under a week, hiring Eagles offensive coordinator Brad Childress. Childress has been the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia since 2002. Prior, he was the Eagles' quarterbacks coach since 1999.

The Eagles hired former Lions head coach Marty Mourningweg as Offensive Coordinator.

Washington Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams was taken out the running for any head coach positions when Washington extended his contract with a three year, $8 million deal.

Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells said he would return for the 2006 season. Parcells and the Cowboys also agreed to a two-year extension, keeping his the head coach in Dallas through the 2007 season.

The Monday Analysis POWER Rankings

The Playoff ranks shove the pretenders to the bottom.

1. Indy (14-2). Note to the Colts: You host the Steelers next week, who beat up a much more physical Bengals team this week. You may win next week, but you may not want to.

2. Seattle (13-3). The 'Hawks have to make sure they don't make the mistake Tampa Bay and others made this season by letting the Redskins hanging around.

3. Chicago (11-5). It'll be a battle for the ages hosting Carolina in the divisional. Stop the run, establish the running game, and Carolina is held in control.

4. Denver (13-3). Hosting the World Champs, and a second chance for Bill Belichick to get it right on you. Your only saving grace is that he has six days, and not all seven to prepare.

5. New England (11-6). Every team still in the playoffs watched Saturday night, and said, "Oh this is not good for us. They're still around."

6. Pittsburgh (12-5). If the Steelers play as physical against Indy as they did Cinci, Bill Cowher will play his team in the Conference game in two weeks.

7. Carolina (11-5). Dominating performance on the road. Beware, Chicago. Here come the Panthers.

8. Washington (11-6). Big win being on the short side of the total yards and time of possession stats. Way to keep Tampa in check. Off to Seattle, Joe Gibbs.

9. Cincinnati (11-6). Bad luck, but worse playing cashed them in. Chad Johnson shouldn't have mouthed off so much this season. It's a tired act, Chad. Just play the damn game.

10. Tampa Bay (11-6). Jon Gruden's Bucs are too young to be in the post season.

11. Jacksonville (12-5). Whether it was a mistake to play Byron Leftwich or not had nothing to do with Tom Brady tossing three touchdowns. Jax came in unprepared to play for sixty minutes.