Stronger teams still played like it
All the Buffalo Bills had to do to make the playoffs was beat a Pittsburgh team playing Brian St. Pierre at quarterback, Willie Parker at running back and a bunch of other no-names.
That they couldn’t says a lot about how well Bill Cowher has motivated the Steelers, about his integrity, and about Pittsburgh’s chances in the playoffs.
Equally impressive was the way Atlanta played in Seattle behind rookie quarterback Matt Schaub, and the fact New England — playing the NFL’s worst team — used Tom Brady for three quarters just to keep him sharp in the final game.
“We were playing to win this football game,” Cowher said after the Steelers beat the Bills 29-24 Sunday. “These are the same guys we may need in the playoffs.”
The Steelers-Bills game was one of several in the final two weeks in which teams with nothing to gain or lose played teams battling for playoff spots or playoff position.
It was the only one won by the team that had no motivation, although the Falcons, who had wrapped up the NFC’s second seed, came close to forcing Seattle into a trip to St. Louis for its first-round game.
Compare Pittsburgh (and Atlanta and New England) to Philadelphia, which after clinching home-field advantage in the NFC after 14 games, was blown away in its last two games — first by the Rams, who stayed alive by beating the Eagles, and then by Cincinnati, which was playing for its second straight .500 season.
Combined score: Opposition 58, Philadelphia 17.
The Eagles play in the NFC and are superior enough to everyone else in the conference, one justification for Andy Reid to tank the final two games.
Without the injured Terrell Owens, they should be heavy favorites in the second round, when they will be at home for either Seattle, Minnesota or St. Louis, three very average teams. The Vikings, for example, lost seven of their last 10 games for the second straight season and will be at Green Bay next Sunday.
Still, only the 1967 Packers won the Super Bowl after losing the final two regular-season games. And in 1996, Denver clinched home-field advantage early, lost two of its final three games, and was eliminated in its first playoff game by a second-year Jacksonville team that had been lucky to qualify for the playoffs.
“Once we start practicing again, we’ll get the same momentum we had,” said Jevon Kearse, one of several Philadelphia stars held out Sunday against the Bengals.
In the NFC, probably true.
But the AFC figures to be much tougher. Each of the four top-seeded teams is better than Philadelphia at this point. Seedings tend to hold in the playoffs, especially with how strong teams as the Steelers, Patriots, Colts and Chargers have been this season.
San Diego, which will go to Pittsburgh if it gets by the Jets next Saturday, won in the snow in Cleveland three weeks ago, so it is accustomed to cold weather. Indianapolis, like most dome teams, has more problems outdoors in January, and Peyton Manning threw four interceptions in the AFC title game in Foxboro last season.
One other thing about the AFC’s dominance: Even before the Eagles played their scrubs in the last two games, they struggled to beat Washington 17-14 and Dallas 12-7.
So the real Super Bowl is likely to be played Jan. 23 in Pittsburgh between the Patriots and Steelers. Pittsburgh won the first meeting 34-20 on Oct. 31, breaking the Patriots’ record 21-game winning streak.
Yes, it should be a good AFC championship game.
The Super Bowl may turn out to be the anticlimax.