Wild Card Afterword, Part I

Luke Kuechly's fourth quarter interception sealed Carolina's
first playoff win since January 2006.

Cory Puffett

Arizona at Carolina

Cam Newton praised his defense following Carolina’s victory to open wild card weekend. Newton played a solid game, but he was absolutely right to give credit for the win to his defense.

Sure Ryan Lindley was the opposing quarterback, and sure Andre Ellington couldn’t play Saturday afternoon; but even with that handicap, it’s amazing that Carolina’s defense allowed just 78 yards of total offense to Arizona. That was a team that started the season 9-1 and has offensive guru Bruce Arians at the helm.

I picked Carolina to win and was very close to picking the correct final score (Arizona scored an extra three points), but I had no premonitions of their defense manhandling the Cardinals offense the way they did. Arizona’s two touchdown drives, and I use that term loosely, were a combined 10 plays for 47 yards consuming 4:19 of game time.

Luke Kuechly played a masterful game with 10 tackles, 2 pass deflections and an interception. Carolina may have lifted their season record to just .500, but the defense makes this a dangerous team whether they have to play in Seattle or Green Bay next week.

It didn't matter how much pressure Pittsburgh brought, Joe Flacco shrugged
it off to deliver a terrific performance Saturday night in Pittsburgh.

Baltimore at Pittsburgh

The later game was as exciting as we’ve come to expect from the Ravens-Steelers rivalry, unlike their last regular season meeting when Ben Roethlisberger tossed six touchdown passes for the second consecutive game.

I survived the 2013 postseason, so I pray I can do it again this year because Ravens fans are about to get very obnoxious. They’ll have to go into New England next weekend, but John Harbaugh has coached the Ravens to playoff victories there before and the team has plenty of reason to believe he can do so again.

Harbaugh first led the Ravens to a postseason win in New England in 2009, thanks in part to Ray Rice setting the tone with an 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. Three years later, the Ravens went into Denver to beat Peyton Manning in his first season back from injury and then won in New England a week later en route to the team’s first Super Bowl victory since 2000.

The Ravens twice lost playoff games in Pittsburgh during Harbaugh’s first five years with the team, but they returned to the Steel City with a vengeance on Saturday. They didn’t blow the Steelers off of Heinz Field, but they sure came close to it.

Justin Forsett had been inconsistent over the last quarter of the season, but the team hoped he could duplicate his 119-yard performance from last week against Cleveland. That wasn’t the case as he lost a fumble and only managed 36 yards in the contest.

Fortunately for the Ravens, their defense played great and Joe Flacco continued his playoff hot streak. The 7th-year pro out of Delaware has 13 touchdowns and no interceptions in his last five playoff starts and had a terrific game Saturday in Pittsburgh.

It’s too early to make predictions for the divisional round, but it’s safe to say I’m going to be wrestling with Ravens vs. Patriots all week as I try to make sense of that matchup and find a definitive reason to pick either team to win that game.