Ok holidays are over. Lots to talk about today at work. What Santa brought, how much food you ate, what family fight happened, who got drunk at the family party…and who is going to the NFL playoffs….
Because of the hugeness of #1 I’m not going to give a huge list today. #1 will be dominating all conversations tomorrow, and actually for the whole month! But here are the top things you need to know to survive the sports football dominated world this Monday morning.
1. The NFL Playoffs have finally been decided.
San Diego Chargers
Friday was a huge day in the shopping world, Sunday was a huge day in the football world. Most years the teams going to the playoffs were predictable weeks ahead (does that sentence even make sense? It sounds sporty….Hmm). In any case, it is usually easy to see who would be going to the playoffs and the wildcard game was like a mere formality. This year, it all came down to the last week–actually, the last game–of the regular season. (NOTE: I made a huge oops a few weeks ago in my discussion of the playoffs due to an inaccurate blog that I read. They had a bracket already filled in with determined spots and it was WRONG! Nothing was decided until yesterday. Not amused.)
So what happened? Here’s your who’s who of who’s going to the playoffs:
WILDCARDS (Playing on Jan 3 & 4)
AFC:
Baltimore Ravens vs. Miami Dolphins
Indianapolis Colts vs. San Diego Chargers
NFC:
Atlanta Falcons vs. Arizona Cardinals
Philadelphia Eagles vs. Minnesota Vikings
BYES: (Um… worst name ever. Thought that meant they didn’t get in. These are teams that automatically placed into first round of the playoffs without having to battle in the wildcard spot because they had the best records in their divisions.There is more too it I’m sure but that’s the important part. Stupid name.)
Tennessee Titans
Pittsburgh Steelers
NY Giants
Carolina Panthers
I will be doing more analysis of the NFL playoffs later this week.
2. The New England Patriots are not going to the playoffs
Last year they were 18-0 going into the Superbowl and seemed likely to become the first NFL team in history to have a perfect winning season only the Giants stopped that. Then this year they proceeded to go 11- 4 and failed to get even into the playoffs for the first time since 2002. That did make them one of a very exclusive bunch of teams to win 11 regular season games and not make it to the playoffs!
3. The Biggest Losers… in NFL History
The Detroit Lions! Congrats guys, you lost every game! Never been done before. A full 0-16 season. Not really much else you can say about that except, they paid each of you how much this season?
um....if you want to win you have to 1. not be afraid of the football and 2. Catch the football
4. Bowls full of Roses, Sugar, Chick-fil-A, Emeralds, Oranges, Gators….and College Football
Yeah… Gotta be honest here, have absolutely no clue about any of this yet. However, heard many a conversation about them this weekend. These are…wow. No idea. Heard of some of them like the Rose Bowl and know it’s College Football. I’ll cover more about this later this week but for now, here is the breakdown of who won and when and what bowls are still coming up!
look how pretty football can be! The Rose Bowl on New Year's Day
and because I need a 5th thing….
5. Boston’s Win Streak was Snapped on Christmas
The LA Lakers snapped Boston’s franchise record 19-game winning streak as a nice present for them in a grueling game on Christmas. The C’s then went on to lose again Friday night but bounced back with avengance on Sunday with a 108-63 stomping against the Sacramento Kings.
About the author: Jennifer Taglione is the owner of this fabulous website Stiletto Sports. Despite writing well over 500 posts, she still maintains that she is not a sports writer! She is however a huge fan of Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, Mark Sanchez, the Celtics, and totally kicks butt on March Madness brackets! Connect with her by following her on Twitter @StilettoSportsJ and subscribing to her weekly newsletter. For more info check out the About the Editor page!
Comments & Feedback
2 Responses
Interesting post, Jen! What a remarkable turn-around for the Miami Dolphins, so hopefully the hapless Detriot Lions will take heart and make the necessary changes to regroup. The great mystery surrounding the NFL Playoffs this year is which team will finally put together a consistent effort to win the Vince Lombardi Championship Trophy.
[Reply]
Posted on December 29th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Thanks Al! I’m assuming the Vince Lombardi Championship Trophy is the shiny football trophy the winners get at the Superbowl
hehe just kidding! Can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m really looking forward to sitting down later this week and reviewing the teams and making my own picks!
[Reply]
Posted on December 29th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Leave us some love!