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"FacebookPinterest\n\nCardinals at Saints\n\nThe Pregame Hype: Can either team stop anyone? The Cardinals are coming off the highest-scoring playoff duel of all time, a 51-45 overtime game against the Green Bay Packers. The Saints have the NFL's highest-scoring offense, but have lost their last three after starting 13-0. Both teams come defense-optional. So, it's fixin' to be a shootout, with memories of the Cardinals' improbable Super Bowl run last year adding to the hype of an upset special.\n\nThe Reality: Road teams often talk about needing to get off to a fast start, and the Cards silenced the crowd with a 69-yard touchdown run by Tim Hightower on the first play. The spirit of New Orleans couldn't be quieted for long, though, and after that the Saints went back to what made them so good this season and never looked back: they blew the doors off on offense and let their defense play with a big lead. Drew Brees was unstoppable, and with the Saints finding offense from everywhere, racking up 21 and then another 24 unanswered points, the Saints' defense played tight coverage, hit hard, and never let Cardinals QB Kurt Warner find his rhythm or his big plays downfield.\n\nMVP: Reggie Bush. With everyone focused on slowing Brees and his receivers, the former Heisman winner gave the Saints an unexpected dimension of firepower, turning in 217 all-purpose yards, including a 46-yard touchdown run and an 83-yard touchdown return. This looked like the vintage-USC Trojans Reggie tonight; where the hell has he been all these years?\n\nThe Final: New Orleans 45, Arizona 14. Upset special? Hardly. The Cardinals were grounded.\n\nRavens at Colts\n\nThe Pregame Hype: The Colts haven't done much to earn mojo points lately, having given up the chance at a perfect season by resting starters in their last two games. The fans aren't happy, the players aren't happy, and the Ravens are fresh off a 33-14 walloping of the Patriots on the road. Still, despite a limp-wristed running game and an undersized defense weak against the run, four-time MVP Peyton Manning should make enough plays against a depleted Ravens secondary to pull out the win.\n\nThe Reality: That depleted Ravens secondary actually did a good job in coverage, but this game was a case study in Peyton Manning. The Sheriff (people call him that, apparently), with his ability to see the entire field and throw the ball with flawless precision, would break even the perfect defense. Manning did just enough to build a comfortable lead, throwing two touchdowns in the last two minutes of the first half to go up 17-3 before letting the defense take over. The Ravens, who weren't running well to begin with, were forced to abandon their game plan and ended up with only 19 rushing attempts after 52 the week before. In a low-scoring game, those Manning passes combined with the Ravens shooting themselves in the foot was enough in a game that wasn't nearly as close as it could have been.\n\nMVP: Manning always qualifies, as they won despite averaging a disastrous 1.7 yards per rush. But how about that Colts defense? The undersized Colts defenders shut down the Ravens' vaunted power running game when things were still close, and befuddled Joe Flacco when they came out passing.\n\nThe Final: Indianapolis 20, Baltimore 3. The Sheriff was The Surgeon on this day, and dissected a good Ravens team slowly and methodically. When a game feels over at 7-3, you know The Sheriff's in town. (Sorry. I can't get tired of that nickname.)\n\nCowboys at Vikings\n\nThe Pregame Hype: On paper, this is a matchup between two of the more complete teams in the league. The Cowboys are the hotter team with the hottest defense, winning their last four games while pitching two shutouts. The Vikings are stacked on both sides of the ball and are led by sports media's favorite son, Brett Favre. But they also backed their way into the playoffs, losing three of their last four. It looks to be a close one. But hey, it's Brett Favre; if his passion for the game and Southern charms don't dominate defenses, they sure did dominate my TV all week.\n\nThe Reality: The Cowboys moved the ball early but failed to come away with points. After that, the Vikings defense came alive, especially their front line, with the Williams Wall of Pat and Kevin stuffing the middle and All-Pro end Jared Allen bringing heat off the edge. Tony Romo was running for his life. Favre, meanwhile was Vintage Favre, and dodged the Cowboys' pass rush to deliver two early touchdowns to Sydney Rice and another one late. They were lights-out on both sides of the ball, and the Cowboys were overwhelmed. The Vikes' decision to throw a touchdown pass up 27-3 with under two minutes left smelled of running up the score; the football gods won't be pleased.\n\nMVP: The Vikings' front four had Romo under siege from the beginning, racking up 6 sacks while pressuring him endlessly and preventing him from finding open receivers downfield. We could give it to Favre, but you'll be drowning in ESPN's feel-good Favre stories for the next week, so why pile it on?\n\nThe Final: Vikings 34, Cowboys 3. For all the talk about momentum, the rested home favorites really took a stick to the red-hot underdogs this week. Yikes.\n\nJets at Chargers\n\nThe Pregame Hype: The Chargers can't run the ball or defend all that well, but they sure can throw a pretty deep ball. The Jets are good at... all the other things, with the league's best running game and defense, and weakness really only in their pick-happy rookie QB, Mark Sanchez. Something's got to give. The Chargers were the NFL's hottest team, but their hype has cooled off during the bye week, and all bets seemed off after the Jets' drubbing of the Bengals last week. Still, most of the experts were on the same page as Yahoo Sports's Jason Cole: \"Mark Sanchez is going to have to come up with a few more plays this time if the Jets are going to hang with the high-powered Chargers offense. Even with [All-Pro cornerback] Darrelle Revis checking Vincent Jackson, New York's run comes to an end.\"\n\nThe Reality: Too bad Revis Island and the rest of that staunch Jets defense stifled the Chargers early and often. The Chargers, as expected, racked up a lot more long plays, but had nothing to show for it early except a lone Rivers touchdown dart to Kris Wilson. The Jets failed to get a first down until halfway through the second quarter, but their defense held the Chargers to a season-low 14 points, and a key play gave them the close win.\n\nThat Key Play: When your opponent can't get any offense going, it's probably inadvisable to allow them a 16-yard touchdown drive. Leading 7-3 in the third quarter, the normally-steady Philip Rivers threw a misguided pass to either Antonio Gates or Vincent Jacksonwho were not watching the ball, and watching it from afar, respectivelyand straight into the hands of Jets safety Brian Leonard. The Jets scored to take the lead and never looked back.\n\nThe MVP: The Jets' D played, amazingly, but let's give the spotlight to Shonn Greene. The Jets, for all their running prowess, had no big plays from the position until the unheralded rookie from Iowa exploded on a 53-yard touchdown run that put the game away. He finished with 128 yards on 23 carries despite his quarterback throwing for only 100; the Colts will have something to look out for.\n\nSpecial SectionThe Goat: Gang Green? More like Kaeding Kryptonite. In a 2006 playoff game against the Jets as a rookie, Nate Kaeding missed a 40-yard field goal at the end of regulation that allowed the Jets to win in overtime. Four years later, the now-All-Pro kicker missed from 36, 57, and 40 yards again in a game his team would lose by three.\n\nThe Final: New York 17, San Diego 14. Four weeks ago, Jets coach Rex Ryan said his team was \"obviously out of the playoffs.\" Now they're in the AFC championship game. Guess it isn't just sportswriters who can't predict squat.\n\n DENNIS TANG"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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