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" As twenty teams headed into the off-season to escape a less-than-memorable year, Wildcard weekend was d\u00E9j\u00E0 vu all over again for the twelve remaining contenders, as the Texans and Bengals met for a rematch of last year&amp;#039;s first round, and the Packers and Vikings faced off for the second week in a row. But with a last-second change at quarterback in Minnesota, and more than enough Ray Lewis speeches, you would think the first round would have lived up to the hype. Instead, Houston squeaked by the Bengals 19-13, Green Bay blew away backup Joe Webb (after starter Christian Ponder sat out with a triceps injury), and the Ravens offense waited until the second half to pick up steam. Fans were left chanting for rookies Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson to save them from a lackluster weekend in the NFL, and as both rose to the occasion, Seattle&amp;#039;s Seahawks came out victorious. But whether your team&amp;#039;s win was spirited or simply uninspired, it still means they \u2014 along with Texans&amp;#039; cheerleader twins Michelle and Rachel, back for a second helping of MMC \u2014 are packing up their letterman jackets and heading into round two of the NFL playoffs. After all, two is usually better than one. LINDSAY MCCORMICK: It&amp;#039;s round two with the Texans vs. Bengals in the Wild Card game, and \u2014 not-so coincidentally \u2014 round two with you girls for Monday Morning Cheerleader this season. Hopefully, this interview will end as well as the game did, Saturday. Was this the loudest game you&amp;#039;ve ever cheered at? MICHELLE: It was loud, but I wouldn&amp;#039;t say the loudest. Rachel, didn&amp;#039;t you think the loudest game was the Falcons game we played last year, when T.J. Yates was quarterback? RACHEL: Yeah. It wasn&amp;#039;t very loud tonight. The roof was closed, but it was still freezing. Last year when we played the Bengals, it was the first time we had been to the playoffs, so maybe that&amp;#039;s why it was louder. LM: So are the fans getting spoiled and are harder to impress now? RACHEL: I think the bar was raised this season. Now, if we have a few mess-ups, then people get really critical of our team. People&amp;#039;s opinions have been up and down. Just watch, now people will say, &amp;quot;I knew they were going to win.&amp;quot; Oh really? Because last week you were pretty hard on us. LM: It seemed like the media started to count you guys out of this after going 1-3 the to end the regular season. What happened in those games? RACHEL: We can&amp;#039;t really explain it. One week we were winning and the next we weren&amp;#039;t. Even Michelle and I were looking at each other out there and wondering what was going on. LM: Quarterback Matt Schaub has been getting a lot of heat for those losses. Do you think that&amp;#039;s fair? Or should he be playing a little better because of all the talent around him? RACHEL: It&amp;#039;s just easiest to blame the quarterback because he&amp;#039;s the leader of the offense. But, both of us don&amp;#039;t think he&amp;#039;s the only reason. MICHELLE: With the O-line, running back Arian Foster, and receiver Andre Johnson, you would think that would help, but I don&amp;#039;t know. LM: If you had to give him a grade for his first playoff start tonight, what would you give him? MICHELLE: Can we pass or fail him, instead? We&amp;#039;d both pass him. LM: Apparently, so would a lot of people. Schaub was one of eight Texans players to make the Pro Bowl this year. Has it simply become a glorified vacation to Hawaii for these guys, since no one wants to get hurt? RACHEL: I just remember Drew Brees kicking a field goal last year. That was awesome. As a squad, we all voted for three-year veteran Vanessa to go as a cheerleader, and it&amp;#039;s a lot of work for her. She has to watch videos and learn all the routines. MICHELLE: If the cheerleaders have to do some work, then it&amp;#039;s probably work for the players, too. LM: I always loved watching Chad Johnson/Ochocinco put on a show in the six Pro Bowls he played in. Any chance the Texans would ever sign a free agent like that? MICHELLE: No way. We select players also based on character. We don&amp;#039;t want anyone who could possible hinder the image of the team. We wouldn&amp;#039;t take quarterback Vince Young because we thought he was a Prima Donna. That may have been a rumor, but this whole organization is very big on maintaining a certain image. That&amp;#039;s why our outfits aren&amp;#039;t super crazy. LM: So maybe some of the moves the Jets organization has made would not be a good fit for you guys? RACHEL: Yeah, I don&amp;#039;t see us bringing in Plaxico Burress anytime soon. And someone already has the number 85 on our team. LM: It appears the Texans organization is doing a few things right. Wade Phillips has been phenomenal as a defensive coordinator. Look at the defense last year and again this year. Even tonight, wide receiver A.J. Green didn&amp;#039;t have a single reception in the first half, and the Bengals went 0-for-9 on third downs. MICHELLE: They always talk up A.J. Green on the NFL Network, so I was shocked. It says a lot about our defense. They were on fire. And cornerback Johnathan Joseph had that awesome interception. LM: Will this defense be able to stop Tom Brady next weekend, or will it be more like the Monday Night Football game in week 14? MICHELLE: Funny you should say that, we were just having that conversation in the locker room. Rachel thought it would be funny if somehow Brady broke his arm. RACHEL: I don&amp;#039;t want us to break it. I just was hoping he would trip while walking on the sidewalk. LM: Maybe he&amp;#039;ll have a deep tricep bruise and we&amp;#039;ll find out a few minutes prior to kickoff that the backup, Ryan Mallett, will be starting. You never know in the NFL. Will the Texans wear their letterman jackets to Foxborough? MICHELLE: Didn&amp;#039;t they wear them last time they went to New England? They probably shouldn&amp;#039;t wear them this time. LM: Earlier in the season, you guys told me you thought it would be Falcons vs. Texans in the Super Bowl. Do you still want to stick with that prediction? MICHELLE: I&amp;#039;m going to switch mine to Niners vs. Texans. The Niners have been impressive with Colin Kaepernick. The Seahawks are great, but RG3 is too awesome for them. RACHEL: I&amp;#039;ll stick with the Falcons and Texans. I think our team is a good bet.    -- Lindsay McCormick (pictured at left) has covered the NFL for ESPN The Magazine and CBS. She is the former host of &amp;quot;The Fan&amp;quot; on Comcast SportsNet, where she was the sideline reporter for the Portland Trail Blazers. And she&amp;#039;ll be back right here on The Culture Blog every week with Monday Morning Cheerleader. Plus, stay tuned for Tom Chiarella on Monday Night Football (now with more Peyton!), Chris Connelly on Steve Smith, and more. Also: beer. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/sports/interviews/a17777/houston-texans-cheerleaders-wildcard-game-14947863/>