Wild Card Wonderment: Sunday

Giants 24, Buccaneers 14

The Giants now go to play the Cowboys, who beat them twice in the regular season. Is "it's hard to beat a team three times in one season" just a meaningless cliche? We all remember the Vikings, swept by the Packers in 2004, going into Lambeau Field and winning convincingly. The Giants can win.

Chargers 17, Titans 6

If the Chargers would have lost this game, I would have invited Charger fans to come be fans of the Vikings or something. The Chargers have averaged 11.5 wins per year the last four seasons, and this is their first playoff win in that time. Philip Rivers really stepped up, hitting his wide receivers downfield. Now the Chargers go to get their ass kicked by the Colts.

A little blizzardy goodness

At some point this weekend, while watching and thinking about playoff football, I realized that at a gut level, I have no confidence in Tarvaris Jackson. I thought about how the Vikes lost two overtime games this year (that each featured offensive turnovers in overtime that helped the opponent), and how those games going differently could have put the Vikes in the playoffs--and then I pictured Tarvaris Jackson in a road playoff game throwing interceptions. I realize that when Jackson drops back, I don't have confidence that a good play is going to happen, and I am terrified that something bad is going to happen. Of course that all can change in the future if Jackson becomes a consistently accurate quarterback that makes good decisions. But right now, at a completely irrational gut reaction, I just don't believe in him.

The Pioneer Press has an interesting article on how the Vikings can appeal to free agents. In the article, here's what Ben Leber has to say: "I think we're going to be one of the most dangerous teams out there, and that's no exaggeration [...] You look at the way we climbed the charts at the end of the season, and what we have playmaker wise, on offense and defense, and I really think this team is a shoo-in for the playoffs." Leber should become a Viking blogger: he talks crazy like us.

The Pioneer Press also notes some of the potentially available free agents the Vikings can pursue. I just scrolled down to look at the free agent wide receivers, and felt a dull emptiness in my soul.

Cold, Hard Football Facts has a lot of articles about this weekend's playoff games already.

Enjoy your week, suckers.