NFL Divisional Week

-I guess right about now is the moment we forget all about the Saints end of season woes. On Saturday, New Orleans looked once again like the team that destroyed the Jets, Eagles, and Patriots during the course of the regular season.

Its defense was solid and made a few plays, but the real strength of this team is its offense, and Drew Brees and co. were simply awesome against the Cardinals. Brees threw the ball crisply and accurately, Marques Colston was at his “matchup-nightmare” best with Devery Henderson and Jeremy Shockey supporting him well.

But the real star of the show was Reggie Bush. Running back Bush, the number 2 overall pick in 2006, came to New Orleans with almost impossible expectations to live up to. For much of his four seasons in Louisiana, he hasn't been able to live up to them. On Saturday, he did...More than.

Bush ran for 84 yards and a touchdown on 5 carries and added 4 catches for 24 yards. He also returned a punt for a touchdown that effectively put the game out of the reach of the Cardinals. He set the tone early, running over defenders on his first two carries, and ran the ball with purpose all day long. There was none of the dancing, toe tapping, or sideline to sideline running that have plagued Bush in his NFL career. He ran north and south, between the tackles, and displayed the explosive speed we've always known he's had.

What a trump card for Sean Payton to have in his back pocket for the rest of the playoffs! Any team the Saints play from here on in better have some kind of plan to stop Reggie.

-Moral of the story for the Cardinals: don't expect to win consecutive playoff games if you don't play defense. No matter how good your offense is.

-The Colts were far from terrifying for most of the game against the Ravens, but beware, this team knows how to win. Indianapolis flashed its quality at times -particularly when it scored two touchdowns in the last two minutes of the second quarter- but benefited primarily from the Ravens offensive's ineptitude.

The Colts inability to run the ball (44 yards on 23 carries, that's less than 2 yards per rush) must be a concern, but then again they might not face a front seven as frightening as the Ravens for the rest of the playoffs.

You just get the feeling that Manning and the offense had plenty left in the tank, and believe me they might well need it against the Jets next week.

-Speaking of the Colts, has a team ever had better luck with two rookie corners than Indianapolis has had this season? When they drafted Jerraud Powers in the third round from Auburn and signed Jacob Lacey, undrafted out of Oklahoma State, could they have possibly imagined the two of them contributing as much as they have their rookie seasons?

Both Powers and Lacey seized their opportunity when injuries allowed them to get some playing time early on this season and both looked like seasoned vets against the Ravens. They both had one defended pass, and Powers picked off Joe Flacco in final minutes.

But the thing is, it's not luck. The Colts have done this time and time again, making stars out of low-profile draft picks and free agents. Clint Session, Raheem Brock, Pierre Garcon, Robert Mathis, Gary Brackett, the list goes on and on.

Powers and Lacey are just the two latest products of the school of footballing excellence that is Indianapolis.

-Moral of the story for the Ravens: don't expect to win consecutive playoff games if your offense is one-dimensional. No matter how good your defense is. If there's a bigger problem area on any playoff team than the one Baltimore has at wide receiver, I'd like to hear it.

With Derrick Mason surely having his last game in purple and black, Ozzie Newsome and John Harbaugh have got to get something done either in the draft or in free-agency. Aside from Mason and Ray Rice, Joe Flacco just doesn't seem to have any chemistry with his other receivers.

-Don't take anything away from Minnesota, but where did this display by the Cowboys come from? We knew the Vikings would be better than they had been the past few weeks what with homefield advantage and a week of rest. But I don't think anyone saw this type of display coming from the Cowboys.

The team we saw on Sunday was the spitting image of the team that lost two straight back in December, and whose toughness was being questioned all over the media. Since that time it seemed the Cowboys had turned the corner, that Tony Romo and the team as a whole was playing to its potential.

Not so in the Metrodome. They didn't play well in any phase of the game but their offense was particularly bad. They did lose LT Flozell Adams to injury early on, but nonetheless did a woeful job of protecting Romo, who himself was a shadow of the QB who torched Philly twice the last two weeks. The kicker was that they had opportunity after opportunity to get back in the game, but couldn't come up with a single, big momentum-swinging play.

-In case you didn't know it yet, this Jets team is for real...and they are going to keep doing it the ugly way. It would be easy to say that New York is only in the conference championship game because of its defense, which is the best in the NFL. And to a large extent that's true.

Against the Chargers, the defense blitzed and pressured Philip Rivers all game while still maintained excellent down-field coverage. 344 might sound like a lot of yards to give up, but they also forced 6 punts San Diego punts and three field goals (all of which were missed by the way, more on that later). Most importantly, they held the Chargers to just 14 points the fewest they've scored in a game all season.

But this team is more than just a stellar defense. Rookie QB Mark Sanchez struggled at times, especially early on, but he was at his best exactly when the Jets needed him to be, leading the comeback in the fourth quarter. RB Shonn Greene continues to be a revelation, notching his second straight 100 yard playoff game. Their stalwart offensive line, which contains three pro-bowlers, was equally good in both run and pass situations.

Don't look now but we've got ourselves another Cinderella team, folks, one that was 4-6 through November 22nd. And the best part is, they don't play anything like a Cinderella team. They just play flat-out ugly, and the whole of New York is loving it.

-Play of the week: This play from Pierre Garcon stopped what could have been a real momentum shifter in the Colts-Ravens game. It showed unbelievable hustle from Garcon, who, after watching Manning's throw get picked by Ed Reed, ran forty yards back the other way just behind Reed before making the perfect diving punch-out to knock the ball loose. Reed, who's been picking quarterbacks for a long long time, never saw him coming.

-Five Superstars of the Weekend:

1) Reggie Bush, RB, Saints: Notice how Sean Payton hardly put him back in the game after he had returned that punt to pay-dirt. That tells me he wanted to make sure that not only would Bush have plenty left in the tank but also that he didn't want other teams to get too much of a look at how the Saints might use him the rest of the way. He just might be the player to watch for the rest of the playoffs.

2) Ray Edwards, DE, Vikings: Probably the most unheralded of Minnesota's four defensive linemen (the others being Jared Allen, Pat and Kevin Williams), but he was the best of the lot on Sunday. He sacked Tony Romo three times, forced a fumble, had another tackle for a loss and countless other pressures. All that despite missing a big chunk of the second half with a knee injury.

3) Darrelle Revis, CB, Jets: You really could have picked any one of the Jets starting eleven defensive players after the game they played on Sunday. But Revis is the talisman of this D, and yet again he lived up to the hype. The Chargers barely went after him, but when they did, on two deep balls to Vincent Jackson, he almost intercepted the first and did intercept the second (albeit rather fortuitously). He also didn't give up a single catch all game to any receiver he was covering; not even a five yard hitch....Will Manning dare throw his way?

4) Brett Favre, QB, Vikings: Say what you will about him running up the score on Dallas in the final minutes, but Favre was money against the Cowboys: 15 of 24 for 234 yards and 4 TDs. No signs of fatigue for the veteran, especially not during his touchdown celebrations.

5) Sidney Rice, WR, Vikings: On a weekend where some of the league's finest wide receivers were on display, Rice outshone them all. His second catch of the game was a 47-yard Favre bomb, his third a 16-yard dump-and-run for another TD. He finished with 141 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

Honorable Mention: Drew Brees, QB (Saints); Peyton Manning, QB (Colts); Ben Leber, LB (Vikings); Jason Witten, TE (Cowboys); Shonn Greene, RB and David Harris, LB (Jets); Antonio Gates, TE (Chargers).

-Five Duds of the Weekend.

1) Nate Kaeding, K, Chargers: Can you believe it? For the second postseason week in a row a kicker sits atop the dud list. That's right, a kicker. Kaeding is the Pro Bowl kicker for the AFC this season, but suffered perhaps one of the most dramatic cases of commentator jinx ever after Jim Nantz called him “an automatic” as he lined up to take his first field goal. He missed all three of his kicks in the game, from 36, 57, and 40 yards, which turned out to be a killer for the Chargers in a low-scoring game.

2) Tony Romo, QB, Cowboys: Yes, he had to deal with a lot of pressure against the Vikings, but he also held onto the ball far far too long on multiple occasions. He fumbled three times (losing two), and threw a horrible interception to Ben Leber. Welcome back playoff Tony, where have you been?

3) Bryant McFadden, CB, Cardinals: Another day of poor pass coverage from McFadden who got picked on by Drew Brees and the Saints offense. Didn't give the Cardinals offense a chance.

4) Joe Flacco, QB, Ravens: Flacco wasn't dreadful, but has to be the fall guy for Baltimore's offensive ineptitude. He did throw two picks and generally didn't bring the best out of his receivers.

5) Ladanian Tomlinson, RB, Chargers: The fact of the matter is part of the reason the Jets were able to get so much pressure on Philip Rivers because they knew they didn't have to worry so much about the Chargers run game. LT picked up just 24 yards on 12 carries. He's a long way from being the game-changer he used to be.

Honorable mention: Nick Hardwick, C (Chargers); Doug Free, OT and Mark Colombo, OT (Cowboys).