Wild Card Sunday Recap

A quick recap of Sunday's action:

New England 37, New York Jets 16 - Teacher vs. Student. Mentor vs. Protege. All of that stuff is fine, but the bottom line was this was the playoff-savvy New England Patriots going up against a fairly young and inexperienced team. New England had the benefit of playing at home, and this was a game that New England should've won by 21 points.

And they did.

The Patriots used a balance attack on offense (34 passes, 36 runs) and the front seven of the defense kept Jets quarterback Chad Pennington off-balance through blitzes and pushing the pocket, forcing Pennington to move outside of the pocket, and outside of his comfort zone.

Overall, it was a good, confidence-building game for the Patriots as they are about to take on the team widely recognized as being the best in the NFL, the San Diego Chargers.

Philadelphia 23, New York Giants 20 - I'll give the Giants credit: They made this game much closer than I thought it would be.

Tiki Barber and Plaxico Burress played well, and even Eli Manning didn't play horrendously. What ultimately did the Giants in were the mental mistakes (9 penalties for 55 yards) and burning two of their timeouts on one 4th quarter drive.

Without a full complement of timeouts, the Giants had no way of stopping the Eagles from milking the clock on their ensuing possession, and the Eagles kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired.

The Eagles move on to play the Saints next week, and for the Giants, well, several key figures will be moving on, as well.

General Manager Ernie Accorsi and running back Tiki Barber are retiring, and it's likely that head coach Tom Coughlin could be fired after once again failing to meet high expectations.

Mac's Game Balls (Part 2)

Offense: Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots - Brady was his playoff self on Sunday. 22-34 for 212 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Brady moved well in the pocket, rarely put the ball in harms way, and delivered passes to 7 different receivers in the Patriots 37-16 win.

Defense: Asante Samuel, CB, New England Patriots - Samuel's interception return for a touchdown iced the game for New England. Samuel had 10 INT's in the regular season, which certainly will drive up his asking price when he hits free agency in March. Adding a game-clinching interception for a touchdown probably adds a few Benjamins to that figure.

Special Teams: Koy Detmer, QB/Holder, Philadelphia Eagles - Andy Reid must be a clairvoyant. This week, David Akers came to him and said he wasn't entirely comfortable with his holder, so Reid quickly signed Detmer, who previously held for Akers in his last stint with Philly. Nobody paid much attention to this until the ball slipped through Tony Romo's hands in Seattle on Saturday night.

Having a comfortable relationship between the snapper, holder and kicker can sometimes be the difference between winning and going home. Reid recognized this, made the move, and it paid off on Sunday night.

The Shove Drowned Out the Flashbulbs

I'm not going to go all Ron Borges here, but there's something about Bill Belichick's post-game shove of Boston Globe cameraman Jim Davis that irks me.

In case you missed it, while Belichick made his way to mid-field for the much-anticipated handshake between He and Jets coach Eric Mangini, Belichick did his best Patrick Swayze in "Road House" impression by shoving Boston Globe photographer Jim Davis' camera back into his face. He gave Mangini a quick hug before shoving his way through more photographers to get to get as far away from the field as possible.

I know, Bill. It must be tough dealing with a situation that you yourself created.

YOU were the one who got angry with Eric Mangini for doing his job by attempting to improve his football team by signing Matt Chatham. YOU got even angrier when Mangini expressed an interest in Deion Branch. After all, it was YOU who allowed Branch to seek a trade and a new contract right before the season after Branch wouldn't fire his agent in order to get the mega-millions contract the Patriots were more than willing to give him.

The irony is delicious.

The New England Patriots consider themselves the NFL's "model franchise" in that they win with high-character players who check their egos at the door and buy into a superior system. Yet that system is designed and overseen by a man who rarely demonstrates, on or off the field, the sort of character the team demands of its players.

Look, Bill Belichick is a great coach. He may even be, in fact, a genius. But he doesn't have the first clue on how to be a person.

Dealing with the media may be viewed upon as a mind-numbing chore for Belichick, but he has to realize that it comes with the territory. If he doesn't like it, quit or go back to coordinating defenses. Nobody is saying that Belichick has to feign like he enjoys it, but he doesn't need to physically abuse a photographer who is just doing his job.