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DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS UP NEXT: EAGLES-BEARS, RAIDERS-PATRIOTS, RAVENS-STEELERS, PACKERS-RAMS It was “all about” winning last weekend. And that’s why the Baltimore Ravens, Green Bay Packers, Oakland Raiders and Philadelphia Eagles move on from Wild Card Weekend to the Divisional Playoffs this week. Following the theme of the 2001 NFL playoffs – “This Is What It’s All About!” – the foursome produced the only outcome acceptable – a win! – to proceed on in the journey to Super Bowl XXXVI on February 3 in New Orleans. “You get past your first game, it’s smooth sailing after that,” says always-confident Ravens tight end SHANNON SHARPE. Of course, Sharpe winks when he says that, but Baltimore is a perfect example that, in the NFL playoffs, anything can happen. Seeded fourth in the AFC last year, the Ravens went on to capture Super Bowl XXXV. They were the third fourth-seeded team in the AFC to advance to the Super Bowl in the past four years. The four Wild Card winners all travel this week to meet a well-rested quartet of division winners whose 2001 records enabled them to bypass the Wild Card round – the Chicago Bears, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers and St. Louis Rams. The schedule for the 2001 NFL Divisional Playoffs: NFL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFSSaturday, January 19
Sunday, January 20
In the first game of the weekend, it will be a homecoming, but the hosts may not be too hospitable. It’s the PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (12-5) at the CHICAGO BEARS (13-3) on FOX-TV (4:30 PM ET). And at least some of the people at Soldier Field will be rooting for the Eagles. Their quarterback, DONOVAN MC NABB, was born in Chicago, raised in nearby Dolton, and was an All-American high school quarterback at Mt. Carmel High School on the southside of Chicago. Saturday will be McNabb’s first start as an Eagle in his hometown, although he did run one play – and was stuffed for a ****************************************************************************************************************************************** NFL PLAYOFF FACTOIDSEASON TURNAROUNDS: Proving once again that in the NFL, every club starts the season with the chance to improve, the eight teams in this weekend’s Divisional Playoffs improved their collective record from 73-55 in 2000 to 94-34 this year. ****************************************************************************************************************************************** loss at Chicago’s four-yard line – at Soldier Field as a Philadelphia rookie on October 17, 1999. “I was a Bears fan,” says McNabb of his adolescent days. “I remember the ‘Fog Bowl,’ and SEAN LANDETA dropping the punt (for the New York Giants in a 1985 divisional playoff in Chicago). I remember the Super Bowl run. The Bears were my team growing up.” The last time the Bears and Eagles met in a playoff game was indeed in the “Fog Bowl” – a memorable 1988 divisional playoff in Chicago won by the hosts 20-12. The game began in sunny, 29-degree temperatures, but by late in the second quarter, a thick fog had rolled in from Lake Michigan, creating for the rest of the game a surreal atmosphere in which players were shadowy figures and all but obscured. The teams come into Saturday’s meeting with the NFL’s two stingiest defenses. The Bears surrendered the fewest points of any team in 2001, 203. The Eagles gave up a team record-low 208. The Chicago defense will have to contend with the elusive McNabb, who comes off a typical game in Philly’s 31-9 Wild Card triumph over Tampa Bay. He compiled 251 yards passing (for two touchdowns) and rushing -- all but 83 of the Eagles’ 334-yard total for the game. But Chicago – in its first playoff game in seven years (1994) -- is not all defense. They have offensive weapons, too. Third-year wide receiver MARTY BOOKER came into his own this year, becoming the first Bears receiver in history to post 100 receptions (an NFC second-best 100). And rookie running back ANTHONY “A TRAIN” THOMAS rushed for 1,183 yards, with four 100-yard games (including two of the top 10 rushing performances in the league) on his way to becoming the Associated Press’ NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. “In this offense,” says Bears quarterback JIM MILLER, “our m.o. is that we’re not going to throw the ball all over the field. The statistic you should care about is winning, and we are winning (Bears’ 13 wins most since 1986, 14). As a team player, I enjoy that. I’m not a fantasy football player’s dream, that’s for sure. But the bottom line is winning.” In Saturday’s primetime Divisional Playoff (CBS-TV, 8:00 PM ET), it will be the oldest of the remaining eight playoff quarterbacks against the youngest when the OAKLAND RAIDERS (11-6) visit the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (11-5). It’s Oakland’s canny, precise RICH GANNON (who celebrates his 36th birthday on Sunday) in his 14th NFL season against fresh-faced, doesn’t-get-fazed TOM BRADY (24) of New England, in his second season. That’s only a 12-year experience difference! But challenges like that didn’t seem to frazzle Brady this year. Having thrown all of three passes as a rookie, he took over for injured starter DREW BLEDSOE when the team was 0-2 and proceeded to lead it to wins in 11 of its next 14 games – and the Pats’ first AFC Eastern Division title since 1997. In the process, the Patriots joined the Bears as 2001 teams to go from “worst to first” in their divisions – from last place to a division title. The Raiders – the only team this year to repeat as division champions – are directed by the perfectionist Gannon, the first Oakland quarterback to lead the AFC in passing (95.5) since KEN STABLER (103.4) in 1976. Gannon throws to two future Pro Football Hall of Famers – wide receivers JERRY RICE and TIM BROWN. Rice comes off a spectacular Wild Card game against the New York Jets (Rice NFL Conference Call: Wednesday, January 16, 3:00 PM ET, 712/257-2360). His 183-yard effort (for one TD) was the 10th best receiving performance in NFL playoff history and third best in Oakland postseason history. Rice is the only player with two of the top 10 receiving performances in playoff history (215 yards vs. Cincinnati in Super Bowl XXIII). “You’ve got to save your best performances for when they matter the most,” says the 39-year-old Rice, who became the oldest player in playoff history to score a touchdown, and oldest with a 100-yard receiving game. The Patriots have their own long-ball threat in wideout TROY BROWN. The nine-year veteran out-ranked Rice and Tim Brown this year in catches (101) and receiving yards (1,199), finishing fourth in the AFC in the categories. He and his teammates are well-rested. “Getting a bye week in the playoffs is like a win,” Brown says. “We get to play in the second round, just like Oakland. But we can play it on our field, in front of our home crowd. We need to use all of that to our advantage. We need to control the game and keep their offense off the field. It’s not hard to figure out what we need to do. We need to execute it.” Sunday’s early game (CBS-TV, 12:30 PM ET) is the lone contest in the playoffs so far between division rivals. It also will be the 47th time since 1970 that two teams have met three times in a season. It’s the BALTIMORE RAVENS (11-6) at the AFC Central Division-champion PITTSBURGH STEELERS (13-3), who hope to improve upon the record since ’70 of the home team in a season’s third game between teams (30-16). It’s also a meeting of the top two defenses in the NFL in 2001 – Pittsburgh (258.6 yards per game, featuring the Associated Press Defensive Rookie of the Year, linebacker KENDRELL BELL, and Pro Bowl LB JASON GILDON) and Baltimore (277.9, with Pro Bowl selections DT SAM ADAMS, LB RAY LEWIS and S ROD WOODSON). The Ravens come off a dominating defensive – and potent offensive – performance in their 20-3 Wild Card win over Miami. Their defense allowed only 151 total yards and nine first downs. Their offense, with time-consuming 90- and 99-yard touchdown drives, was sparked for the second week in a row by the running of TERRY ALLEN and JASON BROOKINS, who combined for 174 yards after totaling 148 together in Week 17. The Steelers are getting an infusion in their running game with JEROME BETTIS returning. Coming off his sixth consecutive 1,000-yard season, Bettis was the eighth-leading rusher (1,072) in the AFC despite missing the season’s last five games with a groin strain. Baltimore has won its past three games in Pittsburgh, including a 13-10 triumph this year -- the lone defeat the Steelers suffered this season at their new Heinz Field home. Pittsburgh turned the tables in Baltimore later in the year, 26-21, so a total of eight points have separated the teams in 2001. “Guys are excited because they are the world champs and they know how to play in the playoffs,” says Steelers safety LEE FLOWERS. “Their defense is winning games. But they’ve got to prove that on Sunday. You can’t sit around and tell us how good you are, you’ve got to show how good you are.” How the top two defenses in the NFL in 2001 break down:
The final matchup of Division Playoff weekend could be an explosive one. It’s a meeting of arguably the two most accomplished quarterbacks in the game today. When the GREEN BAY PACKERS (13-4) travel to play the NFC Western Division-champion ST. LOUIS RAMS (14-2) Sunday (FOX-TV, 4:00 PM ET), it will be a meeting of two players who have won five of the past seven Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player Awards – quarterbacks BRETT FAVRE of Green Bay (1995-97) and KURT WARNER of St. Louis (1999, 2001). A breakdown of some key Favre-Warner categories this year and in the past several years.
The Rams come off an NFL record third consecutive 500-point season. “The fact that they can score 50 poses a little bit of a problem,” says Favre. “We’re playing at their place, on turf, in a dome, which hasn’t been to our advantage.” And although the Rams are known for their “Greatest Show On Earth” offense of Warner, RB MARSHALL FAULK and WR ISAAC BRUCE among others, the Packers can counter with their own powerhouse trio of Favre, RB AHMAN GREEN and WR ANTONIO FREEMAN. "You admire a guy like Favre who’s that great an athlete,” says Rams tight end ERNIE CONWELL. “You’re playing a guy who’s destined for the Hall of Fame. At the same time, that admiration is going to end when the ball is kicked off Sunday.”
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
2001 PLAYOFF SCHEDULE WILD CARD WEEKEND
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS
2001 FINAL NFL REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS
*Clinched division title #Clinched playoff berth |
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