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AFTER ONE WILD SEASON, HERE COMES WILD CARD WEEKEND!
“This is what it’s all about!” So says every player on the 12 teams that enter the 2001 NFL playoffs -- and the league theme that will be used throughout those playoffs -- that begin this Saturday and Sunday with Wild Card Weekend. As usual in the NFL playoffs, it’s also “about” newness. This year, six clubs – Chicago, Green Bay, New England, the New York Jets, Pittsburgh and San Francisco -- that were not in the playoffs last year are in this year. It’s the sixth year in a row that at least five new clubs made it to the playoffs. “That Super Bowl dream, “ says San Francisco 49ers head coach STEVE MARIUCCI, “is what drives everybody.” The drive starts with a Wild Card Weekend that will feature the first primetime playoff game in NFL history:
NFL WILD CARD WEEKENDSaturday, January 12
Sunday, January 13
Wild Card Weekend kicks off with back-to-back “back-to-back” games – only the 11th and 12th times in NFL history that clubs that played the final game of the season against each other then played again the following week in the first round of the playoffs. It’s only the second time in history (1993, Detroit-Green Bay, Denver-L.A. Raiders) that two “back-to-back” games were played on the same weekend, and the first time on the same day. The first 2001 NFL playoff game takes place at 4:30 PM ET (ABC-TV) and is a rematch of a Wild Card game of last year when the NFC sixth-seeded Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-7) return with revenge on their minds to Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia to face the NFC Eastern Division-champion Eagles (11-5). (The Eagles topped the Bucs in Week 17, 17-13.) In last year’s 19-5 Wild Card triumph over the Bucs, Philly’s defense allowed only 11 first downs while Eagles quarterback DONOVAN MC NABB threw for two touchdowns and ran for another. “We have something to prove to ourselves,” says Bucs Pro Bowl cornerback RONDE BARBER. “We went up there and got embarrassed last year. That’s the bottom line. We didn’t get it done.” How much “gets done” by both teams could depend on the other’s defense. Tampa Bay boasted the NFC’s third-ranked unit this season, Philadelphia the fourth-best. Plus, the Eagles surrendered the second-fewest points (208) in the conference, the Bucs the fifth-fewest (280). ****************************************************************************************************************************************** NFL PLAYOFF FACTOIDNEW TEAMS/GOOD TEAMS: There are five new division champions this year, the fourth consecutive year that at least five new teams claimed titles in the NFL’s six divisions. And 11 of the 12 playoff clubs have at least 10 wins (Tampa Bay, 9-7). ****************************************************************************************************************************************** Each team will aim to get their running game cracking right away. Both have power backs who, once they get rolling, can control a game. Philly’s DUCE STALEY, missing some games with injuries this year, rushed for 604 yards, and duplicated that with 626 yards in receptions on a career-high 63 catches. Tampa Bay’s Pro Bowl RB MIKE ALSTOTT (680 yards rushing) finished second in the NFC with a career-high 10 rushing TDs. The Bucs add scatback WARRICK DUNN cruising out of the backfield. He led NFC RBs with 26 third-down receptions. But not to forget the receivers. Everybody knows the Bucs’ Pro Bowl WR KEYSHAWN JOHNSON, who led the conference in receptions (106). Not as well-known is McNabb’s favorite receiver, JAMES THRASH, who tied for the fourth-most TD catches in the NFC (8). The first primetime playoff game in NFL history (ABC-TV, 8:00 PM ET) is a real “weren’t-we-just-here?” meeting because the sixth-seeded New York Jets (10-6) will reprise their visit of only six days ago to Oakland to – once again – meet the AFC Western Division champion Raiders (10-6). “When you know your opponent, players feel more comfortable playing them,” says New York head coach HERMAN EDWARDS, the first Jets coach to take the team to the playoffs in his first year (Edwards NFL Conference Call: Wednesday, January 9, 4:00 PM ET, 712/257-3640). “Your opponent knows your basic schemes. It just boils down to execution. You’re not going to go 360 degrees on somebody. You can put in a few wrinkles.” It wasn’t a “wrinkle,” but a straight-ahead 53-yard field goal by JOHN HALL last Sunday that earned the Jets a 24-22 triumph that lifted them into their first playoffs in three years in a tightly-fought game that saw six lead changes. The road doesn’t seem to bother the Jets, who had an AFC-best 7-1 road record this year. “A lot of people didn’t expect us to win in Oakland,” says Edwards. To do it again, New York’s third-ranked AFC pass defense – especially cornerbacks AARON GLENN and MARCUS COLEMAN – will again have to contain two of the best receivers the NFL has ever known – JERRY RICE and TIM BROWN. The two -- limited to 58 and 57 yards, respectively, last week – come off 1,000-yard seasons apiece. Rice has done it an NFL-record 13 times. Throwing to them will be the first Raiders quarterback to lead the AFC in passer rating, RICH GANNON (95.5), since KENNY STABLER in 1976. Gannon threw for the fewest interceptions (9) of any of the top-20 quarterbacks in the league this year. But he will be going against a Jets defense that finished the season with the fourth-most interceptions in the conference (20), helping the team to an NFL-best plus-18 takeaway/giveaway margin. Oakland’s second-ranked passing game certainly can be countered by the Jets’ running attack, led by the second-leading rusher in the NFL this season, CURTIS MARTIN (1,513 yards to Kansas City’s PRIEST HOLMES’ 1,555). His Jets teammates recently voted Martin the team’s most valuable player for the third year in a row. Meanwhile, the Raiders, who won seven of eight in the middle of the season, enter the playoffs having lost their last three. “It’s kind of surprising, given the way we played earlier this year, that a team this talented has lost three games,” says Oakland Pro Bowl cornerback CHARLES WOODSON. “But it’s all about how you bounce back. We’ve done the losing streak thing now. It’s time to get back on track.” In Green Bay Sunday in the early Wild Card game (FOX-TV, 12:30 PM ET), it will sure seem like old times! There’s two old-time playoff rivals who are making their first playoff appearances in three years…and a head coach who returns to the venue at which he tutored one of the game’s quarterbacks. It’s the NFC’s fifth-seeded San Francisco 49ers (12-4) at the fourth-seeded Green Bay Packers (12-4). These two teams were regulars on the playoff circuit in the ’90s and faced each other four times in the postseason from 1995-98. The Packers won three of the matchups. Seemingly more daunting to San Francisco is that Green Bay has never lost a home playoff game (12-0) and is 10-0 in the playoffs at the site of Sunday’s game, Lambeau Field. On top of all that, Green Bay’s Pro Bowl quarterback BRETT FAVRE – who was tutored from 1992-95 by San Francisco head coach Mariucci when he was the Packers’ quarterbacks coach – has a 30-0 record at home when temperatures are 34 or below, which it may well be on Sunday. “Homefield is big,” says Packers center MIKE FLANAGAN. “We would have had to get on a plane and go (to San Francisco). Now they have to come to our place, to cold weather and our fans. This is what we wanted.” But not so fast, say the Niners. Where’s it colder than in Canada? And that’s where their Pro Bowl quarterback, JEFF GARCIA, played for five years while leading the Calgary Stampeders to a Grey Cup championship in 1998. Plus, he’s the first 49ers quarterback in history to throw at least 30 TD passes in successive years. And, he throws to the NFL’s top TD-catcher in 2001, wide receiver TERRELL OWENS, who hauled in 16 scoring catches this season. But on a cold day in January, it could all come down to the ground game, and both teams are equipped here with Pro Bowl running backs. Green Bay’s AHMAN GREEN (NFL Conference Call: Wednesday, January 9, 4:30 PM ET, 712/257-2360) led the NFC in rushing for a good part of the year, ended it as the conference’s second-leading runner (1,387 yards), and is fresh from a 101-yard game in Week 17. San Francisco’s GARRISON HEARST, after missing two years with injuries, came back this year as the NFC’s fifth-leading rusher with 1,206 yards. Wild Card Weekend ends on Sunday at 4:00 PM ET on CBS-TV with a matchup of the wild card team that won it all last year, the fifth-seeded Baltimore Ravens (10-6), hosted by the only NFL club to go to the playoffs the past five years, the fourth-seeded Miami Dolphins (11-5). In the “Fish vs. Fowl Bowl,” it will be two of the toughest defenses in the AFC trying to dominate the game, mixed in with a “wild card” of two running backs coming off top performances. The Dolphins feature the top pass defense in the NFL (176.8 yards per game), led by corners PATRICK SURTAIN and SAM MADISON and safeties BRIAN WALKER and BROCK MARION. The latter led the NFL in interception-return yards (227 on five pickoffs) this year and tied for the league lead with two INTs returned for touchdowns. The Ravens’ defense -- rated second in the league (277.9) – seems to be returning to the daunting force it was last year in helping Baltimore to its Super Bowl XXXV title. In its final regular-season game Monday night, Baltimore’s “D” held Minnesota to 179 yards of offense, with linebacker PETER BOULWARE registering four sacks to win the AFC sack title (15.0). “Offense wins games, defense wins championships,” says Ravens Pro Bowl LB RAY LEWIS. “Just ride us. We’ll get you there.” The “wild card” running backs? Miami’s LAMAR SMITH and Baltimore’s TERRY ALLEN. If your game last week means anything this week, these two are primed for the playoffs. Smith, who last year produced an NFL playoff-record 40-carry game for the second-most yards ever in an NFL playoff game (209 yards against Indianapolis), comes off a Week 17 158-yard effort. Allen is fresh from a 23-carry, 133-yard rushing game in the season finale. Dolphins quarterback JAY FIEDLER echoes every NFL player who embarks on Wild Card Weekend. It’s not who you play, it’s how you play. “It doesn’t matter who you play,” says Fiedler. “We’ve got to beat everyone to get to where we want to go.” WILD CARD SUPER BOWL TEAMSWild Card teams have advanced to the Super Bowl eight times – including the Baltimore Ravens last year, who became the fourth Wild Card team to win a Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs performed the feat in 1969, the Oakland Raiders in 1980 and Denver Broncos in 1997. The eight Wild Card/non-division winners to play in Super Bowls:
2001 NFL PLAYER PLAYOFF SHARES
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
2001 PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
WILD CARD WEEKEND
2001 FINAL NFL REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS
*Clinched division title #Clinched playoff berth
2001 PLAYOFF DATES
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