FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-POST–2       1/7/03  

AFTER A WILD CARD WEEKEND, HERE COME THE DIVISIONALS!

Why should anything change?

After 17 weeks of bedlam in the regular season, Wild Card Weekend last Saturday and Sunday brought the NFL to new heights of unpredictability, with no sign of abatement as the Divisional Playoffs follow this weekend.

“I’ve never in my whole life been part of a game like this,” said Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver HINES WARD after his team engineered a 17-point comeback in the Wild Cards, the sixth-largest winning comeback in NFL playoff history.

Hines speaks for just about every player on every 2002 Wild Card team.  And the way things have gone this year, it’s probably a prediction of things to come as much as how they have been.  This weekend’s Divisional Playoff schedule:    

NFL DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS

Saturday, January 11
 

Sunday, January 12
 

So what does the Divisional breakdown look like?  It’s a powerhouse of hot teams:

·         Since December, and including the Wild Card games, the eight remaining playoff teams have a 32-12 record for a whopping .727 winning percentage. 

·         The four Divisional clubs that enjoyed a first-round bye are all on varying hot streaks: Tennessee (11-1), Oakland (7-1), Philadelphia (9-2), and Tampa Bay (7-2).  That’s a combined 34-6 (.850). 

·         Every quarterback in the Divisionals had a 2002 passer rating of at least 80.0, ranging from the 104.2 of the New York Jets’ CHAD PENNINGTON (No. 1 in the league) to the 81.6 of Atlanta’s MICHAEL VICK. 

In Saturday’s first Divisional Playoff game (CBS-TV, 4:30 PM ET), an old divisional rivalry will be re-renewed after it was just renewed this past November – the AFC North-champion Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5-1) at the AFC South-titlist Tennessee Titans (11-5).

“When we play Pittsburgh, it brings out the best in us, and I would guess that is going to be their approach, too,” says Titans head coach JEFF FISHER, whose 9-6 record against his former AFC Central rival has been studded with an 8-2 streak since 1997.  Included in that recent string is a 31-23 victory on November 17 in which the Titans held the Steelers to 45 yards rushing, part of a 21-game home streak of prohibiting a 100-yard rusher, the longest such mark in the NFL.

The Steelers’ No. 7 NFL defense (No. 1 against the rush) will face a Tennessee three-headed monster the team has never had before in its 42-year existence – a 3,000-yard passer (STEVE MC NAIR), 1,000-yard rusher (EDDIE GEORGE) and 1,000-yard receiver (DERRICK MASON).  Pittsburgh held Cleveland to 38 yards rushing in the Wild Card, but their crippled secondary (missing MIKE LOGAN and CHAD SCOTT) surrendered 429 passing yards in their 36-33 win. 

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NFL PLAYOFF FACTOID

MOST 300-YARDERS:  The four 300-yard passing games turned in last Sunday by KELLY HOLCOMB (429), TOMMY MADDOX (367), KERRY COLLINS (342) and JEFF GARCIA (331) were the most ever on a two-game day in NFL playoff history.

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The Steelers have their own talented trio, two sets of them, in fact.

The Titans’ second-ranked NFL rushing defense will face the rumbling, bowling-ball threesome of AMOS ZEREOUE (who started in the Wild Card game and bulldozed for 73 yards), JEROME BETTIS and CHRIS FUAMATU-MA’AFALA.

The latter had only two carries Sunday for four yards, but made his final three yards count big-time when he scored the winning touchdown with less than a minute left on a draw play (“42 Base”) called by Steelers’ 41-year assistant coach DICK HOAK. 

On the other side of the Pittsburgh scale is their fleet receiving corps, led by Ward (who this year became the first Steeler in history with 100 receptions [112]) and who posted 11 catches for 104 yards and a TD against Cleveland, PLAXICO BURRESS (six receptions, 100 yards, one TD Sunday), and rookie ANTWAAN RANDLE EL (five catches for 85 yards).

The entire Steelers scenario is directed by quarterback TOMMY MADDOX, the Associated Press “Comeback Player of the Year” who on Sunday directed the sixth-biggest comeback in playoff history nine years after his last playoff appearance (1993 with Denver).

The late Saturday Divisional (FOX–TV, 8:00 PM ET) – the Atlanta Falcons (10-6-1) at the Philadelphia Eagles (12-4) – features two of the top running quarterbacks in the league, one of whom tried to recruit the other to his college.

It’s the Falcons’ MICHAEL VICK, who last week became the fourth-youngest quarterback since 1970 to start an NFL playoff game (see chart below), facing the Eagles’ DONOVAN MC NABB, returning to action after missing six weeks with a broken ankle.

These two go back a way.  Five years ago, when Virginia-born Vick was scouting colleges, he was hosted by McNabb and stayed in his dorm room at Syracuse University.  McNabb showed his tow the campus and gave him a sales pitch.

“He wanted to come,” says McNabb, “but his mom wanted him to stay closer to home.”  The two have remained friends and stay in touch.  But not this week.

Vick comes off an exhilarating 27-7 Wild Card road victory over the Green Bay Packers, the Lambeau Field jinx, and BRETT FAVRE, one of his idols who he finally got to talk to.

Vick set an NFL single-game quarterback rushing record this year (173 yards), but the Eagles know that his running is not his only threat.

“If you sit back and ‘spy’ him too much, he’ll sit in the pocket, and he’s got a good arm,” says Philadelphia defensive coordinator JIM JOHNSON.  “You’ve got to get some pressure on this guy, too.  You can’t have a three-man rush and one guy spy because he can throw the football.”    

Of course, the game is far from only “Vick-McNabb.”  The Falcons will have to shut down running back DUCE STALEY, who helped prove that the Eagles were not a “one-man” team by rushing for almost half (469) his season yards (1,029) starting in the game in which McNabb was hurt (November 17).

Falcons running back WARRICK DUNN (927), who visited as a free agent with Philadelphia this past offseason, and Vick (777) combined for 1,704 yards in 2002.  The youngest quarterbacks to start a playoff game since 1970:

YOUNGEST PLAYOFF QBs

In the early Sunday Divisional game (FOX-TV, 1:00 PM ET), it will be a confrontation of the league’s No. 1 defense of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (12-4) hosting the top TD pass catcher of 2002, TERRELL OWENS (13) of the San Francisco 49ers, and the engineer of the second biggest comeback (24 points) in NFL playoff annals, quarterback JEFF GARCIA.

“The 49ers are going to be a great matchup,” says Buccaneers defensive coordinator MONTE KIFFIN, who believes one of the reasons for that is Garcia’s coolness in any situation.

The Niners’ 39-38 Wild Card victory Sunday over the New York Giants – in which they trailed 38-14 with four minutes left in the third quarter but scored 25 unanswered points on two TD passes and a scoring run by Garcia along with two two-point conversion catches by Owens and a field goal – “was one of the great individual performances ever,” says Kiffin of Garcia.  “The guy was unbelievable, stepping up in the pocket.  He’s everything that JOE MONTANA was in his heyday.”

What the Bucs will have to do – and if anybody can do it, they can – is to bottle up Garcia in the pocket, contain him, so he does not take off on his typical scampers to gain a first down.  Of course, that’s not to say that he won’t thereupon connect with his favorite target Owens as he did for 76- and 26-yard TDs and the two-pointers in the Wild Card.  Garcia was the top third-down passer in the league this year with a 107.6 rating.

Kiffin’s defense finished the season as the first team since the 1985 Super Bowl XX-champion Chicago Bears to lead the NFL in total defense (252.8), points allowed (196) and interceptions (31).  They have a streak of 41 games with at least one takeaway, the best such string in the league.

The Bucs, like the Eagles, have a returning quarterback, BRAD JOHNSON, who missed the last two games of the season with a back injury.  Not the showy, spectacular-type of QB but one who flourished under new Bucs head coach – and former San Francisco Bay resident with the Oakland Raiders – JON GRUDEN.  Johnson led the NFC in passer rating (92.9), was first in percentage of interceptions (1.3), second in completion percentage (62.3) and third in touchdowns (22).

And in the final game of the Divisional Playoffs (CBS-TV, 4:30 PM ET), it’s time – once again -- for the AFC East-champion New York Jets (10-7) to play at the AFC West titlist-Oakland Raiders (11-5) as they have, oh, every 2.75 road games since last January 6.

Yes, in the Jets’ last 11 road games counting this Sunday, they have faced the Raiders four times, including a month ago (December 2) and exactly a year ago this Sunday when they lost to them in a Wild Card game 38-24.  (And they’ll face them next season in Oakland!)   

“The guy at the coffee place, Starbucks, he’ll have my table ready when I go over there Saturday,” kids Jets head coach HERMAN EDWARDS.  “They know we’re coming.  When he pull up to the stadium, the people all know our names.”

And why not, the Jets have been making a name for themselves.  Starting the season at 2-5, they have won eight of their past 10 games, including a roaring 41-0 triumph last Saturday over Indianapolis.  They are only the second team in history to start 2-5 or worse and win a division crown (1970 Cincinnati, 2-5). 

And they are led by a quarterback who looks like he should be working at Starbucks in an after-school job, tow-headed CHAD PENNINGTON, who finished as the NFL’s top-rated passer (104.2) after becoming the Jets’ starter on October 6. 

The 26-year old Pennington – whose own sister once said she was envious of his curly hair – will match wits with 37-year-old RICH GANNON, the Associated Press NFL Most Valuable Player of 2002 who finished as the second-rated passer in the NFL (97.3) behind Pennington.

Gannon also finished first in attempts (618) and yards (4,689) this year, and set NFL season records for completions (418) and 300-yard games (10), as well as a single-game record with 21 consecutive completions.

How the two QBs matched up in league rankings in 2002 in key categories:

PENNINGTON/GANNON NFL RANKINGS
 

Of course, it won’t be – by far – only Pennington and Gannon.

Each club has a potent receiving and running game.  The Jets’ big three receiving threats – LAVERANUES COLES, WAYNE CHREBET and SANTANA MOSS -- proved this year that they can hold their own with the Raiders’ JERRY RICE, TIM BROWN and JERRY PORTER.

The running games?  The Jets depend upon CURTIS MARTIN and LAMONT JORDAN, and the Raiders on their back-for-any-situation attack of CHARLIE GARNER, TYRONE WHEATLEY and ZACK CROCKETT.

The Raiders’ BILL CALLAHAN – seeking to join DON MC CAFFERTY (Colts, SB V) and GEORGE SEIFERT (49ers, SB XXIV) as the lone rookie head coaches to win a Super Bowl title – predicts one thing about this Sunday: he will not sit on a lead.

“There’s no lead,” says Callahan, “that’s safe anymore in this league.”
 

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2002 PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
(All times Eastern; HOME TEAM IN CAPS)
 

  WILD CARD WEEKEND
 

  DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS

2002 NFL FINAL STANDINGS