The Results of the First Round Playoff Games in the NFC

The first round of the football playoffs was very exciting as almost all of the games were close. The amazing thing about the NFC Wild Card games was that there were no upsets.

In the first Wild Card game which was played on Saturday, the Dallas Cowboys lost to seahawks on last second filed goal try. The Dallas Cowboys could have and should have beaten the Seahawks and throughout the entire game they outplayed them. However, quarterback Tony Romo fumbled the ball of the field goal kick. Tony Romo's job was to catch the ball from the long snapper on the field goal unit and to place the ball down on the ground on the spot for the field goal kicker to kick the ball.

Most field goal holders also place the ball down on the ground with the laces facing outward. For whatever reason, Tony Romo caught the ball from the snapper but lost the ball when he tried placing the ball on the ground. Tony Romo made no excuses once the game was over but some Cowboys players did blame the fact that the ball was new and slippery because it had not been used and came straight out of the box. The NFL stated that new balls were being used for special teams because balls in play were being tampered with by teams.

Most people did not expect this Cowboys- Seahawks game to be so close. The Dallas Cowboys had lost their last regular season game to the Detroit Lions and looked bad in their last regular season games at home. Still, the Cowboys played hard and should have won the game. Unfortunately, these are the NFL playoffs and weird stuff like dropping the ball of a field goal kick happens.

The Philadelphia Eagles game against the New York Giants was another thriller. The Eagles had home field advantage and the Giants looked like a team that was confused and disoriented at times in their last couple of games during the regular season. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles had won their last 5 games and looked like a team on a hot streak, led by backup quarterback Jeff Garcia. The West Coast offense was running smoothly and most football fans believed that this game would be a blowout.

However, the New York Giants played tough and they were led by a late game drive by Eli Manning and the Giants offense. The Giants actually tied the game with under 5 minutes remaining at 20-20. Then the Eagles drove down the field and field goal kicker David Akers hit a 30-yard field goal. This game was close, but once again the Giants were their own worst enemy, committing several false start penalties and personal foul penalties which backed up their offense. Eli Manning struggled during most of the game and Giants wasted good field goal position. In the first quarter, the Giants played great defense and backed up the Eagles offense to their own goal line, forcing them to punt deep in their own territory.

As a result, the Giants got the ball near the 50 yard line three times in the first quarter. On all three possessions, the Giants did not gain more than 10 yards and were forced to put, wasting good field goal position. Had the Giants scored a field goal and moved 20 yards down the field on even 2 out of 3 of those possessions, the Giants would have won the game. Instead the Giants go home as a loser, the fate of Coach Tom Coughlin hanging in the balance, the retirement of Tiki Barber eminent as he moves toward a career in television.

The Searle Seahawks travel to Chicago where they play the Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles head to play the Saints.