NFL Divisional Roundup: T.O. Cries, Billy Volek to the rescue, Eli "Rain Man" Manning still in it, Pats still perfect, Favre still playing

Here are the cliff notes version of the weekend that was in the NFL Divisional Playoffs:

Green Bay 42 & Seattle 20

Seattle jumps out 14-0, but Ryan Grant has a monster game in the snow and the Pack advance. Could this be the end of Mike Holmgren'c career? Like Dungy, Holmgren is on a year to year basis. Will he stay or will he go? I think he stays to finish out the remaining year on his contract. The NFC west is weak and Seattle should be back in the playoffs next year. It looks like Brett Favre is ready to party like its 1996. Seriously, who knew that 11 years later Favre would still be playing in the league at such a high level?

New England 31 & Jacksonville 20

I really thought the Pats would come out and dominate, but the Jags kept it close going into the half at 14-14. Tom Brady had a ridiculous game with 26 of 28 passes completed. Just for fun he threw the ball to Randy Moss once. And for all those who said the Pats can't run the ball,Maroney went off for 100+ yards.

San Diego 28 & Indianapolis 24

What a shocker here! The Colts looked like they were getting healthy at the perfect time. The Chargers lost the NFL's leading rusher in the 2nd quarter and their starting QB in the 4th and still won the game. And Marcus McNeil gave us this gem

With 12:38 left to play and San Diego leading by four, the Chargers offense waited to huddle during a TV commercial break. As they waited, several Chargers -- mostly 6-7, 336-pound offensive tackle Marcus McNeill -- started swaying and dancing to the music being played during the TV timeout.

"That's how it's supposed to be," McNeill said. "It doesn't make no sense to be at crunch time and your butthole is all tight."

Thank you Marcus.

New York Giants 21 & Dallas Cowboys 17

This one hurts, but definitely not as bad as last years for some reason. I actually got to sleep last night, whereas last year I was sitting up in my bed, in the pitch black dark, at 3 in the morning replaying Romo's bobble. For the second straight year the Cowboys gift wrapped a playoff game for the other team. Jerry Jones may want to seek a refund on Patrick Crayton's new contract. He had two huge drops and then ran a half-assed route late in the game. T.O. wept for his QB....and they said he's a bad teammate. Good thing by 8:05 I was watching Nicholas Cage with a stringy mullet in Con Air.

Additional Game Note: Jules text me during the game to say "I feel like Eli is my retarded brother or something" "I can't hate the guy." Eli is the NFL's version of Rain Man. He has a cool normal brother and, apparently from that quick TD in the 2nd quarter, he's an excellent driver.



It's officially baseball season for me...32 days till pitchers and catchers report.