I may as well come clean: I'm rooting for the Saints here. These are some of the benefits of being a fake journalist writing from his couch.

I went to college in New Orleans and have a few friends texting me incoherent messages from the game. It will be a wild night (and week) if they pull this off.

Reggie Bush just scored on a beautiful four-yard touchdown where he was bottled up inside and changed directions. It's ironic Bush has done that twice to great effect in this game (he also had a 25-yard gain) when he's been criticized plenty for going east-west in effort to break the big play. Tonight, so far, it's working.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Of course two plays after I post that the QBs are struggling post, Jeff Garcia connects on a 75-yard bomb to Donte' Stallworth.

Nothing can make a Saints fan more sick than Stallworth burning them. He drove the entire Gulf Coast region crazy with four seasons of consistent immaturity interrupted by occasional flashes of brilliance. Like that play.

Kudos to the Eagles for picking on Fred Thomas, who has been giving up big plays exactly like that all season. Also kudos to Football Outsiders, who forecasted this play would happen.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If there is a theme to these playoffs, it's the poor play of the quarterbacks. Peyton Manning has thrown five picks in two wins. Trent Green, Eli Manning, and Tony Romo didn't impress. Even Jeff Garcia and Matt Hasselbeck struggled in wins.

The theme is continuing in the first 15 minutes of the Saints-Eagles game. Garcia has nearly been picked off on every other pass. Drew Brees is 5-for-11, with one pass going straight into the ground.

The Eagles should feel good they are only down 6-0 early. Aaron Stecker dropped a possible score and the Saints are running well. If they can put up some points here, they will have withstood the initial emotional surge from the home crowd.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One thing we can be thankful for: No more trash talking from the Ravens this week about who is going to get the "hot sauce", or how they don't even know who Joseph Addai is.

The Ravens got beat in the worst way possible. They were pushed around. When the chips were down, the Ravens knew the Colts were going to run. And the Colts still jammed it down their throats. Dominic Rhodes ran it 11 times on the game's final drive, Peyton Manning hit an impossibly hard 14-yard strike on third-down to Dallas Clark, and Baltimore never got the ball back.

I'm not sure it would have mattered. The Colts pass defense was swarming all day. They were the story on a night that Peyton Manning was below average.

This is easily the sweetest win for the Colts in the Manning era. They have matured as a team. They found new ways to win early in the season and it paid off today. They won ugly on the road. They ran hard and played great defense. The Colts finally look like a team built for the playoffs.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Joe Horn is out tonight for the Saints. So is safety Omar Stoutmire. Terrance Copper should start.

Oh yeah, and the Colts just stuffed it down Baltimore's throats on five straight runs. They are the tougher team tonight and it's not even close. Who would have thunk it.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 07:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All week long, we hear about how important playoff experience is. Veteran Quarterbacks, managing the game, making good decisions, blah blah.

Steve McNair and Peyton Manning are currently locked in a battle of who can play more carelessly. McNair just took the upper hand with another interception.

Maybe we should have been talking about Bob Sanders, Ed Reed, and the current MVP of this game ... Nick Harper!

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 07:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Peyton Manning has quick snapped the Ravens multiple times Saturday. Baltimore looks confused before the snap, but they have stopped the Colts every time. This time, Manning threw another curious throw down the sideline and got picked off ... again. That's five in two games.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 07:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Steve McNair is known for his late game heroics. It's 12-3 Colts, Ravens ball at midfield with a chance to go the AFC Championship at stake, entering the fourth quarter.

This is where legends are cemented. Or overused storylines exposed.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mark Clayton caught a 48-yard pass then lost a fumble to the Colts. The play was overturned by a five-yard Colts penalty. That caused Dan Dierdorf to say, "Well, it doesn't matter because of the penalty."

Actually the Ravens lost 43 yards because of Clayton's fumble on a day they can't get anything going on offense. That's a pretty big play, once again forced by Antoine Bethea.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 06:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Billick isn't known for his in-game management skills. He's showing why. He challenged a seven-yard gain and lost, losing a valuable timeout. It's a bad challenge because the play wasn't that important. And he was wrong. The Colts were still stopped on third down and punted.

Posted by Gregg Rosenthal at 06:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)