Saturday 1/7/12 (Wild Card)

Houston Texans, 34 Cincinnati Bengals, 10

Somewhere, in an alternate universe, there is a dimension where RB Arian Foster's first-play fumble didn't fly right back to him. Butterflies abound for the first quarter, but both offenses turned in workmanlike performances against stout defenses.

WR Andre Johnson played decent after missing most of the year, but failed to make some of those superstar catches he might normally have made until he and Foster sealed the game up with unanswered touchdowns in the 2nd half.

The Houston crowd was incredibly hostile for rookie QB Andy Dalton who had trouble hearing the calls all throughout the game, and while he and WR A.J Green appear to have a solid future brewing, Dalton didn't have the defense and the running game that we all agreed rookie QB T.J Yates would need (and that he received).

KEY PLAY: DE J.J Watt's interception return at the end of the 1st half. A combination of incredible athleticism and a good healthy amount of luck as he snatched what should have been a batted-down slant pattern into a pick-6 in the final 2 minutes of the 1st half. It put the Texans up 17-10 and the Bengals never scored again.

MVP: RB Arian Foster was stifled in these team's Week 14 meeting and so by our sports media logic we knew that he would have the exact same numbers and performance. That seemed obvious at the time. Instead, he was responsible for 182 total yards and 2 TDs, exactly the kind of performance needed from this star to capture Houston's first playoff victory in franchise history.;

New Orleans Saints, 45 Detroit Lions, 28

Coach Sean Payton and QB Drew Brees never let up, even in the face of two early fumbles, even in spite of an insurmountable lead and certain victory, the offense kept the pedal to the floor; screens and bombs, slashes across the middle, and nary a 4th down that couldn't be converted. We are witnessing one of the best offenses of all time.

The Lions fought admirably, QB Matthew Stafford, WR Calvin Johnson (211 yards, 2 TDs to end a brilliant season), even that Detroit D-line played well but it was all in vain as the New Orleans offense just rolled and rolled and rolled to 626 yards, 466 of it through the air.

The frightening thing is that Detroit is one of the only teams built for taking down this onslaught. Their offense was solid, Stafford started hot and finished with 380 yards. The defense came up with two turnovers, and if it wasn't for a blown call and an easy interception dropped the Detroit D might have kept the Lions competitive.

KEY PLAY: In the 4th quarter, finally gaining control of the game up by 10, the Saints made a statement with full-throttle aggression as Brees connected on a 56-yard bomb to WR Robert Meachem. The Saints will not let up and they must keep this attitude as they are unlikely to return to the Superdome this season.

MVP: While the Saints actually ran very hard and successfully with a 3-headed monster of RB Pierre Thomas, RB Christopher Ivory and RB Darren Sproles, the honor has to go to QB Drew Brees who set the bar high for the other two MVP candidates who will play next weekend (Brady and Rodgers).