The 2013 season playoffs first round wild card matchup list is officially released:
Indianapolis Colts vs. Kansas Chiefs.
Cincinnati Bengals vs San Diego Chargers.
Philadelphia Eagles vs New Orleans Saints.
There is no doubt that these three games are full of many highlights. Not only are they all "new and old showdowns" between rookie quarterbacks and veteran quarterbacks, they also include "Andrew Luck VS Alex -Smith", a hot topic throughout the past three seasons will further arouse attention.
Moreover, all three matchups are expected "contradictory battles". The Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles have stronger offense than defense, while the Kansas Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals and New Orleans Saints have stronger defense than offense. It also makes the head-to-head confrontation between the two sides full of countless possibilities.
The most interesting part is the misalignment of inertial thinking. Both the Cincinnati Bengals and New Orleans Saints have experienced drastic changes in their rosters this season. In the final season, their defensive rankings were both higher than their offensive rankings, but the two teams' four points Guards Andy Dalton and Drew Brees are both players who cannot be underestimated. This also makes the playoffs full of more variables. The uncertainty of on-the-spot performance will become a key factor in the outcome of the game. .
But all of them are not worth the final showdown: San Francisco 49ers VS Green Bay Packers!
Fate is so wonderful. This offseason, a group of backbone quarterbacks including Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, and Tony Romo have faced contract renewal situations, and the contract conditions have become all... The focus of the media finally came to an end with Lu Ke and Aaron Rodgers setting the historical record for the highest salary one after another - this also made the two quarterbacks stand at the forefront and truly became The absolute center of attention.
In the opening game of the 2013 season, the duel between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers was also known as the "highest-paid battle." The entire game was exciting and full of ups and downs. After Lu Ke's accidental injury and... Returning to the game again, after experiencing the unexpected death of Ryan Baldwin, the defending champion finally won the game at home with "32:31", winning the start of the season in an extremely tragic way. This game was also hailed as the best game of the season. One of the games.
After the opening game, the two teams' season journeys developed a similar yet different curve:
After starting with five wins and two losses, the Green Bay Packers were once again considered the favorites to win the championship this season. In the Monday night game of the ninth week of the regular season, they faced the Chicago Bears, their century-old rival in the same district. However, in the first quarter, the team's ace However, quarterback Rodgers suffered a brutal sack from the opposing linebacker Shea Mcclellin, resulting in a fractured left clavicle and leaving the game directly. This became the turning point of the Green Bay Packers' entire season.
After losing to the Chicago Bears with a score of "20:27", the bad news still came: Rodgers was determined to be reimbursed for the season. Even if not, the recovery time from the collarbone injury would never be easy, which also forced the Green Bay Packers to A backup quarterback had to be used for the remainder of the game.
The two backup quarterbacks of the Green Bay Packers, Matt Flynn and Scott Tolsin, compete for the job - Tolsin transferred from the San Francisco 49ers to the Green Bay Packers this season. Won the chance to start again.
Tolsin started against the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants and suffered two consecutive losses; Flynn started against the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions and had one draw and one loss. The draw against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 12 of the regular season was against Green Bay. Packers first since 1987.
After Rodgers was injured, the Green Bay Packers suffered a five-game winless streak.
But Flynn still established his starting position, and then defeated the Atlanta Falcons and Dallas Cowboys in succession - the most amazing thing happened, the Green Bay Packers only narrowly defeated the two games by one point; and then lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. People, this also brought the team's season record to seven wins, seven losses and one tie. In the final battle of life and death in the season, they will face the Chicago Bears again.
Luckily, Rogers is back!
After just less than two months of rest, Rodgers was like a warrior, overcoming all odds and standing on the court again; also returning was Randall Cobb - a calf injury in the sixth week of the regular season. After breaking the bone, he finally returned to the team in the last game.
In a life-and-death battle again against the archrival Chicago Bears, Rogers' condition was far from restored, and his touch could only be described as average. He completed 25 of 39 passes for 318 yards and scored two touchdowns, but was accompanied by two interceptions. The quarterback rating is 84.6 and the PFF rating is 1.1, which is far from his peak state, but Rogers still showed the big heart of an elite quarterback at critical moments.
With less than a minute left before the end of the game, the Green Bay Packers, who were trailing by "28:27", faced the third fourth-down conversion in this wave of offense - standing on the 48-yard line. In an eight-yard dilemma on fourth gear, Rogers found Randall Cobb with a 48-yard Hail Mary, completed the fourth gear conversion for the third time, and overtook the score with a score of "28:33"; followed by Chicago Bears quarterback Jay-Culter's Hail Mary attempt was intercepted, which also allowed the Green Bay Packers to advance to the playoffs at the buzzer.
In fact, is the fate of the two teams more than that?
In the 2011 season, the defending champion Green Bay Packers had a super record of fifteen wins and one loss, but unexpectedly lost to the New York Giants in the divisional round and missed their appointment to meet the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC finals. "Rogers VS Lu Ke", this group of future elite quarterbacks' duel will not be able to take place.
In the first week of the 2012 regular season, the Green Bay Packers faced off against the San Francisco 49ers at Lambeau Field. The two teams had a wonderful showdown. "33:36", the San Francisco 49ers had the last laugh; but in the playoffs Among them, the Green Bay Packers lost to the Atlanta Falcons by mistake and once again missed the opportunity to face the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC finals.
Then came the 2013 season. It was the first week of the regular season again, but this time the matchup venue came to Candlestick Stadium. The San Francisco 49ers also won the game; and the strong showdown in the playoffs was finally about to come as we were looking forward to it. Unfortunately, both teams are suffering from serious injuries. At the same time, the stage of the showdown is not the National League finals, but the wild card game. This undoubtedly weakens a lot of the luster of the showdown between the two sides.
As mentioned before, the San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers are the most stable and outstanding National League teams in the past three seasons. Similarly, the Super Bowl champions in the past three seasons all belong to the National League: the 2010 Green League. Bay Packers, New York Giants in 2011, and San Francisco 49ers in 2012, this also means that the upward curves of these two teams coincide with each other, and they form a head-on collision at the peak of their strength. This is undoubtedly a spark. Overflowing duel.
In addition, Rogers is now one of the well-deserved representatives of the Mesozoic quarterbacks, while Lu Ke is the undisputed absolute leader among the new generation of quarterbacks. We can vaguely see the "Big Manning VS Brady" back then. "The scene, but the duel is slightly different. Now every confrontation between the two quarterbacks is considered to be a duel that "defines the future development direction of the league." "Rogers VS Lu Ke" is likely to become an important influence on the situation of the National League. The matchup, like the two old bones of the American League, has become an indispensable part of the entire league.
Furthermore, the pattern of "Rogers VS Lu Ke VS Brees" will also become a new scene in the National League.
At the beginning, Ben Roethlisberger also had such a momentum, and everyone was looking forward to more classic battles in the "Manning VS Roethlisberger VS Brady" format, but Roethlisberger's performance After all, he is still not very stable, and has never been able to break through the shackles of a good quarterback and transform into an elite quarterback.
So, now it's Lu Ke's turn - after three seasons of sustained high-energy output, can Lu Ke still reach the next level?
"Rogers VS Lu Ke", this will undoubtedly be a very, very interesting confrontation.
Putting aside the fate of the two teams, putting aside Lu Ke and Rogers' highest salary in the league, just saying that this matchup took place on the playoff stage of the single-game knockout system, even if it was only a wild card game, it was still It deserves the attention of the entire league in all aspects. It can be seen from the schedule——
This is the final highlight of the four wild card games, which is the Sunday Night Game on January 5th!
After the regular season came to an end and the first-round wild card matchup of the playoffs was released, almost all eyes were directed towards this game. ESPN's "Inside the League" host Edward Bowen even called the game It is the "National League Finals staged in advance" - not in terms of strength, but more in terms of the influence of the two teams and the two quarterbacks. From a purely attention perspective, this can indeed be called the National League Finals. level.
Definitely something to look forward to every year!
The biggest suspense now is that the two quarterbacks, Lu Ke and Rogers, are facing varying degrees of injuries. Among them, Rogers has just returned from injury. It is temporarily impossible to make accurate predictions about his passing feel and game status. Judgment; Moreover, both teams defeated their opponents in a Hail Mary way in the last game of the regular season. The energy and physical exertion was very intense. They will play again after just one week's rest, and the subsequent effects are even more unpredictable. .
The outcome is unpredictable!
This is definitely the closest and most intense matchup among the four wild card games. It seems that everyone is discussing, "Which one do you support, the Packers or the 49ers? Which team do you think will win?" "
For this powerful matchup, both the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers have been preparing intensively. After a long season of persistence and struggle, they have finally reached the stage where the brave will win when they meet in a narrow road. One game will determine the outcome, and the end of the season will be decided. The result may be settled directly at any time, and no one wants to stop there.
