A NFL weekend

Tynes and Tynes again

It's fantastic being a state employee -- you get Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day off!

So that means a break from everything including a blog post, which means I have to catch up on Tuesday.

Of course, the only thing of substance happening over the weekend in the sports landscape was the NFL playoffs. Do you realize how close we all were from Norv Turner serving as head coach in a Super Bowl? Or how close we were from two straight weeks of "Brett Favre is a golden god" stories?

Instead, I think we have some interesting storylines. Tom Coughlin on the brink of being fired. Giants making the Super Bowl without Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey. The Pats, of course. Brady surpassing every QB as the best ever. Tons to talk about.

Patriots 21, San Diego 12
As soon as the Chargers kicked their second field goal -- despite only being the second quarter -- I thought the game was over. As soon as you think you can out-field goal a team like the Pats, you've already lost. A couple of other questions: So, was Tomlinson hurt? Otherwise, we didn't hear a thing about it. Did Phil Rivers give them the best opportunity to win on one leg, more so than Billy Volek, or even Dan Fouts? Stan Humphries? I doubt the Chargers had a shot in hell anyway, but they certainly didn't with gimpy dudes on the field.

On the other hand, I thought the only chance any team has against the Pats was forcing turnovers. Brady was not good Sunday. With three interceptions, there's no reason why the Chargers should not have won.

Giants 23, Packers 20
I know a lot of Dallas fans felt sick watching this game because it probably should've been in Irving in 40 degree overcast weather. However true that may be, it was a treat watching that game. Those guys were miserable.

It took 17+ NFL games, but Brett Favre offically morphed into the Favre of old. Some thought it would happen Week 10 or Week 5. But 17 games. Nice run. That overtime interception was kick-you-in-your-nuts bad. Every Packer fan probably threw up at that moment. Rewatch the game, look at the game stories and stats, there's no reason Green Bay should not have won. They held the Giants to mainly field goals. Eli Manning was good at spots, but mostly ordinary. The Giants couldn't run and Favre, seemingly, was able to hit receivers downfield. Turnovers, however, doomed them.

Plus, the one thing that propelled them into the playoffs and to this point -- the running game -- was left on the bench. On a day when it's zero fucking degrees, miserable as hell, and you run your team MVP running back 13 times? What a lousy game plan.