Saturday, January 7, 2012

Saints top the Lions, 45-28

The Lions return to the NFL playoffs was short-lived, but they fought hard. The only problem was that they were put up against Drew Brees and the red-hot Saints. Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson hooked up a few times for TDs, but Breesy made things look easy as he racked up 466 yards against the Lions secondary. Detroit set the tone with a great opening drive and really controlled the game in the first half. It wasn't till the second half that the Saints explosive offense ignited and it wasn't till the last quarter that the Saints marched away. The 49ers will have to put up big offensive numbers if they want to win in Candlestick.

Texans beat the Bengals in their first playoff game, 31-10

Since the Texans joined the NFL in 2002, they haven't been in the playoffs. That all changed this year as the Texans started this Season with an impressive 7-3 record, but their luck seemed to change when Matt Schaub went down with a broken foot. Going into the playoffs with a 3-game losing streak and a rookie QB, things looked gloomy for Gary Kubiak's squad. On Saturday, when the Bengals came into Reliant Stadium, the atmosphere was electric. Cincinatti would quiet down the crowd a bit by drawing first blood, but Andy Dalton, the rookie out of TCU, would throw three INTs as Arian Foster had a great game to put away the Bengals and send Houston to Baltimore.