APFootball

AFC Playoff Seeding:

      1.     San Diego Chargers

      2.     New England Patriots

      3.     Indianapolis Colts

      4.     Pittsburgh Steelers

      5.     Jacksonville Jaguars

      6.     Cleveland Browns

NFC Playoff Seeding:

      1.     Dallas Cowboys

      2.     New Orleans Saints

      3.     Minnesota Vikings

      4.     Arizona Cardinals

      5.     Seattle Seahawks

      6.     Green Bay Packers

Wild Card Round:

AFC:

Indianapolis def. Cleveland

Jacksonville def. Pittsburgh

NFC:

Green Bay def. Minnesota

Seattle def. Arizona

Divisional Round:

AFC:

San Diego def. Indianapolis

New England def. Jacksonville

NFC:

Dallas def. Green Bay

Seattle def. New Orleans

Conference Championship:

AFC:

New England def. San Diego

NFC:

Dallas def. Seattle

Super Bowl:

New England def. Dallas

Season Recap:

There will be no run at perfection or imperfection this year with both the Raiders and Dolphins getting their first victory in week 7. The quest for perfection, however, lasted slightly longer with the Chargers falling to the Saints one week later.

This year’s playoff races were interesting. It was highlighted by the AFC South battle, where Jacksonville was either tied or leading the division up until Week 16 when they lost to Indianapolis. The Colts never looked back from that point taking its 6^th division crown. Another playoff battle worth noting was the NFC race for the two wildcard spots. The NFC contained 6 teams with a 9-7 record, making the race very close. Minnesota and Arizona clinched by virtue of winning their divisions, and the wildcards would also come from those divisions. Seattle took the 5 spot because of its greater H2H record and Green Bay took the final spot due to their weaker division.

In the playoffs things heated up as always. The NFC featured a duo of division rivalries with the Vikings matched up with the Packers and the Cardinals set to square off against the Seahawks. The Packers would outduel the Vikings in a showcase of inexperienced quarterbacks featured on very talented teams. In the end it was Jackson’s inability to effectively throw the ball after the Packers would stack the box. Despite losing the division title, Seattle went on to defeat Arizona in the Wild-Card round due to its experience. Deion Branch recovered from his ACL injury last year late in the season and his presence contributed greatly to the Seattle win.

In the divisional round, offensive juggernaught San Diego would defeat the Indianapolis Colts in a offensive showdown. New England easily rolled over Jacksonville as they had in the previous year. On the NFC side the Cowboys finally won a playoff game as the Seahawks upset the pass-happy Saints.

The AFC Conference Finals featured the same teams… and the same result. New England would win in a nail-biting game with plenty of scores. On the NFC side the Cowboys would win again in the playoffs defeating a much less talented Seattle team.

The Super Bowl was nothing of an upset as the Patriots would win their fourth title in eight years. Moss will win his first Super Bowl and will also take the MVP honors in this game.

Awards:

MVP: Adrian Peterson

Offensive Player of the Year: LaDanian Tomlison

Defensive Player of the Year: Patrick Kerney

Offensive Rookie of the Year: Rashard Mendenhall

Defensive Rookie of the Year: Chris Long