First round bye curse?
So far the home teams are 0-2 in the NFL divisional games. Tennessee and Carolina came out looking flat on offense, were plagued by injuries and turnovers, and looked overall rusty.
Normally teams look forward to having a week off to prepare for the coming playoff games. It is a time to heal injuries and scheme different packages on both sides of the ball for the faster paced games. “I’ve never had a bye week before and believe me when I say we need a week off — both the offense and the defense,” said quarterback Jake Delhomme after the end of the season.

Apparently he used the time to learn how to throw the ball to the other team as he completed just 45% of his passes and had 5 picks in the game with a lossed fumble in his own 20.
All-Pro Steve Smith didn’t have a catch at all in the first half and the might rushing game of the Panthers never got going. After rushing for 178 yards in the 33-31 win against the New Orleans Saints in the last game of the season, DeAngelo Williams ran for only 51 yards on 11 carries.
The Titans were sloppy throughout the game and didn’t look like the team with the best record in the NFL at all. In the end, the mighty Ravens defense hit, ran over and spanked the Titans for the win. Yes there was a blown call towards the end of the game but Tennessee had plenty of chances to score points.

It will be interesting to see how the Giants and Steelers perform in front of their home crowds on Sunday. Both the Chargers and Eagles are on hot streaks, basically playing must wins for the last 4 games of the year and winning in the first round of their playoff games.

