Andy Richardson

I'd attended a game, and I'd channel surfed endlessly, but the one thing I hadn't done all season was gone out to a bar for a full slate of Sunday games. What better Sunday to have no control over which games you see than one where most of the games were meaningless anyway, so even the bar couldn't mess up which ones to give you? So that's how I spent my Sunday.

Giants-Vikings: It was bitterly cold outside but the wings were hot, as Giants-Vikings kicked off. This was a pivotal game for the Vikings, who were looking for the bye, but also for the Cardinals playing later, since they could have earned the bye with a win -- if the Vikings lost. As it turned out, one more game became meaningless rather quickly, as this was no contest, and the Cardinals knew by halftime they had nothing at stake. At home, matched up with a soft defense, the Vikings are something to see. At home, period; they scored at least 27 points in every game there this season. And this was just a whitewash; I'd like to point out I watched the game in a New York sports bar and didn't actually see anyone there rooting for the Giants; no one even in Giants gear. Granted there was nothing to actually cheer, but it was a little odd. Favre, Harvin, Rice, Shiancoe....and oh yeah, Adrian Peterson, who actually is kind of an afterthought when the passing game is clicking; pretty good offensive group. Minnesota might lose in the playoffs, but it probably won't be without scoring some points.

Patriots-Texans: I looked up at the screen at one point to see Wes Welker limping off the field; they then showed the replay of him going down before he'd even been hit. Ugly, and get ready to hear about this injury every single December for years to come when the debate over resting players comes up. Bill Polian isn't happy about it, I imagine, but there's his point: you don't want to get important players hurt in games that don't matter, and New England did. Pretty entertaining, albeit ultimately meaningless, game though. New England should play better defense at home, in a game that matters; they should also plug Julian Edelman into Welker's role and be OK, if not at their best. I like them to get by Baltimore next week, but the Ravens should also be confident -- could have won in New England this season, should have beat them in their near-perfect season two years ago.

Other random early game thoughts: The rest of the early games turned out to be meaningless; Roger Goodell is upset. There's talk about using incentives to get teams to play hard in week 17 -- hey, just as I proposed in last week's Ask the Experts -- but I suspect the more likely scenario is that they'll expand the playoffs to let more teams in. ... Awesome to see the snow in Buffalo, which was really heavy at one point -- the Terrell Owens touchdown (predictable, given that he's a free agent) looked like it occurred in a blizzard. Of course, the weather in Buffalo, and the frigid temperatures at The Meadowlands, is why you'll never see a Super Bowl played in an outdoor stadium in northern climates. Oh sure, it'd be somewhat fun for fans to see on TV, but most people don't want to see a possible Drew Brees-Peyton Manning battle played in conditions where passing is impossible. ... Lots of offense in Miami, not surprisingly from the Steelers, and only somewhat surprisingly from the Dolphins given that they were down to third quarterback Tyler Thigpen. (Not a bad option as third quarterbacks go.) It will be interesting to see what Miami's key skill players look like next year. Will they continue with the running back committee and receiving rotation, or do they go after a legit No. 1 wideout? Presumably Chad Pennington will want to start somewhere, make a run at another Comeback Player of the Year award. ... Watching Jonathan Stewart's long touchdown run against the Saints, a friend asked me where Stewart gets drafted next year, and does he get taken ahead of DeAngelo Williams? It's an interesting question. John Fox will be back, as will both runners. I don't know which guy is better. Both could clearly be top-5 fantasy backs, but for the presence of the other guy. I think I can see Stewart going before Williams, probably as a second-round pick, but it's definitely a tricky situation.

Eagles-Cowboys: I thought the Cowboys would win this game, but who saw that coming? Wow. Guess Philadelphia missed injured center Jamaal Jackson quite a bit. Rough game for Donovan McNabb, the running game did nothing, and the defense looked pretty soft too. Hard to imagine a team that had been on the kind of roll Philly was on suddenly looking like a first-round exit in the playoffs, but that's how fast things can change in a week. Win that game and they get the bye and are possibly the NFC favorites. Now they look like they'll be on the other side of Tony Romo and Wade Phillips' first playoff win. As for Dallas, well, they've got a nice defense, running game and quarterback. I don't know how far they're going to make it while starting a wideout in Roy Williams who doesn't catch any passes, but they've got a good chance to at least advance to Minnesota.

Ravens-Raiders: Kind of glad I didn't have any teams playing this week, since I would have started Ray Rice everywhere and watched Willis McGahee score 3 TDs. I don't know McGahee's contract situation, but I know the team basically couldn't cut him a year ago; it should be more doable this year. Not that they necessarily will, but those of us holding Ray Rice in dynasty leagues are hopeful. Certainly McGahee still has some game; he looked pretty good yesterday. If he doesn't play in Baltimore, he'll probably be complicating a running back situation elsewhere. I've already said I think New England wins, but the Ravens certainly have the defense to make a game of it, and Rice should be a pretty good runner-receiver (although Bill Belichick's got this thing for taking away opponents' best players, so....

Other random late game thoughts: Congratulations to Chris Johnson; now rest up so you can be the No. 1 overall pick next season. ... Jamaal Charles, where does he get drafted next year? He's a legitimate fantasy MVP in many leagues for the way he played down the stretch. For the Broncos, guess that Josh McDaniels-Brandon Marshall relationship is broken after all; anyone remember their jokey hugging at a postgame press conference earlier in the year? That's all over with. I wonder what quarterback McDaniels surreptitiously tries to trade for this offseason, because he can't be pleased with Kyle Orton being Kyle Orton with some costly turnovers down the stretch. ... Packers played the starters a little bit longer than I'd have thought. Guess they wanted to get Aaron Rodgers past Brett Favre among the team leaders in passing yards for a season. (He was pulled the series after reaching that mark.) Or maybe that was just a coincidence. I realize week 17 is meaningless, but it's tough to see the Cardinals not being somewhat affected by a loss like that. (Ditto Philadelphia, and of course the Bengals....)

Bengals-Jets: Not much to say about this one, beyond, Boom. We'll get three first-round rematches of week 17 games, and all three were ugly blowouts. Can't wait to see how it plays out for the teams who lost, particularly the Cards and Bengals, who rested some starters (Bengals used Palmer and the wideouts for a half, but Cedric Benson was inactive for "rest"). Especially given that the top seeds in each conference ended the season by dropping a collective 5 straight games, we'll have a lot of empirical evidence after this playoffs to decide how much resting starters helps or hurts. I'm sure Wes Welker will watch with interest. Anyway, key points from Bengals-Jets: Jets have a really, really good defense right now. Great pass defense, pretty good run defense even without Kris Jenkins. They're going to be interesting if they go back to Indy in two weeks. On offense, they can run the ball on anyone, the way their line is playing. If Braylon Edwards could catch a couple of deep balls (he dropped a 48-yard TD last night), they could make some plays in the passing game too. (Jerricho Cotchery's TD run was a pass play, but it was a backwards pass.) Jets can win in Cincinnati; basically I'm not sure how the Bengals offense will do anything next week.

As for those four games, which include the Cowboys and Eagles in primetime (natch) and the Bengals and Jets playing the weekend's first game after playing week 17's last game (nice), should be an interesting bunch of games -- more so than week 17, anyway. Saturday morning we'll take another look.

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