The Red Zone Report

On the gridiron this time of year, you can ill-afford to make mistakes. One fumble, one interception, one ill-timed penalty or missed assignment can send you home and haunt your dreams for the next several months.

As a result of mistake after mistake, the AFC’s top seed and the NFC’s #2 seed are set for an early vacation and many sleepless nights.

Tennessee’s showdown with Baltimore was the low-scoring game that I expected, but what should’ve been a runaway for the Titans was a 13-10 triumph for the Ravens, won on Matt Stover’s field goal in the final minute.

The Titans had an impressive day statistically against the Ravens defense, racking up nearly 400 yards, though the loss of Chris Johnson . But it doesn’t matter how many yards you put up if you have a significant disadvantage in the turnover battle, and the Titans had three to Baltimore’s none – all coming in scoring position.

Plain and simple, Tennessee was wasteful, and they paid for it. Credit Baltimore’s defense for forcing the mistakes they did. It’s no surprise that they’re in the final four with their takeaway fest in these last couple of weeks. As good as the Ravens‘ D has been over the last several years, teams should know by now that they can’t be anything less than sharp and expect to get away with it.

The officials did make a big mistake by not throwing a flag on what should’ve been a delay of game on a key play on Baltimore’s final drive, but it shouldn’t come down to such things for the Titans anyway. When you squander as many golden opportunities as they did, the officials, as much as they may deserve it, are the last ones who should have the finger pointed at them.

A lot more surprising, and a lot less controversial, was Arizona’s absolute pasting of Carolina. Their previous matchup was close, and I thought that the Cardinals could pull it out this time, but I didn’t expect a 33-13 whipping. No Anquan Boldin? No problem.

The Panthers quickly scored on their opening drive and held the Cards on theirs, but after that, it was all Arizona. Their offense doesn’t need any extra chances to score, but they got three in the first half off of two Jake Delhomme picks and a forced fumble on Delhomme. They turned those three turnovers into 17 points, and as a result, the game was all but wrapped up at the half at 27-7.

Carolina rallied from down 17-3 in their first meeting this season, but you can’t rally if you keep turning it over, can you? Five interceptions? Six total turnovers? You’d have thought that was Carolina’s defense making all of those plays and forcing Kurt Warner to make those mistakes, but Delhomme was a mess.

You can only imagine what the atmosphere will be like if the Cardinals get a chance to host the NFC title game (let’s go Eagles, right?). Whether they play New York or Philadelphia, if their defense and running game can step up to complement the passing attack as was the case against the Panthers, the Cardinals could be in store for something Super.

As it turns out, both of my Saturday picks turned out to be wrong, but hopefully I’ll have some better luck with the other two games. The Giants’ play coming into the postseason concerns me, but I think Tom Coughlin will have them in the right frame of mind, and they’ll win the rubber match against the Eagles.

In the other AFC divisional round matchup, I like San Diego’s chances on the road, even if LaDainian Tomlinson isn’t able to play or make much of an impact. Yeah, Pittsburgh’s got the great defense, and they’re playing at home, but San Diego won’t be intimidated by the hostile atmosphere.

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