Seahawks Surge Past Skins, Ray Lewis Returns to Ravens in Wild Card Weekend

The 2012 NFL playoffs got off to an interesting start this weekend. while Saturday's action didn't offer much drama at all there was plenty of drama and emotion on Sunday in Maryland as the Ravens hosted the Indianapolis Colts and the Redskins hosted the Seattle Seahawks.

SEAHAWKS 24
REDSKINS 14

After a sizzling start right out of the gate by the Redskins, the Seahawks rallied big time thanks to a superlative effort by both Seattle's fearsome defense and the incredible play of quarterback Russell Wilson.

The Seahawks erased a 14-0 deficit in the first quarter, posting 13 unanswered points in the second quarter, highlighted by a four-yard touchdown pass by Wilson to Michael Robinson to make it 14-10. After Robert Griffin III was picked off on a bomb down the sideline, Wilson led another time consuming drive, this one 10 plays and 62 yards in 3:36 to set up a Steven Hauscka field goal to cut the Skins lead to one. 

The Skins were never the same after taking a 14-0 lead, in fact their offense went into the tank. The Skins had only 75 yards of total offense from the second quarter on thanks in part to the great play by Seattle's defense, and the fact that Griffin was ineffective. The reason why? Griffin who injured his knee back on December 9 in a game against the Ravens was re-injured during this contest.

 Griffin's knee issues became an even bigger back story as it became increasingly clear the quarterback was not healthy during the course of the game against Seattle, having been forced to leave the field twice to get treatment.

According to USA Today this was not the first time that the rookie left the field and returned with the gimp. During that Dec. 9 game against Baltimore when Griffin was initially injured, coach Mike Shannhan put him back into the game after he received a "blessing" from Dr. James Andrews. However, Andrews has said he never cleared Griffin to return to the game, since he never had a chance to examine him.

"(Griffin) didn't even let us look at him," Andrews said. "He came off the field, walked through the sidelines, circled back through the players and took off back to the field. It wasn't our opinion.
"We didn't even get to touch him or talk to him. Scared the hell out of me."

Yet when asked by news reporters, Shanahan described a conversation with Andrews this way:

"He's on the sidelines with Dr. Andrews. He had a chance to look at him and he said he could go back in," Shanahan said Dec. 10. "(I said) 'Hey, Dr. Andrews, can Robert go back in?'

'Yeah, he can go back in.'

'Robert, go back in.'

"That was it," Shanahan said" (USA TODAY).

If Andrews' story is true it could mean big trouble for Shanahan. He needed to keep the health of his young quarterback in mind instead of forcing to play on a bad knee. Don't be surprised if the Redskins fine Shanahan. Griffin played through that injury for the past three weeks, and Sunday's wild card game was the most uncomfortable he looked since the initial incident. Griffin is best when he is able to use his legs. While no one will know how Griffin will play on that knee again until August, this is a story that surely won't go away.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks dominated the second half. Wilson drove the Seahawks deep into Redskins territory and had Seattle poised to score the go-ahead touchdown; but, running back Marshawn Lynch fumbled the football, giving it back to Washington.

After the Seattle defense forced a Redskins three-and-out, the Seahawks finally pounded the rock into the end zone when Lynch made up for the fumble with a 27-yard score in the fourth quarter to give the Seahawks a 19-14 lead. Wilson completed the two-point conversion to the tight end Zach Miller to make it 21-14.

The game finally turned on Washington's next possession when Griffin was strip-sacked. It was on this play that Griffin's knee finally gave out and the quarterback was left plastered onto the turf for a good five minutes. He never returned to game.

Seattle travels to Atlanta next week.

RAVENS 24
COLTS 9

The Ravens sent Ray Lewis out on a high note in his final home game as the starting middle linebacker of the Baltimore Ravens with a 24-9 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

While the Colts did everything right between the 20's they could never punch it in. The Colts were 0-for-3 in the Ravens red zone, forced to settle for three Adam Vinatieri field goals. The end result? A loss for the Colts.

The Ravens did just enough offensively to put this game slowly out of reach. Leading 10-6, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco heaved a pass down the middle of the field and into the clutches of Anquan Boldin, who hauled the ball in at the Ravens 15. Three plays later, Flacco found Dennis Pitta from 20-yards out for the score, to make it 17-6.

Still the Colts had a shot. The playoff stage was not too big for rookie Andrew Luck who played well in defeat. He led on a lengthy 15-play 72-yard drive to the Baltimore eight yard line; however, Meweldi Moore was stopped for no gain on second down, and Luck's pass to Reggie Wayne fell incomplete forcing the Colts to settle for another field goal.

Down one possession the Colts got one last chance when they recovered a Ray Rice fumble at the Colts 36. Luck hit Wayne for 19-yards to move the ball into Ravens territory. After two big defensive penalties on the Ravens, the Colts were knocking on the door. However Luck was unable to complete two big passes around the Baltimore 20-yard line, and once again the Colts were forced to settle for a field goal. This time, Indy's luck ran out, as Vinatieri's kick was wide right.

The Ravens put the nail in the coffin on their next possession. A 43-yards sprint by Bernard Pierce set up an 18-yard touchdown pass by Flacco to Boldin to make it 24-9 all but ending the contest.

The Ravens will hit the road and travel to the Mile High City to take on the Denver Broncos on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Texans who won an underwhelming contest against the Bengals on Saturday will visit the Patriots on Sunday afternoon. The Packers will face the 49ers in San Francisco, Saturday night, after the Packers took care of the punchless Vikings.

While Wild Card weekend was somewhat underwhelming this year, it does set up a very intriguing divisional round next weekend.