RuthlessBurgher
01-12-2009, 01:31 PM
Everyone knows that we faced the toughest regular season schedule in decades this season, and still earned a first round bye in spite of numerous injuries throughout the season.
Our reward for overcoming that? A healthy roster in the playoffs with a schedule that is pretty much the polar opposite of our difficult path to Super Bowl XL.
That year, we had to beat the top 3 seeds in the AFC all on the road and then beat the #1 seed in the NFC in the Super Bowl. I doesn't get any tougher than that.
This year, the opposite happened in the playoffs. We had a bye in the opening round, play the team with the worst regular season record among AFC division winners (8-8 San Diego) in the divisional round at home and play the team with the worst regular season record among AFC wild cards (11-5 Baltimore) in the AFC Championship game at home. If we advance to the Super Bowl, the two teams remaining are the team with the worst regular season record among NFC division winners (9-7 Arizona) and the team with the worst regular season record among AFC wild cards (9-6-1 Philadelphia).
We played San Diego without Tomlinson and this weekend, and Baltimore sustained various injuries to Suggs, Rolle, McClain, and Anderson. Arizona has been playing without the injured Anquan Boldin, and Brian Westbrook has played but has been struggling with injuries recently. By contrast, for the first time all season, we are virutally injury-free. *Knocking furiously on wood*
Things finally seem to be going our way (except for the fact that James Harrison can be legally tackled by an o-lineman on any play :evil: but I won't go there now).
Our reward for overcoming that? A healthy roster in the playoffs with a schedule that is pretty much the polar opposite of our difficult path to Super Bowl XL.
That year, we had to beat the top 3 seeds in the AFC all on the road and then beat the #1 seed in the NFC in the Super Bowl. I doesn't get any tougher than that.
This year, the opposite happened in the playoffs. We had a bye in the opening round, play the team with the worst regular season record among AFC division winners (8-8 San Diego) in the divisional round at home and play the team with the worst regular season record among AFC wild cards (11-5 Baltimore) in the AFC Championship game at home. If we advance to the Super Bowl, the two teams remaining are the team with the worst regular season record among NFC division winners (9-7 Arizona) and the team with the worst regular season record among AFC wild cards (9-6-1 Philadelphia).
We played San Diego without Tomlinson and this weekend, and Baltimore sustained various injuries to Suggs, Rolle, McClain, and Anderson. Arizona has been playing without the injured Anquan Boldin, and Brian Westbrook has played but has been struggling with injuries recently. By contrast, for the first time all season, we are virutally injury-free. *Knocking furiously on wood*
Things finally seem to be going our way (except for the fact that James Harrison can be legally tackled by an o-lineman on any play :evil: but I won't go there now).