Macca

Strange finish - that forward pass was way forward as well. The first play also had to be a throw to the sidelines - 26 seconds isn't a long time to play with. Saints did well to get back into it but Seattle too good all the same.

That's a catch but it wouldn't surprise if the call is reversed.

Seattle should have run that 1st play.

Saints score a TD! (and get a 2 point conversion) Maybe we have got a game after all? They'll need to stop the Seahawks scoring on this drive.

This is looking ominous. Saints need some of score - and quickly

Breakdown of the Rams salary cap - year by year There's a drop down box provided where you can look at the breakdown of the salaries of any other team. Covers all the other sports as well. Handy site.

That's another remarkable stat. I reckon that's the great thing about the NFL - any given game can go either way. Unlike a few other big time sports, the salary cap in the NFL really can even things out. Players nearing veteran status or even certain players coming out of their first contract have no issue with regards to leaving their team for more money. Coupled with this, teams are often forced to pay their franchise players (often the QB) a large chunk of their salary cap. Wilson, RG3, Luck, Kaepernick and maybe Tannehill are all going to command big dollars in the foreseable future. When that happens, those teams overall depth will therefore be tested. Baltimore with Flacco and Atlanta with Ryan are good examples of that theory (both teams lost a bit of talent in the last off season) The Bears with Cutler and Dallas with Romo might incur the same type of effect going forward. ... anyway, here is the game schedule again ... Sunday 8.35am New Orleans at Seattle (OneHD & ESPN) 12.15pm Indianapolis at New England (OneHD & ESPN) Monday 5.05am San Francisco at Carolina (OneHD & ESPN) 8.40am San Diego at Denver (OneHD & ESPN)

I reckon if the Lions had of scraped in and won the NFC North, it might have been a completely different story with regards to a team maybe not being fully deserving of their spot. The Packers might have made the playoffs by default but we didn't underperform this season IMO. On the contrary, we did about as well as could be expected, all things considered. Also reckon the Bengals season was impacted greatly because of all the players they lost. Cinci kept winning though - which is an even more remarkable story. Ok, they lost badly last week but there was a back story to their season. A better example is San Diego if we're looking at an underforming team that just scraped into the playoffs this season. At one stage they were 5/7 and seemingly out of it. But at their best, the Chargers are a very capable team - especially when Rivers plays well. Indy are another team that have been a little inconsistent this season (they also qualified from an extremely poor division - they went 6/0 within their division and 5/5 outside their division) They had some great wins but they also dropped games that they should have won. The Colts fall behind in so many games yet find a way to win. Despite all that, if they can get past the Pats, they might just go all the way to the Super Bowl. We might find out who the "hot" team is after this weekend's games. There's nearly always at least one big upset in the 2nd week of the playoffs. I can't see Seattle losing and the 49ers/Panthers game is line ball. So it's the Chargers or the Colts to cause the upset IMO. Colts for mine in a close one.

If the 49ers can get past Carolina, I'd give them a genuine chance against Seattle or New Orleans. That NFC Championship game is shaping up as the best matchup of the playoffs. The winner could well end up being the Super Bowl favourites. ... and if San Francisco go on and win the Super Bowl, their hardest game might be the NFC Championship game. Of course, they'll need to win on Monday first! In the last 8 years, no fewer than 6 teams have won the Super Bowl after starting out on wild-card weekend. Green Bay, Baltimore, Indianapolis, the Giants (twice) and Pittsburgh have all won the Super Bowl from the wild-card weekend in the last 8 seasons. 3 times in the last 8 years the eventual Super Bowl winner has been an actual wild-card - Pittsburgh 2005. New York Giants 2007 and the Packers in 2010 (the year is based on when the regular season is played) As a Packers fan, 2010 was a wild ride - we only just made it into the playoffs.

Aussie open starts on Monday - here are the matchups if all the top 8 seeds in both the Mens and the Ladies advance to the quarter finals (you can click on any of players listed below if you want to visit their Wikipedia page) ... Mens ... (1) Rafael Nadal vs (5) Juan Martín del Potro (4) Andy Murray vs (6) Roger Federer (3) David Ferrer vs (7) Tomáš Berdych (2) Novak Djokovic vs (8) Stanislas Wawrinka ... and if the 4 top seeds advance to the semi-finals, here are the matchups ... (1) Rafael Nadal vs (4) Andy Murray (2) Novak Djokovic vs (3) David Ferrer Ladies ... (1) Serena Williams vs (7) Sara Errani (4) Li Na vs (6) Petra Kvitová (3) Maria Sharapova vs (8) Jelena Janković (2) Victoria Azarenka vs (5) Agnieszka Radwańska Again, if the 4 top seeds advance to the semi finals, here are the matchups ... (1) Serena Williams vs (4) Li Na (2) Victoria Azarenka vs (3) Maria Sharapova All the seedings for the Open As for the notable Aussies, Sam Stosur is in Serena Williams' quarter of the draw, Ashleigh Barty is up against Serena in the first round whilst Casey Dellacqua is in Sara Errani's quarter of the draw ... Bernard Tomic plays Rafael Nadal first up whilst Lleyton Hewitt is also in Nadal's quarter of the draw. For what it's worth, here are my tips for both finals (winners in dark italics) Rafael Nadal vs Novak Djokovic Victoria Azarenka vs Li Na .

Both sides of the argument has merit. At a guess, I'd say the fans would be mostly against such a change but many might change their mind later on down the track. I've always felt that the team finishing on top of the standings/ladder/table should be rewarded somehow and by bringing in 2 extra playoff teams, that can be achieved. Edit: Just came across this ESPN story (which includes a few polls on the subject) ... Can the NFL handle more wild cards?

Yep, it's certainly about the money all right, 'cfh' I guess if we accept that part of it, then we can speculate and discuss the relative merits of the proposed changes. I've given my views in some previous posts but my view is partly based on the inevitibility of the proposed changes. The NFL may also decide to change the order of the seeds based on the qualified team's W/L record. This can have the effect of "certain" division winners ending up having wild-card status only (i.e - on the road, first up) I wouldn't like to see that but I can understand why they'd do it. From what I can gather, this "other" proposed change has a lot less chance of happening than the change involving the 2 extra teams qualifying for the playoffs. They certainly like long and lengthy playoff systems in the States don't they? The NBA and the NHL playoffs go for nearly 2 months! It's like having a whole other season with those 2 sports!

Here are the games again ... Sunday 8.35am New Orleans at Seattle (OneHD & ESPN) 12.15pm Indianapolis at New England (OneHD & ESPN) Monday 5.05am San Francisco at Carolina (OneHD & ESPN) 8.40am San Diego at Denver (OneHD & ESPN) Tips ... Saints 16 Seattle 31 Colts 28 Pats 26 49ers 22 Panthers 19 Chargers 27 Denver 39 The BS Report

I was talking specifically about teams being able to win their respective conferences (AFC and NFC) My reference was about the overall winner of each conference and how there will only be 2 byes up for grabs.

It does look like the 2 new seeds are going to come in regardless of the public's view. Possibly for the 2015 season (?) I don't have a one-sided view for the change - probably 70/30 in favour. A positive for me is I believe there will be a greater incentive for a team to win a conference if the change does come in (ignoring the history of how things have panned out previously) If Goodell and the owners want change, they'll most probably get it

Another possible change that the NFL has under consideration is including an extra seed in each conference for the playoffs. This would in turn result in only the conference winners receiving a bye. The Steelers and Arizona would have made the playoffs under those circumstances (this season) A total of 6 games would be played on wild-card weekend. Here's the configuration of this season's wild-card weekend if a 7th seed was included (based on the seeding matchups of 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5) AFC Steelers @ Pats Chargers @ Bengals KC @ Colts NFC Arizona @ Panthers Saints @ Eagles 49ers @ Packers Only Denver and Seattle would have received a bye with this new system. It could be assumed that 3 games (1pm, 4.30pm, 8.30pm) would be played on both Saturday and Sunday on wild-card weekend if the changes were made. On first glance, I quite like the idea. Only rewarding the conference leader appeals and so does a couple of extra playoff games!

According to Malcolm Conn ... Selectors to drop George Bailey from Australia Test XI in South Africa, Alex Doolan to come in

Interesting points Dave and a good post. I like the set up the NFL have with regards to the seedings but if they changed it, I'd probably reluctantly accept those changes. I like the quirkiness and the luck involved but you could make a case that some wild card teams deserve a higher seeding. There is a heavy emphasis on winning your division in the NFL and I'd hate to see that devalued too much. I'd keep it the way it is if I had any say in the matter (I'm not expecting a call ) Points tally in the "Playoff" comp ... 2 - pantaloons, Strafford, DemonDave, the master, Macca 1 - titan_uranus 0 - Gorgoroth, cowboy from hell And next week's games ... Sunday 8.35am New Orleans at Seattle (OneHD & ESPN) 12.15pm Indianapolis at New England (OneHD & ESPN) Monday 5.05am San Francisco at Carolina (OneHD & ESPN) 8.40am San Diego at Denver (OneHD & ESPN)

Geoffrey is a beauty, P-man. You are right, he's got stuck into a few Aussies previously (especially Nathan Lyon) but when it comes time to give a bit of credit, he often defers to the other teams deficiencies. It's just his style and I'm not sure he likes being too complimentary! But overall, he can be very entertaining (unlike his own batting, of course) But I agree with you, we've played some great cricket and in the process, we haven't allowed them to play very well at all. It's a combination of both factors but Johnson and Haddin have had stellar series'. And ... we've had some fantastic contributions from a number of our other players ... Kudos to Australia! As for England, the group they had that took them to the top has come to an end (they did reach no.1 status a couple of years ago - albeit briefly) They'll need to replace a number of out of form players and a few retirees. Stokes looks a player. ps - and let's not forget "boof" Clarke's captaincy has been top notch (as usual)

49ers deserved to win. Packers put up a great fight but no excuses. Keapernick was again supreme and his plays in the big moments were the key. Otherwise, there wasn't much between the sides. We had to score a TD on our last drive and fell short. Disappointed but not devastated. The better team won the day but the Packers have much to look forward to. Lacy had a great debut year and our young defense will hopefully improve. As long as Rodgers stays fit, we're always a chance. I reckon San Francisco take care of the Panthers next week. Today's game will hold them in good stead.

The following link ... Australia win 5-0 after an emphatic win in Sydney has included in it, a 15 minute video wrap-up of today's play. Brendan Julian and Stuart Clark provide a bit of an overview of the series and there are interviews conducted with Michael Clarke and Mitch Johnson. From an English perspective, here's a "Test Match Special podcast" with Jonathan Agnew and Geoffrey Boycott ... Australia wrap up the series 5-0 after winning the final Test in Sydney. The podcast also includes the presentations and interviews held immediately after the match.

Too right! And for the first time ever, we got to hear the song! Grand performance by all - unbelievable turnaround. Warnie suggested that there should be joint "man of the series" awards (Brad Haddin and Mitch Johnson) I hope they do it as I reckon it's a fitting way to reward both matchwinners.

Saints win! A road win in the playoffs! There's a first. Tense finish and as an Eagles fan, you'd just feel helpless as the Saints set up that winning field goal. Sproles getting to the half way line was clutch on that final drive (albeit with the help of a horse collar penalty) New Orleans now go to Seattle next week whilst the winner of the 49ers/Packers game goes to Carolina. The Saints @ Seahawks game has already been set for 8.35am next Sunday (our time)

... and right on cue, the Eagles score. Saints lead 20-14. Could be a cracking 4th quarter.

Saints getting on top now. Philly have only scored once in nearly 3 quarters - they need to get a hurry on. 20-7 after that TD.