The buildup to the NFL Playoffs this year is intense. We have been watching the games go by and it leads us to a surprising conclusion that we might see the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints in the Super Bowl this year. You’ll want to get cheap NFL playoff tickets to be there in case this happens. As of this moment, both teams are undefeated, with Indy sitting at 14-0 and the Saints at 13-0. Last night, Indianapolis looked like they might be on the way to their first loss of the season, but Peyton Manning came in and gave them a boost to get their win done. The Saints have had their close calls too, but it hasn’t happened yet for them. Other amazing teams like Minnesota, San Diego, Philadelphia and Cincinnati are right on their heels and hope to upset these two dominant teams. Don’t miss the culmination of a great season!

Last night, we saw a big battle in the NFC East. We can frequently expect that games between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants are going to be hotly contested and sometimes a little bit angry. As a friend of mine said, “it’s because they’re east coast teams that they get into fights more easily than Bears vs Packers, for example.” That would appear to be true. It was an exciting game anyhow since there were over 80 points scored in this 45-38 game. The Eagles were able to take advantage of the mistakes that New York made, including lots of botched coverage in the secondary, a couple of strange fumbles, and letting them return a punt more than half the field for a touchdown. About 10 yards of that, the guy was walking backwards. At the end of the game, Philly was in sole control of the division, because the Cowboys lost to San Diego as well. It’s still a close division, so hopefully it will remain interesting for a little while.

Tom Brady and the Patriots have a chance to get back into the playoffs this year. But in the AFC East, it’s not taking all that much of a record to get to the playoffs. The Miami Dolphins appear that they might be in the drivers’ seat for this postseason, but on the other hand, the Patriots are close to it too. The biggest problem is that the Patriots haven’t been able to finish off the close games this season at all. They keep dropping easy games and playing only partial games. The coach is trying to get the team to focus finally, sending guys home if they don’t show up for meetings on time and such. If he is successful, we can expect a big comeback. If not, then the Patriots might miss the playoffs again for the 2nd year in a row. Luckily for them, Brady is back on the field after missing most of the week with a small injury.

While they had a record number of penalty yards and a lot of turnovers, Green Bay was able to edge the Baltimore Ravens up in Cheesehead land last night in Monday Night Football. Green Bay’s offense wasn’t at its best and didn’t produce very much. But their defense shut down the Ravens in a way that they could have only hoped for. Green Bay might have an angle at a playoff spot, depending on how things go in the rest of the NFC. The Ravens are fighting it out with one of the most competitive divisions in the game right now. The Steelers haven’t been as good as before, but Cincy seems to be a team that could actually take the division. This game meant a lot for both teams and they both tried to show it.

The Jets started out with such an exciting beginning to the season. They went 4-0 and possibly even better. Mark Sanchez wasn’t able to keep it up through the entire year, but he has shown that he’s going to be one of the nation’s best QBs in the future. Sanchez is strong and a good playmaker. But in the last few weeks, he has been injured. Last night, against Buffalo he didn’t only help lead his team to a win, but he also got a knee injury, or possibly reagrivated one he already had. Hopefully, this is just going to be the beginning of a big career. But on the other hand, he might be the kind of player that is injured most of the time. But there’s not much evidence of this, since he was fine until he came to NYC. This year, the team is probably not headed to the playoffs, but he will be a valuable asset for many years to come!

With the Ravens taking on the Steelers last night in AFC North action, we might have figured for a close game with great drama. That drama was increased when we found out that Ben Roethlisberger wasn’t in shape to play the game, putting in a rookie name Dennis Dixon, who didn’t get to practice much this week. The Ravens came close to winning it in regulation, but they weren’t able to get their kicker into a decent position. As time ticked off the clock, he had to run out and try to kick from his maximum distance (it didn’t work). But in the overtime period, the Steelers had the ball first and started charging across the field. But then the Ravens pulled out an interception with a run-back that almost got them within field goal range. They got the field goal for a 20-17 win; Joe Flacco proved himself an able player in a playoff-like atmosphere and fans hope to see more of that Flacco over the next weeks! An exciting game though!

On Thanksgiving, the unexpected third game was played in the evening, with the New York Giants vs the Denver Broncos. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the kind of competition that you might have hoped for during the last few months. When you thought that the Giants would be able to get into the playoffs or the Super Bowl again, this matchup looked like it could be an important one. But with the Giants struggling mightily against injury and poor performance, it turned into a one-sided situation. A lot of people had thought that the Broncos were more or less finished for the season, but they beat the Giants, and their 4 game losing streak, by 26-6. The drama in Denver might not be completely over, but I reckon they feel much better about life than they did last weekend!

The Indianapolis Colts remained unbeaten this season, after they held off the Baltimore Ravens yesterday, 17-15. The game was very close indeed, and it was mainly the Ravens’ mistakes that cost them the potential win. They had hoped to be able to finally topple the best team in the AFC. Instead, Indianapolis has practically sealed their win in the division. They had a good chance to lose it at the end, when Ed Reed tried to lateral on the final punt return. It didn’t work out and the Colts picked up the the ball on a ruled fumble. The end of the game occurred much earlier, when Flacco’s long throw was intercepted to end a big drive. The Ravens can be proud that they got far against the Colts, but will have to hope for better if they get into the playoffs in 5 weeks.

The question of whether Kyle Orton will play in this weekend’s game against the Chargers will be put off until about game time. He has been key to the Denver offense this year, making the team seem much more dominant than they have been for many years now. Last week, Orton got an ankle sprain against the Redskins. He has missed several practices this week. This leads to the question of if he’ll be able to play this weekend. He’ll do a practice this weekend to see if he’s ready for the game and then the coach will make the decision. This would be a game that he shouldn’t miss if he can avoid it, because the Chargers will be their main opposition in trying to get the divisional title this year. The Chargers are doing well, so are the Broncos, so a big game is ahead on Sunday. Get ready!

Whenever the Patriots and the Colts get together, it’s clearly going to be a tough competition these days. This is the kind of rivalry that we are going to remember in the future as one of the big ones. The Colts have been unbeaten so far in the 2009 season. This year has been fun for both teams and New England fans had been looking forward to having Tom Brady back to full speed. This clash of the titans finally came to a head with about 2 minutes left in regulation. The Patriots went for it on 4th down and 2. They didn’t need to, because they actually had the lead. But by trying to get the 4th down, they would have practically won the game. Instead, they surrendered possession deep in their own territory. The Colts drove it in for a score and won the game in the end. In football, you take big risks and you get some big rewards or embarrassing failures. You can guess which one the Pats god last night.