The NFL Wrap-Up Week 13: The Cards You Were Dealt

Week 13 is now behind us, so let me ask you this question, “How strong does your team look?” Are you playoff bound or what? Leading the division or sliding into a Wild Card position? OWN UP! That’s what we do with these wrap-ups. And much respect to those that are commenting with below .500 teams. That’s what OWNING UP is all about! I want to lead with talking about last season’s Superbowl. You know, the one that the Arizona Cardinals let slip through their defense. I’m not even on the Cardinals and still have flashbacks of when Santonio “Konvict Music” Holmes caught the impossible catch in the back corner of the endzone that ultimately put the Steelers in the lead for good. This is the moment where I should say, “Wow, how the mighty have fallen.” But I’ll save that one just in case the Steelers, which are now on a four game losing streak, don’t make the playoffs. Did I mention that they’ve lost a tough game to the Oakland Raiders, at home? We’ll get back to that. Will the real Arizona Cardinals please stand up? I know that you’ve just handed it to the Minnesota Vikings in the worst way. You’ve rattled Brett Favre 4.0, and you’ve shut down Adrian Peterson to 19 rushing yards. Forgive me for changing the subject, but wasn’t having a veteran QB supposed to help Peterson rush for more yards? Ok, back to the Cardinals. The Cardinals are just inconsistently inconsistent (yes, I meant to say that). Last week, they got Vince Young’d on a 99 yard drive that lost the Cardinals the lead and the game. This week, they make the Vikings look like, well, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Against the Vikings, Kurt Warner threw for 3 touchdown passes, one to Larry “That’s Mine” Fitzgerald and two touchdown passes to Anquan Boldin. Favre 4.0 was sacked three times and intercepted two times. If the Cardinals can bottle up this intensity on both ends of the ball, similar to their Superbowl run last season, they could very well make it back to the big game. I’m just saying… this is not a prediction. The Pittsburgh Steelers look like they’ve lost their best friend. And his name is Troy “Isn’t It?” Polamalu. Say what you want about one player not making a difference on a team. If that was the case, the Cleveland Browns would be deadly. The Steelers are 2-5 without the star of the “Head and Shoulders” commercials. Troy’s position and knowledge of the defense is far too valuable and maybe more valuable than even the coaching staff realized. You’d hope that when your Pro Bowl player goes down, their back-up would step up. In Polamalu’s case, if you had a player as good as he is, as a back-up, that player would be on the field as well, point blank. If you are a Steeler’s fan, good luck. Coach Mike “Q” Tomlin is one of my favorite coaches in the league. Even when the Steelers look down and out, Tomlin talks without any chaser and you just believe that his team will step up the next week. But sorry to say, there is no stepping up if they can’t get Polamalu back on the field in working order. Am I wrong? Colts and Saints streaks are still in tact with four games to go. If you are a Washington Redskins fan, how many times did you hurl in your mouth this past Sunday? I mean, you just can’t catch a break, and these are the type of games that your team loses every year. You had the Saints right where you wanted them. Or was it the other way around? Tennessee’s 5 game winning streak with Vince Young at quarterback was snapped by the Colts. This didn’t come across as a surprise, and wouldn’t have been even if the Titans pulled out the victory. Any time that faces the Colts or the Saints during the remainder of the season need to think, possessions. You better have your heart in every position and every snap if you want to beat either one of these teams. If you ask me, they both need to take a loss before the playoffs. And not a loss with the second string players in either. Sometimes you just need a shift in game plans which only happens after a loss. Which could explain the up and down victories both teams are pulling off. Which team do you think the clock will strike 12 on in the playoffs? As always, I can’t talk about every team in these wrap-ups. However, we at AllHipHop.com implemented the scores and asterisks to focus on what you should be “in the know” on. Sidebar: it just felt right to see Allen Iverson back in a Sixers uniform last night. Give the Sixers about 10 games and a whole lot of “Practice” and they won’t be an easy win in the Eastern Conference. What were you expecting me to say? That they’d be a force to be reckoned with? I have a name to protect here! Baltimore 14, Green Bay 27 Minnesota 17*, Arizona 30* San Francisco 17, Seattle 20 Dallas 24*, New York Giants 31 San Diego 30*, Cleveland 23 Philadelphia 34*, Atlanta 7 New England 21*, Miami 22 Detroit 13, Cincinnati 23* Denver 44, Kansas City 13 St. Louis 9, Chicago 17 Oakland 27, Pittsburgh 24 Tampa Bay 6, Carolina 16 Tennessee 17, Indianapolis 27* New Orleans 33*, Washington 30 Houston 18, Jacksonville 23 New York Jets 19, Buffalo 13 * = Division Leaders