Curran: We haven't seen ‘wild' yet in NFL playoffs

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Fun games if you like field goals. Fourteen were kicked during the four Mild Card Weekend games in the NFL, a trend that seemed more tied to poor offense than stifling defense.

But with the Colts, Bengals, Redskins and Vikings tapping out and the Patriots, Broncos, 49ers and Falcons ready to come over the top rope, things should get a little more interesting.

That's especially true in the NFC as the Seahawks - seemingly the scariest team in the field over there - are already installed as favorites on the road against top-seeded Atlanta. Meanwhile, you have the Packers headed to play at San Francisco in what could be a fascinating matchup of contrasting styles.

The AFC? Nobody did anything to change anyone's mind that the Broncos and Patriots are the two best teams in the conference. The Ravens spent the afternoon heaving the ball down the field and trying to survive two Ray Rice fumbles. They did so successfully, in part because of a nasty pass rush that the Colts offensive line and Andrew Luck were not prepared to deal with. Now they get Denver out in the Rockies, a team that Baltimore was beaten by 34-17 in December.

Do the Ravens stand a chance? Hard to figure they do given the fact Denver's defense is a helluva lot better than Indy's and Indy had no problem making Joe Flacco look like he was shutting his eyes and hoping for the best on a whole lot of throws.

And the Ravens may frustrate Peyton Manning somewhat but he won't be hanging on to the ball quite as long as Luck decided to on Sunday either.

The Texans are a shell of the team that started 11-1.

And they are the team that will again play the Patriots.

Its a great challenge. Thats a very good team, Texans defensive end J.J. Watt told the Houston media after the win over Cincy. They know what theyre doing in the playoffs. Theyve been there many times before. They know what it takes. Its going to take everything we have, and were really excited about that challenge and I know were going to have one heckuva week of practice.

How much will Houston pore over the Patriots demolition of them less than a month ago?

I dont know how much Im going to look at that, man, honestly, said Arian Foster. (The Patriots) are a good team. Were a good team. Ill glance at it. But Im not going to sit there and burn a candle and watch it.

Not a lot of NFL fans are going to be replaying these Wild Card games until the wee hours this week either. We'll see if the wild just got delayed a week.

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