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You might want to sum up next week's NFL Divisional Playoff with one sentence: Power vs. Power.
Think about what we have.
It's the New Orleans Saints' explosive pass offense against the San Francisco 49ers' stingy defense.
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Then the Houston Texans' second-ranked running game, featuring Pro Bowl runner Arian Foster, against the Baltimore Ravens and their second-ranked run defense.
We have Tom Brady and his passing attack in New England going against a good Denver defense and Tebow Mania, fueled by a college offense that makes the quarterback a sledgehammer on defenses and helps open up the passing game.
Then there's the defensive front of the New York Giants going against the Green Bay Packers and their potent offense at Lambeau Field, which will give us a rematch of the 2007 NFC title game won by the Giants on that same field. It's also a rematch of a game earlier this season, which the Packers took in a tight one.
Whatever ends up happening, the next round of matchups has to be better than what we saw in the first weekend, which featured one good game. We had two home favorites winning big Saturday in pretty ho-hum fashion after close first halves, and then we had the Giants doing the same in the early game Sunday. The only drama was Tebow throwing for 316 yards and an overtime touchdown to beat the Steelers.
While the weekend mostly lacked drama, the Pittsburgh-Denver game made up for it. So I'll give the four games a "C" here atop our CBSSports.com Weekly Grades. There wasn't much in terms of keeping you in front of the TV, aside from Tebow's magical throw to beat the Steelers.
Next week will be a different story.
Power vs. Power will make it that way.
It should be fun.
| Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012 | |||
| Team | Grade | GPA | Houston Texans 31, Cincinnati Bengals 10 |
 | A- | 2.82 | Texans: Feeding off their crowd, the Texans shook off the early jitters of playing in their first postseason game and looked a lot like the team that ripped off seven straight wins at one point. RB Arian Foster (153 yards, two touchdowns) powered the offense, while the "Bulls on Parade" defense gored the Bengals with three interceptions and four sacks. -- Brandon Williams |
 | D- | 2.45 | Bengals: There were chances to take control of the game, all of which disappeared (along with their season) when Andy Dalton's interception to J.J. Watt gave the Texans the lead for good and deflated the offense, which had no run game to speak of. The run defense, which was a disaster last week, cratered in the second half under the weight of Pro Bowler Arian Foster's performance. -- Brandon Williams |
| Team | Grade | GPA | New Orleans Saints 45, Detroit Lions 28 |
 | B | 3.00 | Saints: The Saints made some uncharacteristic mistakes early against the Lions with two turnovers and plenty of leaky defense. The leaky defense continued as Calvin Johnson went nuts, but Drew Brees and his cast of offensive weapons went more nuts as the Saints erased the nightmare of last year's Wild Card loss to Seattle. -- Larry Holder |
 | C- | 2.62 | Lions: A solid effort by Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson and the offense was undone by the Lions’ worst tackling effort of the season. The D-line couldn’t create pressure on Drew Brees, exposing weak secondary play. Detroit has proven itself a legitimate 2012 playoff contender, but its defense must improve if it wants to advance in the tournament. -- Larry Holder |
| Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012 | |||
| Team | Grade | GPA | NY Giants 24, Atlanta Falcons 2 |
 | A | 2.54 | Giants: Suddenly, everything clicked for the Giants. Not only did the New York defense -- a unit that frequently fell under criticism during the season -- hold the Atlanta's offense scoreless, the Giants also neutralized one of the best ground games in the NFL. Most importantly, coach Tom Coughlin got his wish as the offense finally found balance between the run and pass. -- Alex Raskin |
 | D | 2.30 | Falcons: Offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey drew up two fourth-and-1 plays for the offense, only to see his QB stymied both times. The Falcons' ground game became dormant, a fact that was exacerbated by QB Matt Ryan's inability to make plays downfield. The defense bent and eventually broke because of the porous coverage in the secondary. -- Alex Raskin |
| Team | Grade | GPA | Denver Broncos 29, Pittsburgh Steelers 23 |
 | A- | 2.33 | Broncos: Denver entered the game as a prohibitive underdog and until midway through the fourth quarter appeared as if it would pull off the upset. But, up by seven, Willis McGahee fumbled. Champ Bailey dropped an interception, preceding a tying TD and then, when Pittsburgh stopped Tim Tebow and Co., it looked dire for Denver. But overtime has been the Broncos time all season -- and was again. The team improved to 4-0 in such contests in 2011. -- Lee Rasizer |
 | D | 2.52 | Steelers: Sure, the Steelers were banged up. Yes, they were on the road. But the league's stingiest pass defense alllowed a struggling Tim Tebow to heave the ball downfield for completions of 58, 51, 30 and 40 yards. The No. 1 overall defense allowed Denver to put up nearly 400 yards overall. QB Ben Roethlisberger showed why he's one of the gutsiest players in the postseason, leading two TD drives and a FG march after falling behind 20-6 at halftime. But this is a game that will haunt Pittsburgh all offseason. -- Lee Rasizer |
| GPA Key (updated through season) | ||
| A = 4.0 | A- = 3.7 | B+ = 3.3 |
| B = 3.0 | B- = 2.7 | C+ = 2.3 |
| C = 2.0 | C- = 1.7 | D+ = 1.3 |
| D = 1.0 | D- = 0.7 | |
