THE SCOOP
Lately, the Super Bowl winner’s journey seems to go through Philadelphia each September.
That’s good news for San Diego, the last team into the NFL’s 16-team tournament.
The Eagles’ opponent for their home opener each of the past four seasons — ‘09 Saints, ‘10 Packers, ‘11 Giants, ‘12 Ravens — all went on to win the Super Bowl. This year’s home opener? The Chargers.
INJURY UPDATE
Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith says he’ll play Sunday against San Francisco in a NFC divisional game.
Smith said Monday: “It’s not about can I go. It’s about how confident do I feel when I am going. I will play Sunday. But it’s about how much I don’t worry about the (left) knee and that’s when the confidence increases.”
Smith, 34, will test his knee more on Wednesday. He strained the posterior cruciate ligament in Week 16 and did not play in Week 17 when the Panthers clinched the NFC South by topping the Falcons.
TV CHATTER
New Orleans’ 26-24 victory against the Eagles was the most-watched Saturday wild-card game on NBC with 34.4 million viewers. Indianapolis’ 45-44 victory against Kansas City had 27.6 million viewers. On CBS, the San Diego-Cincinnati game was seen by 30.9 million, the highest viewership in 19 years for an early AFC wild-card game.
HE SAID IT
“I think it’s common knowledge and human nature that you would like to think it’s going to be the same, but we know better than that. We need to respect this opportunity for what it is. It’s a great championship matchup for us and they’re going to come loaded up and give us a great football game.” — Seattle coach Pete Carroll when questioned about hammering the Saints 34-7 on Dec. 2. The teams meet Saturday in an NFC divisional matchup.
BY THE NUMBERS
30
Fewest rushing attempts in a game by Saints in their past three games since having only 17 in the loss in Seattle in early December. The Saints ran 36 times against the Eagles.
3
Losses by Denver, all of them to the three remaining teams in the AFC playoffs (Chargers, Patriots and Colts).
0
Matchups between the Broncos and Chargers in the postseason. The original AFL members have met 108 times in the regular season.
6-2
Record in Denver for Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers. (He might be 7-1, too, if not for referee Ed Hochuli’s blown call on a Jay Cutler last-minute fumble in 2008.)
TICKET TALK
Seahawks fans are a little crazed. Resale tickets for Saturday’s game with the Saints are the most expensive of NFL playoffs so far, according to SeatGeek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The average price for a seat at Saturday’s game stands at $416. The least expensive seats, located in the corner of the upper deck, listed for a cool $203. Club seats at the 50? They’ve gone for more than $2,000 apiece. Tickets sold out in less than 30 minutes.
Compiled by Ray Cox
