Craziest. Playoff. Weekend. Ever.

Now that the dust has settled and three of the four top seeds are gone, here's how it will be for next weekend:

NFC Championship: Eagles vs. Cardinals. If anyone guessed this at the start of the playoffs, s/he is clearly on crack. I mean, sure I could see the Eagles making it this far, but I never would have guessed the Cardinals. And while the game that they won again Atlanta could have been considered a fluke (or getting to a rookie QB), certainly their definitive victory over Carolina (with 5 interceptions of the QB) was not. However, the Eagles have played tough and in yesterday's game they stayed tough, even though parts of that game really didn't go there way....each of them should be sending Eli Manning some kind of present for choking so badly. My guess, then, is that the Eagles will win in the end because their defense should be stronger. But what the hell do I know?

AFC Championship: Ravens vs. Steelers. Wow, grudge match. During the regular season, these two teams met each other twice and both games were extremely close (Steelers won both in the end, the second one with barely a TD). Should be a defensive battle and I'm actually finding this one too close to call.

Note that if the Ravens and Eagles win, then it will be a Superbowl pitting #6 from the AFC vs. #6 from the NFC. Insanity.