I think the appropriate line right now is this: On the 14th day they rested. As the 2011 NFL playoff schedule reaches day two, yours truly is sufficiently exhausted. Tre9er and Ninjames were a huge help over the last couple weeks, and even smileyman kicked in some much needed posts in what was just a crazy time. It's been two full weeks since the Mike Singletary era ended and it only got crazier as the days went by. We'll try and get some new material up, but today might very well be a day of rest for us. We'll see how it plays out, particularly with two interesting games today.

The 2011 NFL playoffs got off to a crazy start yesterday with the Seattle Seahawks securing a monster upset of the New Orleans Saints. The Seahawks were 10 point underdogs but they jumped on top in the first half and held on to take down the defending champs. I thought they were gonna blow it late, but they struck a blow for NFC West pride. I wasn't rooting for them, but if it shuts up NFC West haters, I can live with that.

The evening game saw the New York Jets stun the Indianapolis Colts on a field goal as time expired. I thought Peyton Manning had secured a late comeback, but a big Cromartie kick return put Mark Sanchez in great field position. The man they call the Sanchise made three passes, including a monster 18-yard completion to Braylon Edwards setting up an easy 32-yard Nick Folk field goal to win the game. A crazy finish to a wild fourth quarter.

Today we get some more quality football. The 10am game features the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Baltimore Ravens, with the 1:30pm game featuring the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Green Bay Packers. I'm picking the Ravens on the road and the Eagles at home. That  apparently follows the gambling odds, but I just think Flacco and the Ravens defense will be too much for the over-achieving Chiefs, while Vick and Co. have a date with destiny.

In a somewhat related note, in six months I've written two posts about the Pittsburgh Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger in particular. Yesterday I posted my rootability rankings in which Pittsburgh was tied for last with Seattle and the Jets (wow, 0-for-2 on that one). A month and a half ago I wrote an SB Nation Bay Area blog post about Richard Seymour open-hand slapping Ben Roethlisberger and how Big Ben deserved it.

Both posts have received more vitriol than almost anything else I've written. The SBNBA blog post has some fantastic comments in support of Roethlisberger. More importantly, I received an email last night from an apparent Big Ben supporter who was none too pleased with my comments about the Steelers. In the post I said:

The Steelers have Ben Roethlisberger, which is reason enough to stick them at the bottom. And actually, I've never told anybody this, but I have an irrational disdain for Hines Ward. I don't know why, but that smile on his face after a big play annoys me for some reason.

The email basically said I knew nothing about football or some of the players and they'd be quite excited when the Steelers won and I had to live with it (not those words). I responded with this:

Thanks for the email ______. Just to clarify, I do think Big Ben knows how to play the game of football. My issue with him is his douchebaggery. I'm guessing you're a Steelers fan? That's fine. If I was a Steelers fan I'd probably defend him too.

I figured I could have been a real punk about it, but with this I get across a sufficient mix of understanding and sarcasm, all at once. Either way, Steelers fans continue to amuse me to no end in their efforts to defend a truly scummy dude.

ENJOY WITH ABSOLUT RESPONSIBILITY®