Colts 26, Bengals 10

The Indianapolis Colts held serve at home and advanced to the Divisional Round of the AFC Playoffs with a 26-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The outcome wasn’t much of a shock and the way the quarterbacks played was even less of a surprise. Andrew Luck was excellent, as he completed 31 of 44 throws for 376 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions for a 104.0 quarterback rating. Cincinnati’s Andy Dalton laid yet another playoff egg as he completed just 18 of 35 throws for 155 yards for a 63.4 quarterback rating.

Dalton has made the playoffs in each of his four NFL seasons but is still waiting for his first victory, as he’s underperformed significantly in those big games.

“I thought he (Dalton) hung in there,” Bengals’ head coach Marvin Lewis said. “I thought he made plays with his feet. I thought he made plays throwing the football, and I thought he played a good football game.”

Although a lot was made of the Bengals’ talented running back duo of Giovanni Bernard and Jeremy Hill, it was Indianapolis’ Daniel “Boom” Herron who was the star in the backfield. Herron carved up the Bengals defense with 141 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown.

“I was very excited for the opportunity,” Herron said. “This is one of those things that once you get the opportunity, you take full advantage of it.”

The 141 yards from scrimmage was a new career high for the second-year back from Ohio State.

“He can create when there’s not much there,” Colts’ head coach Chuck Pagano said. “He’s got the ability to create his own yards and make people miss in space especially on the check-downs and things like that in the pass game”

What’s next?

The past meets the present for the Colts as they will travel to Denver to take on Peyton Manning and the Broncos. As great as Andrew Luck has been in his career, he’s played quite poorly in road playoff games. Luck has completed just 48 of 95 throws for 619 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions in a pair of blowout road defeats. In his four career playoff games, Luck has thrown eight interceptions.

The Cincinnati Bengals are in the all too familiar position of looking ahead and trying to figure out whether they have the right quarterback or head coach to win in the playoffs. Lewis has improved the Bengals ten-fold since taking over as head coach in 2003, but one has to question whether they are just okay with being competitive in the regular season.

As for Andy Dalton, the Bengals made a significant financial investment in him and he followed it up by having his worst season as a pro. On his best day Dalton is a good NFL quarterback, but his low’s are far too low for a consistent NFL starter that you can build a franchise around. These ups and downs were okay in the early part of his career when he was a former second-round pick that was a game manager. Now he’s being paid like a playmaker and he doesn’t make plays.

Cincinnati likely won’t be able to upgrade from Dalton through free agency as Mark Sanchez will probably be the best quarterback available.

Cowboys 24, Lions 20

Matt Stafford entered Sunday’s playoff game with an 0-16 road record against winning teams.

Tony Romo’s big game gaff’s have been overexposed, but the records state that he’s 1-6 in “win-or-go-home” situations.

The Cowboys won and Matt Stafford’s turnover ended the football game, but nobody choked…except for the referees.

The most controversial play in the game came early in the fourth quarter when the officials inexplicably picked up a pass-interference penalty which would have extended a Detroit drive deep in Cowboys territory. Head referee Pete Morelli announced the penalty before waving it off, causing an absolute firestorm. Detroit failed to score on the drive and Dallas went on and eventually scored the go-ahead touchdown.

“I didn’t get an explanation. It was ridiculous. … He ran through me,” Lions tight end Brandon Pettigrew told NFL Network’s Albert Breer after the game.

Tony Romo threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Terrance Williams, his second of the day. Despite taking six sacks, Romo hung in there through a tough start and made game-winning plays.

“You just have to stay in the moment and understand the game,” Romo said. “It doesn’t end after the first quarter, second quarter. You just have to keep calm. I’ve played enough games to understand that. Maybe I didn’t do that as well when I was younger.”

Detroit hasn’t won a playoff game since January of 1992.

What’s next?

The Dallas Cowboys will head to Lambeau Field to take on Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. Dallas is a more well-rounded team and they will have a legitimate chance to pull off what would be a very minor upset.

The Detroit Lions are on the upswing, although they will have to make some difficult decisions in the offseason. Both Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley are free agents, and Suh has been the best player on the team all year long.

Although the Lions have heavy financial investments in quarterback Matt Stafford and wide receiver Calvin Johnson, the story of their 2014 season success came from the play of their defense. Detroit will have to find a way to get either Suh or Fairley re-signed or find a viable replacement.