Erik Gunther dot com

This weekend’s pigskin action eliminated four more title pretenders from Super Bowl contention. While NFL fans are salivating over next weekend’s divisional matchups, there were still plenty of sports shut-ins for the not-so-wild Wild Card Weekend. Before you return to that nice dent on the couch you made with over eight hours of football on Saturday and Sunday, let’s look back at some of the players and teams that intercepted some buzz.

• Clinton Portis (+131%) — Our favorite player in the NFL might not bust into character at this week’s press conference. How could he possibly top last week’s performance as Coach Janky Spanky?
• Carson Palmer (+746%) — Young Bengals QB suffered a horrific knee injury on the second play from scrimmage and won’t be back in the pocket until training camp.
• Jerome Bettis (+303%) — This future Hall of Famer ran over a few Bengals as he chugged through their defense.
• Troy Polamalu (+254%) — The Steelers safety with the flowing locks dished out punishment over the middle and picked off a Jon Kitna pass.
• Carolina Panthers (+247%) — Went into New York and crushed the Giants with a dominating shutout.
• Ben Roethlisberger (+223%) — Big Ben redeemed his sucky performance in last year’s playoff run by leading the Steelers offense to victory.
• Steve Smith (+204%) — Panthers WR found the end zone twice against the New York D.
• Eli Manning (+184%) — Anointed as the second coming earlier in the season, the younger Manning wilted against the Panthers playoff pressure.
• Hines Ward (+108%) — The Steelers WR with the perpetual grin was smiling bigtime after dispatching the division rival Bengals.
• Peyton Manning (+100%) — Well-seasoned Colts QB will deliver a better effort than his younger brother. But will he finally make it to the Super Bowl?
• Jacksonville Jaguars (+198%) — Their offense turned ice-cold against the Patriots.
• Sean Taylor (+168%) — This ‘Skins safety scored a touchdown, but later got booted from the game for spitting in the face of an opposing player.
• Tom Brady (+154%) — Will anyone be able to knock this three-time champ from his perch?
• New England Patriots (+138%) — The Pats continue their quest for three Super Bowl wins in a row at Denver this weekend after easily dispatching the Jags.