The first round of the playoffs is officially in the books, no reason to waste any time: Let’s take a look at each game individually.

Baltimore @ Miami: The Ravens beat the Dolphins 27-9. Surprising? Hardly.

The Ravens’ defense stole the game away. They scored on an Ed Reed interception return, forced five turnovers - the Dolphins had turned over the ball only 13 times in 16 games - and held the Dolphins high-powered rushing game to just 52 yards.

Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown were non-factors.

Four of five turnovers forced by the Raven’s ‘D’ were interceptions - Dolphin quarterback Chad Pennington had thrown just seven over the course of the regular season.

Despite playing on the road, the Ravens’ defense appeared to be superior to all the teams playing over the weekend. If the Ravens’ defensive unit doesn’t fold, they could be Tampa bound.

Indianapolis @ San Diego: Peyton Manning may been voted the 2008 NFL MVP, but he didn’t quite look the part in Saturday’s 23-17 Colts loss to the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium in overtime.

Although the three-time MVP completed 25 of 42 attempts for 310 yards, he only threw one score.

Manning might have been the better quarterback on the field today - Philip Rivers completed 20 of 36 for 217 yards with no touchdowns and one interceptions - but the Chargers running assault was superior to the Colts and Manning never even got a chance to touch the ball in overtime.

The Chargers - with LaDainian Tomlinson getting only five carries - ran for over 160 yards and three scores. The Colts scored only one touchdown on the ground and were held to fewer than 70 yards.

Nothing, however, was more dominant than the amount of penalties called on the Colts.

Announced as the crew that calls more penalties than any other in professional football, the referees blew the whistle on the Colts nine times, costing them 74 yards, two of which helped the guide the Chargers game winning drive in overtime.

The Chargers were called for just three penalties that amounted to 40 total yards. If San Diego is going to make it to the Super Bowl, it won’t be with the home field advantages that we witnessed on Saturday.

Atlanta @ Arizona: The Cardinals had not played a home playoff game in 61 years.

Arizona has, thanks to Kurt Warner, ended that drought and will be playing their fourth-ever playoff game in franchise history this weekend at Carolina.

The two-time league MVP once again has carried a not-so-great franchise to the divisional round of the playoffs after the Cardinals’ come-from-behind victory in which they blew an early 11-point lead in the first half Saturday.

Warner struck twice early - a flee-flicker to Larry Fitzgerald and a short pass to Anquan Boldin, which turned into a 72-yard touchdown - to take an early 14-3 lead over the Falcons, but he was held scoreless for the remainder of the game.

In a surprising turn of events, it was the Cardinals - who had struggled to run the ball all year - that established the running game early, and the Falcons - who had excelled to run the ball all year - that struggled miserably on the ground.

Falcons’ running back Michael Turner was held to just 42 yards on 18 carries.

Quarterback Matt Ryan, who was recently voted the NFL Rookie of the Year, didn’t show up as an MVP. he played like a rookie. Completing 26 of 40, Ryan threw as many touchdowns (2) as interceptions and failed to rally the team when it counted most. Ryan was also “sacked” for a safety and fumbled the ball away once.

Although the Cardinals defense did actually make an appearance, don’t expect similar results this week.

Philadelphia @ Minnesota: Adrian Peterson tried to carry the weight of the Minnesota Vikings offense on his shoulder.

He failed… well, sort of.

Last year’s Rookie of the Year ran for 83 yards on 20 attempts, piling on two scores in Sundays 26-14 defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson - arguably the only terrible one to have made the playoffs this season - did Peterson no good, completing a small portion of his passes (15 of 35) while being held to 164 yards in the air by a stingy Eagles defensive unit.

Donovan McNabb, on the other hand, was brilliant for the Eagles, connecting on 23 of 34 passes for 300 yards. Although he threw as many interceptions as touchdowns (1), he saved the Eagles offense, which struggled to move the ball on the ground.

The Eagles, however, must now face a well-rested New York squad on the road after a hard fought victory.

If the Eagles can pull the upset in New York, they are going to be an awfully tough team to knock out of the big games ahead.

***Check back later in the week for predictions for this weekend’s Divisional playoff predictions and some commentary on the Florida-Oklahoma National Title Game.

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