For the playoff teams, wild card weekend was the news. For the rest, the coaching carrousel was the biggest news. A couple surprises popped up.

The biggest stunner to me was Buffalo’s selection of Syracuse head coach as its next leader, replacing the fired Chan Gailey. Syracuse is better than it was four years ago, but it’s still a mid-level school in an uninspiring conference. So I was surprised to see Marrone get the attention he did this offseason.

The 48-year-old also was being pursued reportedly by Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia and San Diego. And he does have experience as an offensive line coach and as an offensive coordinator in the NFL, so it’s not like he’s coming in cold.

Judging by the comments at BuffaloRumblings.com, the hire is receiving mixed reviews in Buffalo, but Brian Galliford, manager of the site, has a number of posts with information about why he was hired. The Saints had a pretty successful offense when he was there, Galliford notes, even though Sean Payton called the plays.

It’s also hard to base much on the success or lack thereof that Marrone experienced at Syracuse considering how far in the hole that school was when he got there. Interesting hire. It’s not like going with the retreads like Gailey paid off all that well.

Reid to Kansas City

I also was surprised at the level of demand there appeared to be for Andy Reid, who was unemployed for about 36 hours before popping up in Kansas City. I still think Reid looks like a guy who needs to take a break. He was incredibly successful in the early years with the Eagles, but since defensive coordinator Jim Johnson died a few years back, he’s had trouble fielding a competitive defense.

Reid also has a history of over-reliance on the passing game in spite of having guys like Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy. It will be interesting to see how he uses Jamaal Charles.

All in all I don’t necessarily blame Kansas City for putting an all out blitz into acquiring Reid’s services. As Ladner Morse, senior writer for Arrowhead Addict writes, Reid is the most qualified and attractive head coach prospect the team has had since Marty Schottenheimer left.

But I’m not 100 percent sold on giving him final say over personnel and I’m not sure they’re going to get the payoff they were looking for. Reid is a good coach, but the last few seasons in Philadelphia have to give reasons for pause.

Wild card letdown

Count me among anyone who might say they were disappointed by the quality of play during wild card weekend, particularly on Saturday when none of the four teams that played looked like anything resembling a Super Bowl contender.

The day started with a Houston team doing as little as it absolutely could to beat Cincinnati, which for the second year in a row dropped the ball on the first weekend of postseason. The Bengals couldn’t find AJ Green at all in the first half, they abandoned the run in the first stanza after three carries produced 43 yards and they generally looked like a team that didn’t belong there.

One Houston player after the game was quoted saying something to the effect of “that was enough to beat the Bengals, but it won’t be enough to beat the Patriots.”

Truer words have never been spoken.

Pondering Ponder

Minnesota also looked like a team that didn’t belong, though that was in large part due to the absence of quarterback Christian Ponder. Not that Ponder was All World during the season, but it’s got to be hard for an inexperienced backup to come in and start a playoff game after having not thrown a pass all year.

The coaching staff could be roundly criticized for its game plan. Among other things, Webb looked comfortable in a more run-heavy, option-style attack during the game’s first drive and Minnesota marched down for a field goal right away. Those plays then seemed to disappear from the playbook, and Webb’s night went steadily downhill.

The Vikings also could be criticized for keeping Webb as the top backup over veteran Sage Rosenfels after training camp, but in fairness to them, I don’t think even Minnesota executives saw this team going 10-6 this year after a 3-13 2011. Had they expected to be a playoff team, my guess is they would have had someone more seasoned in reserve in case Ponder got hurt.

Vikings fans were understandably disappointed by the performance Saturday, but hopefully some time will provide this perspective: Green Bay was expected to win the division and to make a deep run in the postseason. Minnesota was expected to win maybe six games. A playoff appearance at this stage of the rebuilding process is almost a bonus. Expectations are raised for 2013, but this is still a flawed team that, for once in the recent history of the Vikings, overachieved and did so substantially.

Ravens take Colts in battle of emotions

The first Sunday game was just as one-sided. I was surprised at just how little offense Indianapolis was able to generate on the road against Baltimore. I didn’t see a lot of this game, but it seems the retirement announcement from Ray Lewis earlier in the week fueled the Ravens a little more than the Colts were able to feed off the Chuck Strong mantra that carried them through a season of rapid improvement.

Can they keep it up as they head onto the road? Baltimore and Denver shapes up to be an intriguing matchup for next week.

Redskins suffer scare in late game

I did get a chance to watch a good chunk of the Redskins/Seahawks game Sunday afternoon. The vast bulk of the contest was incredibly entertaining. I’ve never been a fan of either team, but both, with their rookie quarterbacks, have become among the league’s most interesting and exciting teams.

Then, in the fourth quarter, Robert Griffin’s knee collapsed awkwardly as he attempted to chase a bad shotgun snap. I haven’t seen any report on what the issue is, but one can only hope that it’s not as serious as it looked.

With Griffin, the Redskins were a year away from being a great team but were clearly well on their way toward being competitive for the near future. Without Griffin, the team does have Kirk Cousins, another rookie.

Cousins looks like he could be a decent player, but he clearly doesn’t have Griffin’s upside. It’d be a shame if a freak bad snap led to an injury that had long-term ramifications for the RGIII’s future. I’ve been saying much of the year that if he can stay healthy, he’s well on his way to becoming the face of the league. Sunday’s game, despite the loss, did nothing to diminish that in my mind.