It was a disappointing last hurrah for two quarterbacks in the AFC as Peyton Manning and Chad Pennington each took early exits this year.

In case you haven’t heard, the 2009 NFL playoffs kicked off this weekend as league MVP Peyton Manning saw his Indianapolis Colts lose to the San Diego Chargers while Chad Pennington’s Cinderella season was cut short for him by the Baltimore Ravens when his Miami Dolphins could only muster nine points to Baltimore’s 27.

Of course, Pennington’s mishap was nothing compared to what Peyton Manning had to endure.

He was coming into this AFC wild card game with the San Diego Chargers only a day after he was proclaimed as the 2008 NFL Most Valuable Player. To see him go out like that again to the same team was just unfair.

Darren Sproles scooted 22 yards for the winning score 6:20 into overtime and the San Diego Chargers beat the Colts 23-17 in an AFC wild-card game Saturday night, ending Indianapolis’ nine-game winning streak a day after Manning won his third Associated Press NFL MVP award.

Sproles came up big on a night when the Chargers played the final 2 ½ quarters without LaDainian Tomlinson, who stood on the sideline in obvious discomfort from what appears to be a serious groin injury.

Fifty years after the Baltimore Colts won the first overtime game in league history by the same score over the New York Giants for the NFL title, the Indianapolis Colts were not as fortunate. The Colts were victimized by Sproles, who rushed 23 times for 105 yards, caught five passes for 45 yards, had 106 yards on four kickoff returns and 72 on three punt runbacks.

Let’s see how these guys will do against the Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday.

And as stated, another quarterback from the AFC got his Cinderella season abruptly ended when Chad Pennington and his Miami Dolphins lost to the Baltimore Ravens, 27-9, the most convincing result among the four NFL wild card weekend matchups.

The Miami Dolphins fell to the Baltimore Ravens, 27-9, as Miami failed to carry over all of the elements that previously made this team successful. Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington threw four interceptions, including one that was returned 64 yards by Baltimore safety Ed Reed, while Dolphins running back Patrick Cobbs also committed turnovers, coughing up a fumble after taking a tough hit near the sideline.

Pennington, who has been so sensationally efficient this season, struggled severely to carry that same poise into the playoffs. The quarterback completed 25 of 38 passes for 252 yards and one touchdown.

While the Dolphins’ defense was generally successful when it came to minimizing the number of long drives the Baltimore Ravens have, the unit’s task became even more difficult as a result of the badly timed turnovers by their offense.

Even with the loss, the 2008 campaign the Dolphins had will still undoubtedly go down as one of the most magical regular-season performances in the team’s storied history. Watch out for these guys next season.

The Ravens will have the Tennessee Titans next, this season’s ‘’almost perfect'’ team. The Titans better bring their A-game because the Ravens are hungry for more.

Who will win Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, Florida? SportsBetting.com has the odds.

New York Giants 5-2

Philadelphia Eagles 10-1

San Diego Chargers 10-1

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