Saturday starting at 4:35 ET
Ravens @ Patriots
Panthers @ Seahawks
Sunday at 1:05
Cowboys @ Packers
Colts @ Broncos
Surprised Ravens @ Pats is the early game. Don’t they usually have the more prominent game later?
Playing the easternmost game first makes sense to me.
They set the times for the hosts prior to last week’s games… at which point everyone was assuming the Steelers would cruise, which would have set up either IND or CIN at the Patriots, two teams that they’ve crushed already this season. With no obvious bad draws among the Round 2 hosts, that was enough to put the Pats in the early slot.
I am terrified of the Ravens right now, incidentally.
Ah, yeah, that makes sense.
Battle of QBs in AFC
Battle of Ds in NFC
Yeah, I know, the AFC has defenses along with NFC having QBs, I just like to make up shit. 
Denver’s D is looking pretty good, but the scoring of their O is what might worry fans.
Dal v GB looks interesting. Lots of pundits are saying Cowboys are the only team able to beat GB post season IN Green Bay. With Rogers hurting, maybe they have a point.
NE should be worried, the Ravens looked pretty balanced on both sides of the ball against Steelers.
Carolina at a very strong Seattle. Game over, IMHO. But, Any Given Sunday, right?
Even with the concern over Rodger’s torn calf I think the Packers handle the Cowboys at home. Rodgers is fine if he doesn’t have to run and even with the Lion’s #3 defense he only got flushed out of the pocket a couple times. I don’t think the Dallas defense will give them much trouble.
And I’m still waiting for the usual Romo playoff meltdown. I could easily see a few pick-6s and fumbles coming off him at Lambeau.
Dallas is certainly has me, a Packer fan, concerned. They matchup very well against the Packers, with a strong running game and a pretty good pass rush. The Packers defense has improved vastly against the run, but they also haven’t faced an O Line as good as Dallas’s. With Rodgers gimpy, this may be Eddie Lacy and James Stark’s time to shine, which they could do. I think as long as the Packers offensive line doesn’t stink up the joint (I remember Aldon Smith just destroying LT David Bahktiari all game last year) and the run defense doesn’t embarrass themselves, I like the Packers chances, but Dallas was not who I wanted to face.
Pats -7 (47.5)
Hawks -10.5 (39.5)
Pack -5.5 (52)
Broncos -7 (53.5)
Huh. Both the spread and the o/u look pretty tall for the Carolina/Seattle game.
As a Ravens fan, I’ll tell you this was an illusion. The secondary is downright bad. They weren’t exposed by Pitt last week because the front seven were getting constant pressure on Roethlisberger (but remember the week 9 debacle?). The fact that they could do that was greatly aided by the absence of Leveon Bell. Don’t get me wrong, the Ravens’ front 7 are pretty damn good, but they’re not going to be as good in New England as they looked last week.
Even if the Pats line does fold, constant pressure isn’t going to shut down Brady the same way it did Roethlisberger. Pitt needs time for their receivers to get downfield for big throws, but Brady makes a lot more quick throws than Roethlisberger does. He’s not going to take 5 sacks, and his hot receivers are going to catch some balls. It’ll be up to the (again, bad) Ravens secondary to bring them down without giving up miles after the catch.
Baltimore needs to get pressure on Brady and tackle well, and they need to keep the Pats offense off the field. If they get some long drives and/or turnovers, they’ll be in good shape. Here’s hoping playoff Flacco shows up tomorrow.
The Pacific Northwest Seismic Network is installing monitors at the Clink to measure for potential beastquakes in Saturday’s game (there is an annotated breakdown of the 2011 event on the linked page). Perhaps they will display realtime info on the screens, which could incite the audience to make even more noise.
I could hear Patriots’ fans bitching about the officiating if I were all alone in a nuclear bunker in 1950.
And I can hear Flacco breathing a sigh of relief that the Pat’s can’t seem to hold onto interceptions.
If Gronk can end up playing for 150 or so games, he’ll be the greatest of all time.
How about that 51 yard pass play by the Pats?
I wonder if they can keep coming back from 14 points down though.
My heart can’t take this…
Whoa, that was almost like he had thrown it to him… but at least they got out of it w/o a score.
Yeah. Too bad they wasted it.
The horseshoe remains firmly up Flacco’s ass, as his fumble in his own red zone gets negated by yet another penalty by the Pats.
Forsett has almost a hundred more yards than the Patriots, not a good sign for New England.
…and the Pats finally take the lead!
Holy crap I’m glad I’m not a huge fan of either team. This turned into a hell of a game.