AKA the Official Pittsburgh Steelers March To Their Winter Homes In Boca Raton Thread.
I think Cinci and New England will win next week, with the NE game being a much better game. That brings Cinci to the rusty Colts, where they pull off an upset (but not a surprise) and New England to San Diego, where they don’t. AFC CG sends Cincinnati to San Diego, where they remind everyone in America why they are called the Bungles.
Over in the NFC, I am sure Dallas will repeat their total domination of the Eagles and I also expect Green Bay to win again, given the Cardinals lackluster last few weeks. That sends Green Bay to New Orleans where they could easily up-end the Saints once golden season. An NFC title game between the Packers and the Favre-led Vikings would be so titillating to the network execs they’ll probably put a little fixing in through the refs. So I will pick Minnesota over Dallas in their game, and Minnesota over Green Bay.
Then: Chargers and Vikings. Neither team has won a Super Bowl. I’m not ready to pick that one.
Wild Card Weekend features three cames that are the same as games played in Week 17:
Cards/Packers, Cowboys/Eagles, and Bengals/Jets. Don’t think that has ever happened before.
If the Eagles win, they’d be at New Orleans the following week. I don’t think that’s going to happen. Cowboys are playing really good football lately. I expect them to win and face the Vikings, leaving the Cards/Packers winner to face New Orleans. I’ll call the Pack to beat the Cards, then lose in the Dome. Cowboys at Vikings should be one hell of a game. I’ll go with the Vikings over the Cowboys, then the Saints over the Vikings to the Super Bowl.
On the AFC side, I think Baltimore sends the Pats home for the year, and Cincy beats the Jets when the game actually matters. Then Indy over Baltimore, San Diego over New England, and San Diego over the Colts to the Super Bowl.
Saints finally bring it home, beating San Diego in the Super Bowl 28-24. Drew Brees is the Super Bowl MVP, and then is assumed bodily into Heaven, live on national TV.
The whole thing looks pretty wide open to me. I think every team has a decent chance against anyone else, so I don’t have too much confidence in any of these picks. Anyway:
Jets over Bengals
Pats over Ravens
Cowboys over Eagles
Cards over Packers
Colts over Jets
Chargers over Pats
Cowboys over Vikings
Saints over Cards
The Jets got lucky playing their last two games against teams with nothing to play for to eke into the playoffs. The Bengals, meanwhile, have been struggling a bit recently and not playing like a playoff caliber team. Still, they’ve been playing pretty well defensively, and with the playoffs on the line, I expect their D to actually do better stopping the run than week 17. And Mark Sanchez won’t be able to save them. Bengals by 6 in a low scoring affair.
Ravens v. Pats
No Wes Welker. Banged up Brady. A one dimensional offense that relies on the passing game. Ray Rice and the 5th rated rushing offense in the league. These are all reasons why the Patriots will lose to the Ravens. I expect the Ravens to play smashmouth, run the ball 50 times, relentless pounding defense. But the Pats are the Pats, and they still have Brady, Moss, and Edelmen. I just don’t think it will be enough. Ravens by 3 in a squeaker.
All the Pats have to do to beat the Ravens is stretch the field. Baltimore’s secondary is horrendous. They can’t cover receivers who are generously described as “pretty good,” and with Ed Reed banged up, there’s nobody who can even come close to Moss. As long as Brady puts the ball where Reed can’t get his hands on it, a deep pass to Moss will result in either a completion or a pass interference penalty.
Penalties have killed the Ravens all year, including the first BAL-NE game (NE by 6 in Foxboro). I don’t expect next week to be any different.
I thought you guys might want to drag your predictions over to the playoff prediction contest that I’m running for the second year. It involves picking a bracket (as you’ve done here) and additionally picking the scores for each game.
