No worries, DKW- I could tell there was no acrimony. And yeah, I do have to admit that the Giants are 12-4, and have played more reliably than some of the more explosive or attention-grabbing teams. But I still can’t get over the feeling that they were just a sneeze away from 8-8 or less.
Saints 28 at Minnesota 31
Actually my gut hunch is that it will be closer to 17 - 31, but seems like everyone gets close to 30 points against the Vikes. I am not one of those experience counts guys, but I do think that a young team with little playoff experience, and a rookie quarterback on the road, in a noisy dome, will translate into at least one turnover and a couple of penalites at crucial times. And besides, the Vikes haven’t really had a real blowout victory this year, unlike 98 when they were playing Arena Ball a la the Rams in 99.
Dolphins 9 at Raiders 35
I see this as the easiest game to pick of the four. Miami is a lot like a slightly improved version of the Bucs, but they still have a ‘smoke and mirrors’ offense. The defense is quite credible, but Gannon and Co (31 points vs Saints, on the road!) will take care of business.
Ravens 21 at Titans 24, OT
Tough call. I expect this to go into OT; I am going with the home team only because the home team wins more than it loses. But this one could really go either way.
Eagles 28 at Giants 14
Nothing against the Giants; they have been steady and efficient, but the Eagles seem to have that little extra that gives them an edge. Call it the intangible factor.
So: I expect we will have the Eagles at Minnesota, and the Raiders at the Titans, next weekend. Two pretty good matchups, when you think about it. Minnesota would have to be favored to win at home against the unproven Eagles, which only means they will torture their unfortunate fans by losing. Titans vs Raiders has serious potential; Gannon vs George… Would still go for the home team - probably.
Best possible Super Bowl? One friend of mine says Dolphins vs Vikes, which I can see: Vikes O vs Dolphins D; Dolphins O just good enough to make some noise against Vikes D (most other AFC team will make mincemeat of the Vike corners - I mean, Gannon would have a field day). Vikes vs Tites? Maybe. If the Vikes get a lead it would help negate George’s run presence.
A Saints Titans SB would be interesting as well, actually, and ditto Eagles Titans.
SB I most DON’T want to see? Giants vs Dolphins. Would put me right to sleep. Again, nothing against the Giants - I just have not found them fun to watch. I don’t think fans find them fun to watch.
Oh my god! Ravens win! Ravens win! It took two incredible fluke plays in the fourth quarter (sound familiar, Redskins fans?), but they did it.
Could this be the year…
…nah, I still like the Raiders better. 
snort You’re dreaming. Raiders rely on the rush. Can’t do that against us. I’ll take my chances on Gannon beating us. And why is it when some other team does it it’s an “incrediblefluke play” ? Both those plays were good football. The blocked FG was the case of a defender playing heads up when everyone on the Titans relaxed, and the Lewis int happened cuz he plays and hits hard, and George heard his footsteps and tried to turn upfield before making sure he had caught the ball.
Fetsivus Maximus in three weeks, baby!
3 for 3 so far on my picks this week…
Surprisingly, I picked the Raiders to score 27 and the Vikes to score 33. Unfortunately, I also picked the Giants to score 14, and that ain’t gonna happen.
Please, please, McNabb, please, quit being an idiot.
Go Ravens.
I’ve been waiting for more Giant commentary. Well, Eagle’s fans, what happened?
I see it’s going to be one of those years when every team I root for will be knocked out of the race. For the sake of the teams I am now pulling for, I will keep my opinions to myself for the remainder of the playoffs.
Basically, we can’t beat you. I have no idea why. The Flyers can’t beat the Devils, and the Eagles can’t beat the Giants.
20-10 was a lot closer than it was. The Giants should’ve won 40-3. I think it’s a testament to how weak a #1 seed they are that they let the Eagles almost make it interesting at the end.
The New Jersey Giants are the Eagles’ kryptonite.
I want to go cry. But, at least I can still root for the Ravens, and not care who they meet in the Super Bowl, because they’ll beat either the Giants or the Vikings.
wierddave - Score tied after three quarters. Two Ravens touchdowns in the fourth. One a blocked field goal attempt, after Al Del Greco had already missed a short field goal and had another blocked (so whatever “jinx” the commentators put on him had presumably run its course). Titans special team caught napping both ways and it gets run back for six. For the other touchdown, it looked like a catch, but Rae Lewis snatched it away at the last second and coasted for the nail in the coffin. These are not the kind of blunders I expect from a 13-3 team with HFATP (you know what I mean), especially one that’s looked in the best shape of all the teams going into Saturday. So I’m pretty confident calling them flukes. Credit where it’s due, of course, and it’s remarkable that the Ravens won by that much. I won’t argue.
On the other hand…
Montfort - Yeah, I know, we’ve been here before. Unfortunately, it’s a little late now to decry how “weak” they are, since they’re already in the conference championships. If you say they’re weak, what you’re really saying is that the entire conference is weak, which is something you might want to keep off off these kind of threads, if you catch my drift.
Worse, there’s absolutely no guarantee that the Giants will lose the NFC championship; in fact, there’s a good chance that this’ll be another game they Should Have Won By a Lot More, or, even worse, Would Have Lost Big Had It Not Been Against The Vikings, Who Seemingly Can’t Beat Their Mothers This Time Of Year.
Not that I’m making a pick or anything, mind you… 
And wouldn’t it be even cooler if the Raiders beat the Ravens? Then we’d have TWO teams in the Super Bowl that benefitted from easy schedules, won games they shouldn’t have, and should have blown out some of the games they didn’t! Don’t know about you, but this fan finds it pretty damn exciting. Or maybe just weird. Whichever.
I just hope the league lays a hell of a fine on Ray Lewis for that body slam on McNair in the second quarter.
OK, you’re Ray Lewis, you’re charging at McNair when he throws a pass. Sure, wrapping him up in your loving bear hug, that was on momentum. But taking another step or two with him in your embrace, then slamming him full-force into the ground and making sure you land hard on top of him, that was pretty extreme. I’m still stunned that the refs didn’t call anything. That’s the most flagrant roughing-the-passer I’ve seen in a couple years.
Some things, the NFL needs a penalty box, like hockey has. You wouldn’t want to toss Lewis out of the game for that, but the fifteen-yard penalty (which they didn’t assess anyway, in this case) is just not enough. The refs should have the option of setting a player down for a defensive/offensive series or two, depending on which side he lines up on.
Oh come on Crunchy, let me here you root for the Giants.
Go ahead, do it, put the whammy on them.
RTF,
I thought it was a clean hit. Very close, but still clean. Acording to AP Wire reports, McNair did too.
Man, I took a beating, only 1-3. Well, I’ll just have to do a little more research before making the picks for the conference championships.
And I will make this Fassel-esque guarantee - “I will NOT get another game wrong from here on out!”
I’m saying several things:
- The Giants are not a great team.
- There are lots of better teams than them. On paper, I believe the Eagles to be one of them.
- The Eagles cannot, for reasons that mystify me and many others who dwell in southeastern Pennsylvania, beat the Giants.
- If the Giants beat the Vikings next weekend, I’ll eat my words. I consider the Vikings one of the teams that are better than the Giants. (I also think Oakland and Baltimore are better, too; ditto St. Louis.)
- If the Giants lose to the Vikings next weekend, I’ll feel vindicated.
- The weakness of the NFC isn’t my point. The Giants offense did nothing yesterday. Nada. Zilch. At least the Eagles somehow found a way to score a touchdown (too little, way too late).
- That Jason Sehorn interception was as amazing as the Antonio Freeman TD catch on MNF earlier this season. Wow.
Mr. Firefly: Lewis’ hit, as Dave pointed out, was clean. That one guy who speared Dilfer, though, did an illegal hit.
Gazoo: I was 3-1 this weekend. Of course, the one I wanted the most was my one loss.
Living with a Giants fan who spends most of his online time posting to the Giants newsgroup, I’ve seen this assertion several bizillion times from lame Eagles trolls. What paper are you guys looking at, and what kind of drugs are you on when you’re looking at it?
I’m getting stats here from NFL.com.
Giants:
QB rating 83.1
Total offensive yards 5619
TDs 39
Sacks 44
Sacked 28
INT (rec) 20
Fum Rec 23
Eagles:
QB rating 77.8
Total offensive yards 5268
TDs 38
Sacks 50
Sacked 45 (so much for that mobile QB!)
INT (rec) 19
Fum Rec 20
I don’t have time to find stats on yardage allowed, but rest assured the Giants have that edge as well. You can look it up yourself if you want.
Face it, Montfort, while the Eagles are about a draft pick away from being damn good, they’re NOT at the level of the Giants in about every “on paper” stat there is. That’s why the Giants manhandled them 3 times.
I missed Dilfer getting speared, so I can’t comment on that one.
Dave pointed out that McNair thought it was clean, and he opined that he agreed. I have a difference of opinion with them both.
I don’t have that game, or any other recent game, on tape. But if I had access to an NFL tape library, it would be interesting to apply whatever standards they apply to late hits on QBs to that hit, and to a reasonable sample of plays where they made that call, and then note the comparison. Whether it’s number of steps, or whether it’s how many seconds after the QB released the ball, or whatever, I’m betting Lewis is well past the line by the time he slams McNair into the ground. I’m used to seeing roughing called when the pass rusher has much less opportunity to alter course.
If I were in McNair’s position, though, I would say exactly what he said, for what I hope are obvious reasons.
<tongue deeply in cheek> or we could get on with our REAL lives, eh, Kim? ;)