I think that qualifies as a list of role players. Martin was a journeyman special teamer. Bigby was shaky at best. Chillar was basically a nickel player. Barnett was long in the tooth, but still a solid contributor but he and Poppinga were the 3rd and 4th linebackers in the scheme. Jenkins was the biggest loss. Had Matthews, Woodson, Williams, Collins, Raji or Hawk gone down you’d have been in much rougher shape. Essentially the teams best 6 defenders were all fine most of the season.
The Bears have been without Tinoisamoa, Wright, Bowman for stretches of the season and they probably are similarly important (granted the injuries much less serious and the time shorter).
Not true! The Seahawks had to battle it out in the notoriously tough NFC West in quite possibly the most competitive division in NFL history. I’m picking Seattle with their newfound running game and at home to win: Seattle 184 New Orleans -10 (negative ten).
The Eagles are starting three seventh rounders on defense (or were, up until last week) and have lost their starting LDE (1st round pick in 2010) and S (2nd round pick in 2010), their starting RCB, their preseason starter at S, all for the year (and 11 in total). Their starting MLB dislocated his elbow and missed the last three games and might play this week, but probably not. Seems a little worse for the Eagles, but very close. And yet all season we’ve all heard about the Packers’ injuries and very little about the Eagles’. Sure we won’t get any sympathy for it, but that’s only because very few people know how bad it’s been this season.
I’ve probably heard roughly equivalent coverage of injuries for the Eagles and Packers. My neutral opinion before this thread would have been that both teams are banged up so injuries would be a wash.
I’d feel the same way if the Giants were playing either of them, so I’m not exactly sympathetic.
I agree that by this time of the season all teams are banged up, the Packers have probably lost more man-games to injuries since most of them came early in the season. But on the flip side they have had some time to integrate the replacements in and at this point I think the defensive injuries are not a huge concern going into the playoffs.
Everybody has injuries. The Packers aren’t special in that regard.
Saints should win easy over the Hawks.
I think Peyton’s experience and home field beats the Jets by 4.
Ravens over the Chiefs in a squeaker.
As to Packers-Eagles, the Packers did nothing to stop Mike Vick in their first game this season. he went through them like a knife through butter. The only reason he didn’t win was because he was already too far behind by the time he came in the game. He completely dominated once he came in, and I see no reason to think he won’t do it again, in the playoffs at home with a week of rest. The Eagles also win the coaching matchup in that game. The Eagles defense is a concern, but I still expect them to score early and often. It could be a shootout, but Philly is going to win.
I’d say Ravens over the Chiefs is the closest to a lock.
I’ll go with Colts over the Jets - but mostly based on home field and experience.
I’ll go with Packers - but that’s as much wishful thinking as anything else. Although the Eagles defense is horrid.
For me - the most interesting matchup is the Seahawks / Saints. Saints seem stronger on paper - but a couple things should help even the score. First - Seahawks at home. Second - Saints have some new injuries which should hurt them - especially in their running game. Third - the Saints have to prepare for two different QBs - that’s a real consideration, since nobody knows who will start for the Seahawks yet. Personally, I hope it’s Whitehurst - he played great in the last game, and has earned his shot. Plus - he’s riding a 1 game win streak, whereas Hasselbeck just led them to a 6-9 regular season record. If Whitehurst plays, I’m picking Seahawks.
BS. The Seahawks won their division, the Saints didn’t. It may be a crappy division, but they won it and deserve the bennys that go with that. It is no more of an injustice then the 12-4 Ravens and 11-5 Jets being wildcards behind the 10-6 Colts and the 10-6 Chiefs. Why? Because the Colts and Chiefs won their division. the Ravens and Jets did not.
If the Packers defense plays its “A” game and its offense plays its “B” or “B+” game, they look good to go to the NFC title game if not the championship. There have been six times in the regular season the Pack held their opponent to 7 or fewer points–not too shabby.
Emphasis added. This is where you and many others (including myself) agree to disagree. What they “deserve” is a spot in the playoffs, but not to host. I’m definitely in favor of re-seeding playoff hosts based on record (with a tiebreaker for same record, however, going to a div champ.)
There should be a benefit for winning your division, and it should be: being in the playoffs. That keeps the integrity of the divisions; a 7-9 division winner goes to the playoffs while 10-6 (and sometimes 11-5) non-division winners go home.
After that, though, IMO, the playoffs should be seeded based on record (division win can be a tiebreaker). I agree with those who say it’s ridiculous that NO has to play at Seattle despite winning five more games.
This is a fancy way of saying they’re lucky they are in Seattle and in the NFC. They were fortunate to be in a shitty division, and they were a nose hair better than the other three mediocre-to-crappy teams in that division. I don’t think their hosting a game is the end of the world, but I’m fine with the league changing that rule and I expect that will happen. It’s not going to matter this weekend anyway because New Orleans is going to kill them. Other than their week one game against the Bears, Seattle got murdered every time they played a halfway decent team. The Giants beat them by 34, the Saints beat them by 15, the Chiefs won by 18, the Falcons by 16, the Bucs by 23, and the Raiders by 30. And the Giants, Chiefs and Falcons games were in Seattle. Even without Chris Ivory, New Orleans is a far superior team. They’re playing better than they did when they beat Seattle earlier, and Seattle is actually worse than its record indicates.
The other games all look pretty interesting! I think Peyton Manning is going to want to kick the Jets’ butts (in a nonsexual way). The Colts have a lot of weaknesses but I’ll say their edge in QB play will be enough to eek out a win at home. It feels like the Ravens should beat the Chiefs - experienced team vs. an overachieving young team - but that KC running game should keep it close. I do think Baltimore wins. Much as I want to see Philadelphia win, I think Green Bay is going to get them. They’re a more solid team.
2 (Dallas, Minnesota) were against teams whose coaches were fired the following day (and whose teams were clearly in disarray)
1 (Detroit) was against a third-string quarterback
1 (Buffalo) was against one of the weakest offenses in the league
Don’t get me wrong, the Packers’ defense has played exceptionally well in stretches. And, the other two “7 or fewer points” efforts were outstanding – against the Jets, who were getting a lot of early-season hype, and against the Bears this past week, in a must-win game, when the offense wasn’t doing well.
And, yes, if they play at or near the top of their game, they can beat any of the teams in the NFC playoffs. But, honestly, with the exception of the Seahawks, we can probably say that of the other teams, too.
