Wild Card weekend proved to be exactly that. Well, Saturday was at least. After going 0 for Saturday, I thought the credibility of my blog and knowledge of picking football games was going suffer greatly. After Flacco fumbled and Jamal Charles scampered 40+ for a 7-3 lead for the Chiefs, I thought I was in serious trouble. Luckily the Ravens were able to sustain and took care of the Chiefs easily. The Packers handled Vick and the Eagles and I salvaged the weekend going 2-2. Yeah, being .500 when you’re picking four games isn’t great, but it’s a better winning percentage than the Seahawks and they’re still in the playoffs.
The first game of the weekend was probably the wildest… or was it. I did explain all of the reasons why the Seahawks would win the game, just didn’t follow my own advice. In winning, Seattle both helped and hurt their case for sub-.500 teams making the playoffs. Winning showed that despite their losing record they did just take care of business against the defending champs, they belonged in the playoffs; nothing wrong with the system. However, the biggest reason they won was because the building was literally rocking. Having home field advantage was huge for the Seahawks playing against the indoor Saints. This certainly challenges the validity of the Seahawks huge win. While, winning your division is good enough to make the playoffs, if you win with a 7-9 record, you shouldn’t get a home playoff game. There is no sporting atmosphere greater than that of a NFL playoff game. The win or go home mentality raises the ferocity of the fans to another level. If the Saints and Seahawks played in New Orleans, no doubt that this game would have ended like everyone thought it would.
I said that Rex Ryan’s foot fetish would be on high alert after this game; his foot in his mouth and worshiping Manning’s feet. Well he was obsessing over feet after the game, only it was kicker Nick Folk’s game winning field goal kicking feet. This was definitely a bit of a shocker. When Peyton Manning eventually gets inducted into the hall of fame, he should pull some strings and try and get Rex Grossman an honorary spot. Rex Grossman is the only thing separating Manning and Marino. Manning is just 9-10 in the playoffs. Why can’t he win? I thought he and the Colts were a lock for last year’s Super Bowl. Winning would have pulled Manning to within one SB of Brady. Not only did the Colts lose, it was Manning’s pick-six that essentially sealed it. Right now, it looks like Brady could be on his way to number 4, further separating him and Manning. As great as Manning has been statistically, Brady and Manning may ended up mirroring Montana and Marino.
Not much to recap on the Ravens/Chiefs game. This one got pretty ugly. Two fun tidbits about the Ravens for the road though. First, Willis McGahee’s touchdown run that essentially sealed the game for the Ravens made the Chiefs one of three teams to be done in by a player with Buffalo ties. Marshawn Lynch’s earth shaking run to put away the Saints, McGahee’s game sealing run and the Packers who have had no running game since Ryan Grant went out, got 123 yards from University of Buffalo rookie, James Starks. Last little bit of info, the Patriots should be rooting for the Steelers this weekend. If the Ravens and Patriots both win this weekend, it’ll set a Conference Championship pitting the two teams against each other. Why should the Patriots favor a meeting with the Steelers over the Ravens, you ask? The Ravens have now faced two teams who ranked in the top five all time for fewest turnovers in the regular season, the ’10 Chiefs and the ’08 Dolphins. After both teams barely cracked double digits for turnovers in the regular season, both teams went on to turn the ball over 5 times a piece against the Ravens D. Just in case you missed this year’s regular season, the Patriots set the record for fewest turnovers.
The Eagles/Packers game was somewhat one sided for a majority of the game. The Eagles did make a late push and for the first time this year, Michael Vick did what everyone has been waiting for him to do. Vick’s gamble for the endzone in the waning moments of the game was the first time this year that Vick’s magic ran out. The interesting bit here is now that the Seahawks won, there is a potential NFC Championship pitting the Bears and Packers against each other. It would certainly be poetic justice for Giants fans if the Packers cost the Bears a trip to the Super Bowl, seeing as the Bears week 16 loss to the Packers is the reason the Packers are in the playoffs and the Giants aren’t.
Now that we’ve looked back at Wild Card Weekend, time to look forward to the Divisional round.
AFC Macthups
Steelers vs. Ravens
This is going to be a great game, it always is. In today’s game defensive battles are usually boring; fans want long touchdown passes and high scoring shoot-outs. However, when the Steelers and Ravens lock horns these two teams are anything but boring. Both teams play a fun brand of defense, hard hits and turnovers. This is going to be a tough game to pick; it will be ugly and low scoring. While Peyton Manning has had his struggles in the postseason, Ben Roethlisberger has been the anti-Manning. All he does in the playoffs is win and all he does against the Ravens is win. A 6-0 record for the Steelers against the Ravens in Big Ben’s last six starts is hard to ignore. Let not forget that Big Ben has the freshest legs of any quarterback in the league. Not only is he coming of a week of rest, he only played a twelve game season. He is going to take a lot of abuse in this game and having fresh legs will help. Steelers head back to the AFC title game beating the Ravens, 17-14.
Patriots vs. Jets
The Jets tried to rile up Manning and I warned it was a bad idea. They proved me wrong. However, riling up Tom Brady is not a good idea. Check out how Brady acts at the 0:33 point in this video to see if you should rile up Brady. Brady isn’t Manning, he likes to talk trash, it doesn’t matter who he is taking to. Not many guys will get in James Harrison’s face but Brady did after torching the Steelers that talked trash earlier in the week. Antonio Cromartie, you should expect the same. Undoubtedly, Brady will specifically target Cromartie early in the game and chances are Brady will win. Cromartie has given up 7 touchdowns this year. 40+ point beat downs aren’t typically flukes and in the two instances where teams have met in the playoffs after one team shellacked the other bye 40, that same team won the playoff game by at least 20. The game will be in Foxboro, it will be snowing, Brady loves the snow, Sanchez is a Southern Cal kid. Patriots handled the Jets easily, 31-10.
NFC Matchups
Falcons vs. Packers
All season long the Falcons have won games without really having an identity. They aren’t a juggernaut on defense like the Ravens, they have a good passing game but it’s not as prolific as that of the Patriots or Packers, they have Michael Turner but he isn’t the type of force that an Adrian Peterson or Chris Johnson is, they just win, why, no one can really put a finger on it. There is one thing that the Falcons do, do consistently, win at home. Guess where the NFC’s top seed gets to play this weekend, at home. This is a tough game to pick. Hard to ignore the Falcons home field dominance and their number one seed. These Packers just seem to have a special feel to them. It has really been win or go home for them since they played the Giants late in the year. They came into the playoffs hot and go even hotter by winning their first game. Often time’s playoffs come down to quarterback play and I think Rodgers gives the edge to the Packers in this one. Packers keep rolling, upset the Falcons and win a close one 28-24.
Bears vs. Seahawks
If this was any other team other than a Jay Cutler led Bears team, I’d say that the Seahawks fun run comes to an end this weekend. Just as with the Saints, the Seahawks have a lot of ammunition they could use to pull off the upset. First off, this is Jay Cutler’s first playoff game. Sure Cutler is turning out to be the best QB from his draft but I still find myself doubting him. He takes a lot of chances and the Seahawks have nothing to lose. The Seahawks will be gambling on defense and just might be able to force Cutler into turnovers. Hasselbeck has been to a Super Bowl and he reminded us of that this past weekend. He probably won’t end up in the Hall but he does pretty well in the playoffs. While no one will confuse the NFC West for a super conference, maybe they’ve figured out something the rest of the league hasn’t. Despite being one of the worst conferences in the league over the last few years, those same horrible NFC West teams are 9-5 in the playoffs over the past couple of years. The Seahawks have just as much going for them as they did going into the Saints game. With that being said I still can’t pick them to win. Maybe my hate is what is keeping them alive but I just can’t do it. If they do win, they will make a believer out of me and I will pick them in the NFC Championship. Until they make it there, I’m picking the Bears 28-21.
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