Monday, January 2

Playoff Preview

This weekend closed a wonderful year of regular season football. You had the teams that everyone picked to do well, and a few surprises, which are always fun. First off I want to congratulate Doug Flutie on that beautiful drop kick extra point. Now for my preview I am picking the teams I think will win the games, nothing to do with spreads. Onto the NFC…
The ‘Skins, Bucs game should be an exciting one. You have two very good defenses facing each other; you also have two Super Bowl winning coaches in Gruden and Gibbs. You also have two offenses that rely a lot on the running game. You have two QB’s who can manage a game and won’t lose a game for you, but they probably won’t win a game for you either. The ‘Skins are coming in on a five game winning streak. They have played very well in must win games. That’s why I like the ‘Skins to upset the Bucs in this game.
In the other Wild Card match up we see the Panthers travel to Giants stadium to face the NYG. The Giants are the NFC East division winners, and the Panthers got in with one of the two Wildcard spots. The Panthers have had an up and down season, but I think they will exploit the Giants’ defense, and have the ability to shut down Tiki. They also have a team that has been to a Super Bowl before and that goes a long way.
I have two upsets in the Wildcard weekend so that means I have the ‘Skins traveling to Seattle to face the Seahawks, and I have the Panthers traveling to Chicago to face the Bears.
In the ‘Skins ‘Hawks game we have a team that hasn’t one a playoff game in almost 20 years, but that same team has the NFL’s leading rusher, and a defense that can cause a lot takeaways. That will be too much for the ‘Skins so I have the ‘Hawks advancing.
In the other Divisional match up I have two very physical defenses. We also have two very good coaches, this game will come down to the weather and we all know how bad the weather is in Chicago in Jan. I have the Bears squeaking by the Panthers to advance to the NFC championship game to face the ‘Hawks.

In the NFC Championship game the Bears will cause enough points on defense to allow Rex Grossman the freedom of playing with a lead and the Bears will advance to the Super Bowl.

AFC
In the first match up on Wildcard weekend we have the Jaguars traveling to New England to face the two time defending Super Bowl champs who are playing on a roll despite their setback at home on Sunday. The Jags will be boosted with the return of Byron, but that won’t be enough to derail the Pats from facing the Broncos in the second round because..
I have the Steelers going into Cincy and beating the Bengals. The Steelers are too physical on D and will stop Carson Palmer who has had an MVP type season, (although my MVP goes to Tom Brady, but more on that in a later column), and the Steelers will ride The Bus for one more Playoff win.
In the first divisional playoff game we have the Pats going into Denver and looking to avenge their early season defeat, and I think they do it. They are playing with a much healthier team, their front seven on D has been playing excellent ball lately, and last I checked they still have Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. The combination of those two, plus Belichick doesn’t lose to a QB two times in the same season equals a win for the Pats.
In the second Divisional Playoff game we have the Steelers going into Indy to try and grab a win, but that won’t happen. Just because they have played bi-polar football the last three weeks doesn’t mean anything. The Colts will come out and dominate from start to finish in a huge win for Dungy and the rest of the city who lost a son.
But unfortunately for the Colts they have to face the Pats the following week in the AFC championship game, and I know everyone will be picking the Colts in this game, but I will stick with my Pats. They have picked against the Pats the last two years against the Colts and the Pats came out on top, so why should I believe anything different this year. Sure the Colts D is better than years past, and sure they will still be playing with extra emotion because of the loss of Dungy’s son, but the Pats know how to win in January. And so do Brady and Belichick. In fact the two of them have never lost a playoff game when they have been together. So look for the Pats to move on to face the Bears in Super Bowl XL.

In a rematch of Super Bowl XX, 20 years ago for those of you who don’t know Roman Numerals. The Pats will be seeking their NFL record third straight super bowl victory. They will face a stingy Bears defense, but they will also face Rex Grossman. Bill Belichick will have a field day drawing up defenses against him. The Pats will get at least one score on defense and one more on special teams plus one more on offense and that will allow the Pats to win their third Super Bowl in a row, and their first by more than three points.
Enjoy the playoffs and just to put it out there, I’ve got USC over Texas 48-34 in the Rose Bowl for USC’s record third straight national title.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where are the pop culture posts? It's all sports.

Anonymous said...

You are so wrong! Im never reading this again!