I can almost not believe how much they've talked up the fact that there are two rookie QB's playing each other in the playoffs this weekend. And then I remember how ESPN works. I do get how little attention they've payed to the Vikings/Packers game. Everyone expects the Pack to roll right the fuck over us. I get that. They have Woodson, and Cobb coming back this week, plus we're playing them IN Lambeau. But everyone discounted us last week as well. And the week before against the Texans. Everyone (except D26) thought we'd lose to the Bears two weeks before that. People also forget that we had a real chance at beating the Packers the first time we played at Lambeau, until Ponder collapsed and threw two INTs in, what, the last quarter? The simple fact is, the Vikings haven't lost since I shaved the "Mad Dog". The "Fu Manchu" (not quite accurate, I'd have to shave out the middle of the top lip). So I will keep this mustache, keep wearing my '98 Moss Jersey, my '00 Culpepper hat. And we will win, and we will go from NFC 6th seed to First Time Super Bowl Champions
I think the Vikings have a chance, but I just don't know if they can do it IN Green Bay. A major part of that last win for the Vikings came with their home field advantage (which I'd argue is the second best home field advantage behind only Seattle). A few false starts screwed up some Packer drives, and you can't count on that happening again in Lambeau. Conversely, they'll go from playing inside a dome to a chilly, perhaps windy day outside, which can only have a negative impact on Ponder's ability to make any throws. Now that will be at least slightly negated by the fact that Purple Jesus is, well Purple fucking Jesus, but if Ponder has to do anything, I think he'll struggle a lot more in this game than he did in the last one. Since I did so good with the Bears picks, here come by playoff picks. Expect these to be completely fucked after this weekend: NFC Wild Card: Seattle over Washington Green Bay over Minnesota AFC Wild Card: Indy over Baltimore Houston over Cincy NFC Divisional: Atlanta over Seattle San Francisco over Green Bay AFC Divisional: Denver over Indianapolis New England over Houston AFC Title: Denver over New England NFC Title: San Fran over Seattle Superbowl: Denver over San Francisco I know I'm not exactly picking a lot of underdogs, but I still think Denver and New England are head and shoulders above the rest of the AFC, while San Francisco's defense is too good and their offense is just good enough (and Seattle is a hot team, too hot to ignore). Ultimately, I think Denver walks away with the title.
So what's your thinking for Denver over New England and San Francisco over Seattle, given their regular season matchups? Just going with the home teams, given relatively close talent?
First, for Denver and New England, I think Denver has the superior defense and will be able to bottle up Brady more than the Patriots defense will be able to confuse Manning. Manning has some excellent receiving weapons in Decker and Thomas, and the Patriots weakness is their secondary. I just think Manning is able to make more plays than Brady in what I suspect will be a shootout. Welker has had more drops this year than he's ever had, I don't know that Gronk will be back to 100 percent, and while you can't STOP New England, San Francisco gave teams a game plan to slow them down. As for San Francisco over Seattle, the home field advantage is a big part. In Seattle, San Francisco would have a lot of issues getting plays in with the 12th man. However, at home, I think San Francisco's defense will have an easier time bottling up Wilson. I think San Fran will focus on clogging the running lanes and containing Wilson, forcing him to throw, and San Francisco's secondary is good enough to keep them from scoring much. This will be a lower scoring, defensive battle, but I think San Francisco comes out on top, if just barely. I'm honestly much less sure about this match up. This is the one I absolutely couldn't make much of a decision on. I know I wouldn't bet against the spread either way, this game will be incredibly close. In the end, I just went with my gut, which is that San Francisco is a (slightly) better team.
NFC Wild Card: Seattle over Washington Green Bay over Minnesota AFC Wild Card: Baltimore over Indy Houston over Cincy NFC Divisional: Seattle over Atlanta San Francisco over Green Bay AFC Divisional: Denver over Baltimore New England over Houston AFC Title: New England over Denver NFC Title: San Francisco over Seattle Superbowl: San Francisco over New England As long as Kaepernick keeps playing well I think the 49ers are the most well rounded team in the league. Good defense, great rushing, and so far a pretty reliable passing attack under Kapernick. They excel on both sides of the ball. Green Bay probably can't go all the way this year. The defense is ok, but can play really bad as evidenced against Minnesota last week. They still don't have a running game, and the o-line is porous. I'd say Seattle is the second best team in the NFC, and has the best chance to beat the 49ers (as they've already shown they can). They've played insanely well down the stretch as well. It would be fun to see RGIII go on a playoff run, but I doubt it will happen. Atlanta looks like another one and done. They might have the NFC's top seed, but I'm guessing most people won't have them going to the super bowl. In the AFC Houston has played really bad lately so I can see them beating Cincy, but not going too far. Ditto for Baltimore. The pats playing Denver in the AFC championship would be a coin flip to me so I decided to go with the more experienced team.
A particular worry for GB is that they haven't done well against the run. They're mediocre to bad overall, and their losses have mostly come against teams that run the ball well (Seattle, SF, Minnesota, and to a lesser extent NYG). They'll need to beat at least two, probably three or four such teams. GB will probably need to get early leads if they want to win multiple times against these teams. My opinion is that there is not a lot of separation between Seattle, New England, Denver, and SF with GB and then Atlanta each a bit below. I think those games are largely toss ups, but Seattle's performance a few weeks ago was absolutely dominant. Also, the Denver New England game wasn't even as close as the score looked. Denver doesn't run well, and Tom Brady didn't have a ton of difficulty against them. New England has improved a fair bit defensively as the year has gone on, particularly in the secondary, whereas Denver is not that different of a team. Denver has benefitted reputation ally from playing a lot of bad teams with poor protection and QB play in the second half of the season. Verdict by round, with slight homerism: Green Bay, Seattle, Cincinnati, and Houston; Seattle, Denver, SF, and New England; Seattle and New England; New England.
I wouldn't take Washington or San Fran in any playoff game because of young qb's with a TON of attention. Wilson gets by because while he performs, the team doesn't depend on him and for me, this has been a kind of sleeper team. I would be wary of Seattle because they have been tested (unlike Atlanta) and have not been blown out (unlike Houston or San Francisco) and are hot, hitting their stride at the right time. Also, I think this is one of the few places Carroll has an advantage: he's completely used to young players in high-pressure games. I'm taking Cincy over Houston, because simply put, Houston has lost steam at the end. Green Bay over Minnesota, because Ponder is too easy to rattle/pick off and playoff pressure can't help that. Also, Aaron Rogers is playing in that game, so...yeah. Baltimore over Indy because Ray Lewis. They'll be lucky if he doesn't eat one of them. If he plays, he is a game-changer. Imagine how emotional and hyped up he is for a regular old ball-game. Then imagine if it's playoffs, he's coming off an injury and if it's a loss, it could be his last. Seattle over Washington because, hell at the end of the day, it's Washington.
Wow, so in re-reading, I apparently originally picked Atlanta over Seattle, then picked San Francisco over Seattle. I think my subconscious was telling me I was stupid to trust Atlanta to win in the playoffs.
I'm only changing this because my environment causes me to hate the Packers. I feel like a crazy upset, no way all of GBs WR make it healthy through this game. At least 2 will get injured before the first half, then the game becomes AP, All Day. Then Arian Foster isn't the same he's been run into the ground. The two weeks has bought him some time, but a few hits and 30 minutes, no idea what that does to him. Andre Johnson can't do it all on his own either. Then on the otherhand...Chuckstrong. That has been some crazy shit. Barnwell has tossed out that teams with the worst point differentials have gone on the road and won their first playoff game. They're going to get killed in the second round, but those teams who shouldn't be there, are like 4-1. Interesting.
My assumption is that (1) there is no way the Vikings win if AP doesn't go HAM. We're talking 5+ ypc and at least 130 total yards. Probably more like 200. (2) There is no way the Packers let him embarrass them like that again. They just can't be that inept. How's that saying go? "Fool us once for 200 yards, shame on you. Fool us twice for 200 yards, shame on us. Fool me three times, YOU FUCKERS ARE ALL CUT." Wait, I think I was confused. I put forth both Cincinnati and Houston, who are in fact playing each other. I like Indianapolis and Cincinnati, especially considering that last I saw, the spreads were giving them 7 and 5 points respectively. It's not that I am enamored with Indy: I think they're bad on defense and can't run well. Their success is entirely predicated on their rookie QB. But against Baltimore? The end of their season was horrific. The Ravens aren't a touchdown better than anyone right now.
What's the over/under on the number of infants Ray Lewis will devour on camera if the Ravens lose to Indy at home? 2.5? I realize a joke about Mr. Lewis' dietary habits have already been made this week, but it bears repeating that there's no way that team won't be more prepared to win than they have been in recent weeks. Might as well throw some picks out, for shits and giggles: Wildcard: Houston, GB, Baltimore, and Seattle. Division: Denver over Baltimore, NE over Houston, Seattle over Atlanta, GB over SF Conference: Denver over NE ("bros before hoes," or something like that), GB over Seattle (again) The Big One: Denver over GB Nope, no homerism in this post. Nosiree. Real talk, though: this is the best Denver offense since '98, and the best defense since they went to the AFC Championship game in '05. So I like their chances, even though NE might actually be the best team in this postseason's field.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8813105/2013-nfl-playoffs-jim-irsay-big-gambles-indianapolis-colts Don't waste your time reading it, just know it's written by Skip Bayless and the headline was essentially Colts shouldn't have cut Peyton and made it worse by drafting Luck
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THEY SHOULD HAVE TRADED FOR TIM TEBOW BECAUSE HE'S A CHRISTIAN WITH GOOD MORALS! SPREAD OPTION! WHY DOES RUSSELL WESTBROOK SHOOT SO MUCH?? SAVE DARFUR!" Luck is the ROY favorite. Skip Bayless knows as much about sports as I know about what menstrual cramps feel like.
Are you sure?? I mean.... he majored in English at Vanderbilt university and he once played basketball in high school. Of COURSE he's qualified so say what's what in sports, despite having no athletic ability, education or personal experience in the field. And he sucked the Dallas Cowboys' collective dick for two decades- you know, the most hated team in professional sports. He doesn't not belong anywhere NEAR the word "sports". He's a bible-banging homophobe. He isn't even good enough to write for Variety, and THAT is saying something. You also have to love how he gives himself the sporty name "Skip" even though his name is John. A poseur to end all poseurs.
So the Vikings are playing without Ponder today. Even if he isn't that great of a QB, it still doesn't bode well for Minnesota.
I picked a Baltimore-Green Bay Superbowl at the start of the season, I'm shocked both teams made the playoffs with how poor I am at long-term picks. I'm just still in shock how well my team put it together in the final few games. And beating Dallas to win the division in the final game? I couldn't ask for anything better. A rookie quarterback probably won't bring them to a Superbowl, but the Giants won it at 9-7 last year, and God hates Eli Manning (he's a douchebag).
Boobies for all!!!!! If anyone had been paying attention to the Bengals offense for the past few weeks, this is really no surprise.
I hate to break it you 'sack, but the bengals lost because they just aren't that good of a football team yet. They've done well in recent drafts with guys like Dalton and Green so if they stay the course they could be very good in a couple years, but they aren't there yet. That game was pretty much what everyone expected to happen. Regarding how bad the offense looked, they should have ran the ball more rather than depending on a passing game that wasn't working.