NFL Playoffs

[FiddySicks]

I have to say i've never been so stunningly bored with the NFL playoffs as I am this season (I say that pretty much every year Tampa blows it though).

Ehh, what the hell. Cardinals over Ravens. Because I said so.

[BCBoy]

HOMER ALERT:

Super Bowl:

Steelers over Panthers

[wdm1219inpenna]

It may be a mild stretch at best, but I'd not be the least bit surprised to see all 4 road teams win during the Wild Card weekend. To the best of my recollection and previous research, I believe we've never had more than 2 road teams win during the wildcard weekend round since 1990, when 2 wildcard games have been played.

Atlanta will defeat Arizona. Matt Ryan has proven he is cool under fire. Big Ben impressed me so much in seeming so cool as a rookie QB for Pittsburgh, and this new kid Ryan seems to be similar in that regard. Kurt Warner does have a Super Bowl ring to his credit, and 2 appearances in the big game, but that was a while ago. Atlanta is hungry. They are hungry to show everybody that they can and will overcome the Michael Vick & Bobby Petrino fiascos. Furthermore, the Cardinals franchise has a history of a losing mentality, and a losing culture. The last time the Cardinals as a franchise hosted a playoff game was 1947. They've won 1 post-season game since that time, one. They swept their own division, which is without a doubt the worst division in football this year, outside of the division, only 3-7. The Cardinals did not impress me at all this year, the Falcons have very much so, and they are hungry and are playing with a huge chip on their shoulders. Furthermore, they are one lucky Carolina Panthers field goal away from winning the NFC South, and having a 2 seed, a bye, and a home game during the Divisional Playoffs. By the way, I wish they could come up with a better name than the "Divisional Playoffs" for that 2nd round.

Fate smiled on the Indianapolis Colts, thanks to Ed Hoculi. Due to Ed's "blowing" it during the first Charger/Bronco game, the Chargers were quite upset, and it seemed their season went into a tailspin after that game, and after SHanahan went for 2 and converted it. I love that San Diego was so angry and fired up, and came from 4-8 to go 8-8, humiliate Denver on national tv, and win their 3rd consecutive AFC West crown. That being said, because of the Chargers anger and determination to win the division, and to have to overcome so much, they will host this game, in a nice climate, which has to favor Indy in this round. The Colts on the other hand seem to be almost on "cruise control" and seem to be under the radar, in spite of winning 8 or 9 in a row if memory serves. Indy's not doing it with their usual "high flying" offense all the time. Couple that with Peyton Manning, and all the weapons the Colts have, and the nicer weather, and I believe the Colts will win this game on the road.

The Ravens vs the Dolphins will prove to be an interesting game, if for no other reason than you have 2 rookie head coaches facing off against one another. And while I really would love to see Miami win this game, the Ravens seem too tough on defense, in spite of some aged veteran players on that side of the ball, and too experienced in post-season play to lose this game, even though it's on the road. I do not know what the weather will be for this game, or if heat would possibly play a factor or not, nevertheless, much as I want the Dolphins to win this game because I cannot stand the Ravens, my head tells me the Ravens will win this game.

Eagles at Vikings. Everybody seems to be in love w/Adrian Peterson. Everybody seemed to be in love w/Barry Sanders too. Barry ran all over the place in the regular season, but in the playoffs, he did next to nothing. The Eagles seem to be coming in with momentum on their side. The only thing that surprised me was when Philly laid an egg in Washington 10-3, in a very unwatchable ballgame. The way the Eagles plays vs Dallas winning 44-6 was how I expected the Eagles to play vs Washington, especially after Dallas got humiliated the Thursday before against the Ravens (One of the few times I rooted for Baltimore). Going out on a limb, I have the Eagles winning this game, in overtime, thus, all 4 road teams winning in the Wild Card Round.

DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS PREDICTIONS:

The Ravens, the #6 seed, would go to Tennessee. Tennessee has a history of losing in this round at home, in spite of being a 1 seed, not unlike the KC Chiefs. I can see the Ravens winning on the road here too, and advancing to the AFC Championship Game. It will prove to be a low scoring game, but I see the Ravens winning something like 13-9.

The Colts, the #5 seed, would go to Pittsburgh. If the weather proves to be inclimate, or even if it does not, the Steelers have played well above many expectations this season, and they are proven winners, as are the Colts. I have to favor Pittsburgh in this game, due to weather conditions/cold. Pittsburgh put a spanking on an 11-5 New England team, eeked out a win at Baltimore, came back at home vs. the Cowboys, so the Steelers have already been tested several times, and still they continue to win. Steelers will defeat the Colts, unless global warming causes a 70 degree day in mid January in Pittsburgh.

Eagles, the #6 seed would then go to the Giants, the #1 seed. This is the first time I'd give the nod to the home team to win, even though the Eagles always seem to play the Giants very tight in that stadium. Manning will win this game, in spite of the absence of Burress, who seems rather fond of the "shotgun" formation.

The #5 seeded Falcons would go to Carolina, the 2 seed. And even though it seems Carolina loses at home, they went undefeated at home this year I believe. And I also believe that they are still hungry considering that heartbreaking Super Bowl loss 5 years ago. They still have Delhomme & John Fox, and that two headed monster running back tandem, so I like their chances in this game. So I predict Carolina will win.

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS:

AFC: Baltimore at Pittsburgh. This would be a classic. And while more lower seeded wild card teams (including the Steelers 3 years ago) advanced all the way to the title game, the Steelers seem to have the Ravens number this season, and I do not see the Steelers losing this game at home, even though they have lost many AFC title games at home in the past.

NFC: Carolina at NY Giants. In an upset, I predict Carolina to win the NFC title game and advance to Super Bowl XLIII in Miami on February 1st. Part of my prediction has to do w/picking Pittsburgh winning in this round. It's quite rare, surprisingly, during this round of playoffs, that both home teams win this game. It's also rare for both road teams to win it. The vast majority of times, since 1970, it's usually a split, with 1 home and 1 road team winning in this around.

SUPER BOWL XLIII:

Steelers will win their 2nd championship in 4 seasons over Carolina. I am going to predict a 20-17 final, and yes, in OVERTIME!!!!

Bill McD.

[Audiodrama]

Wild Card Round

AFC

(6) Baltimore Ravens def. (3) Miami Dolphins

(5) Indianapolis Colts def. (4) San Diego Chargers

NFC

(6) Philadelphia Eagles def. (3) Minnesota Vikings

(5) Atlanta Falcons def. (4) Arizona Cardinals

Divisional Round

AFC

(1) Tennessee Titans def. (6) Baltimore Ravens

(5) Indianapolis Colts def. (2) Pittsburgh Steelers

NFC

(1) New York Giants def. (6) Philadelphia Eagles

(2) Carolina Panthers def. (5) Atlanta Falcons

Conference Championship

AFC

(5) Indianapolis Colts def. (1) Tennessee Titans

NFC

(2) Carolina Panthers def. (1) New York Giants

SUPER BOWL XLIII

(2) Carolina Panthers 31, (5) Indianapolis Colts 17

Super Bowl MVP: DeAngelo Williams

[NEW.ERA]

Must read from Bill Simmons on his predictions and some other fun stuff about his goals he wanted to accomplish during this decade

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...mp;lid=tab1pos1

This is from the Eagles/Vikings

Ladies and gentlemen, your Philadelphia Eagles! Before you feel good about their thrashing of the Cowboys, don't forget that they're the same team that mustered three points in a must-win game at Washington the previous week, and the same team that prompted Tollin to write that insane e-mail. In the Playoff Manifesto, I mentioned in Rule 2 that "During the second or third round of the playoffs, there's always one team that looked a little TOO good the previous week and nobody can think rationally about it." Aren't we living that one prematurely with Philly after Week 17? Check out their eight road games this year:

Dallas 41, Philly 37

Chicago 24, Philly 20

Philly 40, S.F. 26

Philly 26, Seattle 7

Cincy 13, Philly 13 (tie)

Baltimore 36, Philly 7

Philly 20, NYG 14

Washington 10, Philly 3

And check out Minnesota's eight home games:

Indy 18, Minny 15

Minny 20, Carolina 10

Minny 12, Detroit 10

Minny 28, Houston 21

Minny 28, Green Bay 27

Minny 34, Chicago 14

Atlanta 24, Minny 17

Minny 20, NYG 19

So we have a 3-4-1 road team laying points to a 6-2 home team playing in one of the only definitive Good Home-Field Advantage Arenas left in football? How does that make sense?

Oh, yeah, I forgot ... Tarvaris Jackson. But what if the Vikings come out pounding the run with Peterson and Chester Taylor, take the ball out of Tarvaris' hands except for the occasional play-action or designed rollout, jump out to an early lead, get their dome crowd going, throttle Philly's finesse running game with their vaunted rush defense (you have to admit, that's a nice matchup for them), get their crowd going (and more importantly, the dome noise going), avoid a special-teams mistake, then rely on Philly's offense to do what it does best on the road: Struggle in short yardage, call needless timeouts, look lethargic, make dumb turnovers, panic and leave their fans punching walls and closing down bars. When you think about it, isn't this PRECISELY the type of game that the Eagles have routinely squandered during the McNabb/Reid era?

And then there's this: Of all the younger players in the league, only Adrian Peterson has dipped his toes into Keyser Soze-esque, "I will win this game by myself and wreak holy hell in the process" waters. I watched him do it to Green Bay in Week 9, when he nearly killed the Vikings with a fourth-quarter fumble and avenged it with a maniacal performance on their final two possessions. When he gets rolling and the Metrodome gets behind him, there isn't a more frightening force in the league. Couldn't you see him emerge as the story of Round 1 on Sunday night? Heck, maybe even Tarvaris will make a play or two. And when it's over, they can look into the cameras together and say, "Nobody believed in us!" Except for me.

Kind of.

[Viper]

Wild Card Round

Falcons over Cardinals

Colts over Chargers

Ravens over Dolphins

Eagles over Vikings*

Divisional Round

Falcons over Panthers

Colts over Steelers

Titans over Ravens

Eagles over Giants

Conference Championships

Colts over Titans

Falcons over Eagles

Super Bowl XLIII

Colts over Falcons

---

* Believe it or not, this game could end up getting blacked out in the Twin Cities area. As of Friday afternoon about 3,000 tickets remained to be sold (and KMSP, the Twin Cities Fox station, has been running ads for playoff ticket sales during all the college bowl games), and the Vikings have gotten two 24-hour blackout deadline extensions from the league.

[Drew22]

The Cards still needed to sell 3,000 or so seats to avoid blackout as of this morning.

[BBTV]

LOL at the Vikings and Jared Allen's plea to the fans on their website to buy tickets for the game. Unbelievable that this kind of thing can happen in today's NFL.

[scraw28]

Wild Card Round

Falcons over Cardinals

Colts over Chargers

Ravens over Dolphins

Eagles over Vikings*

Divisional Round

Falcons over Panthers

Colts over Steelers

Titans over Ravens

Eagles over Giants

Conference Championships

Colts over Titans

Falcons over Eagles

Super Bowl XLIII

Colts over Falcons

---

* Believe it or not, this game could end up getting blacked out in the Twin Cities area. As of Friday afternoon about 3,000 tickets remained to be sold (and KMSP, the Twin Cities Fox station, has been running ads for playoff ticket sales during all the college bowl games), and the Vikings have gotten two 24-hour blackout deadline extensions from the league.

Wild Card

Cardinals over Falcons

Colts over Chargers

Dolphins over Ravens

Eagles over Vikings

Divisional Playoffs

Titans over Colts

Panthers over Cardinals

Giants over Eagles

Steelers over Dolphins

Conference Championships

Giants over Panthers

Steelers over Titans

Super Bowl XLIII

Steelers over Giants

AFC-NFC PRO BOWL

Who Cares!

2009 Toilet Bowl

Lions over Bengals

[Braden]

2009 Toilet Bowl

Lions over Rams

fixed for you

[NEW.ERA]

Sources: Tomlinson has torn tendon, will attempt to play

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3807590

[Drew22]

I haven't been this pumped about a Falcons game in years.

[Cujo]

Sources: Tomlinson has torn tendon, will attempt to play

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3807590

The Chargers are probably better off if he just sits out the gave vs Indy.

Tomlinson attempted the same thing in last year's AFC Championship Game against New England and had ZERO impact.

[Cujo]

I can't exactly put my finger on it, but the Atlanta-Arizona game doesn't really have a playoff feel to it. Maybe cause we're not used to seeing the teams in the playoffs, or how the players and crowd are reacting... not sure.

Kinda hard to get into this one, eventhough it's close -- ATL up 17-14 at the half.

[Korbyn]

I can't exactly put my finger on it, but the Atlanta-Arizona game doesn't really have a playoff feel to it. Maybe cause we're not used to seeing the teams in the playoffs, or how the players and crowd are reacting... not sure.

Kinda hard to get into this one, eventhough it's close -- ATL up 17-14 at the half.

I think it's the crowd or maybe the fact that Ryan is just so damn calm.

[Bleujayone]

Sources: Tomlinson has torn tendon, will attempt to play

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3807590

The Chargers are probably better off if he just sits out the gave vs Indy.

Tomlinson attempted the same thing in last year's AFC Championship Game against New England and had ZERO impact.

On the other hand, of he plays and really has a bad game, he'll just sit back and say it was his injury that stopped him. Meh. I'm growing rather tired of hearing him whine about injuries then just have him sandbag it- and it seems more often than not he does this when a big game is on the line. Whatever happened to soldiering on without complaining about everything that hurts? Be a man LT, either play through the pain and push it without grumbling, or sit down and let someone else go in your stead. If you're too chicken:censored: to play in the big games, stop jerking your fans and teammates around.

[WJMorris3]

Damn you, Falcons, why did you tackle him there? You should have let him score!

On the other hand, the Cards haven't lost a home playoff game since the 30s, so...

[NJTank]

Damn you, Falcons, why did you tackle him there? You should have let him score!

On the other hand, the Cards haven't lost a home playoff game since the 30s, so...

The Cardinals have never lost a home playoff game

They have of course only played in two

[TFoA]

Well, this season is over. Ryan definitely looked like a rookie out there most of the time...but wow, for them to basically lay their first egg of the season in the playoffs was definitely a disappointment.

I figured that the Cards were going to come out playing like gangbusters to start off their first home playoff game since 1947, they did, and the Falcons still led at halftime, even with Michael Turner basically turning invisible. Then the freakin wheels fell off. That was probably THE worst defensive game that our guys played all year...we shot ourselves in the foot at terrible times, and even still they had a chance to pull it out, and the wild thing was that they could've had a chance to get the ball back in Ryan's hands...and our LBs probably make the stupidest mistake of their career. THEY TEACH YOU IN HIGH SCHOOL THAT IF IT'S PASS ON 3RD AND LONG, DEFEND THE FIRST DOWN! WHAT THE HELL WERE BROOKING AND LOFTON DOING GOING DOWNFIELD! THAT WAS AMAZINGLY STUPID! UGH! I'm really mad that the key cogs to making this season happen (O-Line = dominated, Turner = contained, defense = exploited, Matt Ryan = human, lol) didn't show up when they had to. Disappointing.

Oh well. As long as we've got our core intact, we'll be back. I feel more secure about the future than ever before with #2 quarterbacking. He'll get better, the rest of the team will get better. It's gonna be a bright future.

Congrats to the Cardinals for taking advantage of their first home playoff game since shortly after WWII.

[BlueSky]

I guess (Matty) ice does melt in the desert, doesn't it? I was convinced they were going to come back in the 2nd half today, even at the end just before the Cards converted that 3rd down I told my wife, "The Cardinals blow games almost as often and as well as the Saints so here we go." Glad I was wrong this time.

In fairness, Atlanta had an amazing year all things considered. As much as I hate 'em, it's tough to root against a guy like Mike Smith. When they had Mora, Petrino, MeAngelo Hall, Vick...well, it was easier than ever to despise them. It's at least slightly harder now.