Wild Card Weekend Part 2.

To put it quite simply I don't think I could have been any more wrong on the two predictions I made about Saturdays games. The Seahawks pulled one of the biggest upsets in NFL playoff history on the arm of a rejuvenated Matt Hasselbeck and based on one of the best runs I've probably ever seen. The Saints came into the game with two running backs left and by the 4th quarter they were down to a guy they signed earlier this week off the street. Frankly the injuries to their running backs made their offense entirely too one dimensional for anyone to carry even if that someone is as good as Drew Brees. The real disappointment if your the Saints is your defense, you allow 13 touchdown passes all season and then let Matt Hasselbeck get 4 in one game. I don't think the Saints need a complete overhaul next year they're a team they just needs some minor retooling and better health next year. Earlier today I compared this Seahawks team to the 2009 Cardinals team that no one expected to make it past the wild card round, and maybe.......just maybe that comparison could be a little more apt than I first thought.

The Colts Jets game played out more or less how a lot of people thought. The Colts didn't come into that game huge favorites and most people expected a defensive struggle between two well matched teams. Peyton Manning reallly didn't get anything going for almost the entirety of the game outside of a 57 yard pass to Pierre Garcon there were no explosive plays and the Jets did a good job of keeping Peyton bottled up the entire game. All of Rex Ryans talk made me think he'd have an emotional game plan and come out aggressive but instead he did the smart thing and made the Colts run the football, he played 1 and 2 defensive lineman looks and continually dared Peyton to check down to the run. More often than not he wont those match ups, the Colts don't have the runners in the backfield nor the lineman up front to make people pay for having 6 and 7 defensive backs. Its time like these it really hurts to remind Colts fans they could have had Maurice Jones Drew a couple of years ago instead of perennially injured and ineffective Joseph Addai. I don't know what happens with the Colts next year but if anyone thinks theres a chance Peyton Manning leaves I have some magic beans I'd like to sell them.

Baltimore @ Kansas City

Baltimore - 3

This game sort of reminds me of the Saints Seahawks game in that you have a team everyone thinks is coming into the playoffs with an air of not belonging on the field with the team they're playing. The Chiefs played 3 above  .500 teams all year and managed to only beat one of them shocking the Chargers in their opening game. The Ravens on the other hand have played 7 games against above .500 opponents going 4-3 but losing those 3 games by a combined 11 points. The Chiefs lost their two games by a combined 41 points, which would indicate they feasted on the poor teams that littered their schedule and couldn't compete with any of the good teams. Whats even more troubling is that in the last week of the season with plenty to play for and at home they got absolutely blasted by the Raiders who were merely playing for pride at that point. Their vaunted rushing attack was shut down and the Matt Cassel who had only thrown 2 interceptions over the seasons last 11 games unraveled to throw 2 interceptions in a sack filled disaster. I think the Ravens look at the game tape and think that their defensive line can do the exact same thing to the Chiefs. Plus if Matt Cassel can't look off Michael Huff what chance does he have looking off Ed Reed who has an incredible 8 interceptions in only 10 games played this year. On the offensive side of the ball I think the Ravens will give the Chiefs a bit of their own medicine and grind them down with a combination of Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, and Leron McClain. Look for a couple of deep connections to Anquan Boldin in a Ravens road win.

Ravens 23


Chiefs 13


Green Bay @ Philadelphia


Philadelphia - 3

Fun Fact: Aaron Rodgers took the title belt dance from Freddie Mitchel

This is a match up of my two favorite teams still left in the tournament and I'm sad that at the end of this game I'll only have one of them left to root for. I was hoping for these two teams to meet up in the NFC Championship game but hopefully we'll all be treated to an offensive shootout this Sunday. I honestly don't know what to make of the Packers offensively they seem dominant one week to only fluster the next week with their lack of punch. One thing I am certain about is their defense which has rounded into shape the past few weeks to become one of the most feared in the playoffs. They have three of the best defensive players on any team in the NFL with Charles Woodson, Clay Matthews, and the untouted B.J. Raji who is having an absolutely stellar season at the nose in their 3-4 defense. When these two teams played earlier in the year Clay Matthews was a man possessed as he gained 3 sacks and harassed Michael Vick all day and despite that when Vick was asked about that game he thinks the Eagles would have won had he started. Michael Vick has been the story for much of this NFL season but  in an incredibly important home game against a Vikings team with nothing to play for they were toothless on both offense and defense picked apart by rookie Joe Webb. If the Eagles defense had this much trouble containing Joe Webb how can they hope to stop Aaron Rodgers. Honestly I don't think they do, but I just don't think Michael Vick will lose a home playoff game. This is the same man who went into Lambeau Field and go the first win there in playoff history and I think he continues to haunt the dreams of Packers this playoffs.

Eagles 31


Packers 27

Saturday Playoff Extravaganza

Week 17 Predictions heads up: 7-9

Week 17 Predictions against the Spread: 5-11

Record for the season: 125-98

I'm sure hell is awfully cold right now as it's frozen over and a team under .500 has made the NFL playoffs. The Seahawks played a game against the Rams that seemed like two teams that were both struggling to stay above water. Apparently the team with their head below water will be hosting a game against the NFL champs who's record is 5 games better than them.  I think this will definitely put a whole lot of pressure on the NFL competition committee to examine the way playoff seeding works and perhaps make some long overdue changes. On Saturday we have the Saints heading into Seattle to face the 7-9 Seahawks and then Saturday night we have the rematch of last years AFC Championship game with the Jets heading into the dome to play the Colts. I honestly don't think either of these games will be all that close but we'll get into that later in this piece.This morning we'll go into the match ups of the Saturday Games and tonight we'll go through a recap of the action and then talk about the two games on the slate for Sunday.


New York @ Indianapolis


Indianapolis - 2

Theres been a lot of talk from Rex Ryan about this game. More or less that its become a personal thing between the Jets and Peyton Manning, he's the proverbial mongoose to the Jets snake. The Jets are a team that needs to blitz in order to bring pressure and that normally plays right into the hands of Peyton Manning, but at the same time they're  a 3-4 team which normally gives him trouble. Its a bit of a quandary but when you look at Peyton's  record against Rex Ryan defenses you see that he seems to have a mastery over them. Last year the Colts were down 13-17 going into the second half before the Colts rung up 17 consecutive points eventually beating the Jets 30-17 to get to the Super Bowl. Peyton's record against Ryan defenses is 5-1 with Peyton having 12 touchdown passes to go with only 2 interceptions. In order for the Jets to win this game they'll have to take some keys from the Patriots and Chargers wins against the Colts earlier this year. In both games the those teams didn't reveal their looks until right before the snap and were able to create pressure with 4 and 5 man pressure packages. This lead to something we haven't seen from Peyton in a few years and thats multiple turnovers. If the Jets are able to do that they're offense should be able to score a few requisite field goals and perhaps a touchdown or two which would allow them to win a relatively low scoring game. However listening to Rex Ryan talk all week, I doubt he'll bring those 4 and 5 man pressures, when somebody takes things this personally with a player who clearly isn't interested in any sort of rivalry with you things tend to turn out badly. I think Ryan's aggression will get the best of him and we can add another win to the Colts and Peyton's record against the Rex Ryan defenses and send the Jets home back to NYC.

Colts 31


Jets 17


New Orleans @ Seattle


New Orleans - 10

I think he'd just take a win this Saturday

This much can be said of Pete Carroll, he lead the Seahawks to the playoffs despite the fact they only have a 7-9 record. If he were to beat the Saints at home no one would remember the 7-9 record just like no one remembers the fact that the 2009 Cardinals who were a few plays away from winning a Super bowl came into the playoffs 8-8. In no way am I comparing those two teams just stating how short our memories are when teams win when it counts. The weather news this morning is that its going to be quite a rainy game today at Qwest field which I would think would be to the advantage of the Seahawks except for the fact that neither team can run the football effectively. Despite having one of the worst rushing offenses in the entire league the Seahawks managed to rush for 140 yards at 4 yards a carry last week and if they can emulate that performance this week against the Saints they'll have a chance to win this game. The Saints lost two of their best running backs in Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory last week for the rest of year leaving them with Julius Jones and Reggie Bush to carry the load for them in the backfield, they're both best suited as change of pace backs but the Saints no longer have that luxury. Luckily for them they won't need it, watching the Seahawks vs Rams game last week you could see that the Rams were playing not to make any mistakes with a plethora of short throws for Sam Bradford only taking 2 or 3 deep shots and both of those shots could have been huge gains if not for receiver drops. The Saints know the Seahawks are vulnerable to the deep pass and that's something their offense specializes in. Look for Drew Brees to forget about the running game in rainy Qwest field and go deep a number of times to Devry Henderson, Lance Moore, and Robert Meachem as the Saints do what we all expect them to do and beat the Seahawks.

Saints 33


Seahawks 20