NFL playoffs

Wow, what a tough call this year. All the early tough teams seem to be losing their edge, and the team playing the best football right now (Carolina imho) isn’t even in.

So…

I’ll go with the Packers :-D since I’m a fan.

Viking for me. Farve reminds me of Montana in his last years as a 49’er.

The Bears are always my favorite team, but they sucked out.

Can you change the poll for multiple options?

@Joe:

Wow, what a tough call this year. All the early tough teams seem to be losing their edge, and the team playing the best football right now (Carolina imho) isn’t even in.

So…

I’ll go with the Packers :-D since I’m a fan.

Although the Colts weren’t completely dominant (sometimes just squeaking by), I think we all know why they lost the last 2 games.  Chargers are on an upswing but had a little trouble next week.

Hoping the Boys are in - they are starting to look like the team they could have been all year.  I hope the Packers meet the Vikes and bring about another Farvetirement (psych!).

I think the Saints lose steam and the Eagles give a better performance but lose to Dallas (unless 3rd time is the charm).  I’d like to see the Bengals make it somewhere, but they may have trouble with the Jets.

I agree with Jermofoot that the Colts weren’t as dominant as their record suggests. I mean, come on, their division has the Titans, Texans, and Jaguars. They’re dominating a mediocre division. They aren’t as scary as they used to be.

The Chargers are for real. They beat the Redskins with what was essentially their 2nd team. They are my AFC pick to go to the Bowl. I think the Colts and Ravens are the only teams in the AFC playoffs with any chance of beating them.

The Saints obviously laid down. The only legitimate loss was Dallas and that game was close. Once their undefeated streak was broken, they had nothing left to play for except home field for the entire NFC playoffs and the Vikings took care of that problem for them. They just lost one of their starting DE’s, but I don’t know how much that will bother them because they make their money on offense. If they come out of the bye week playing like they did in the first 13 games, they’re going to be hard to stop.

The Vikings puzzle me, but I think they have the edge over anybody they play at home. If any visiting team has the best chance to beat them I’m thinking it’s the Packers because they know them as division rivals and Green Bay’s coaches know Favre better than anybody. But, I wouldn’t count out Dallas, either.

For this weeks games:

Raven over Patriots. The Patriots aren’t as dominant as they used to be, either. And they just lost Wes Welker. This is the game I’m going to watch, for sure.

Packers over Cardinals. To be honest, I don’t know crap about the Cardinals, but I know the Packers so I’m picking them.

Cowboys over Eagles. I can’t stand the Eagles. And last week, Dallas crushed them in Dallas to win the division. It makes me happy to think that it will happen two weeks in a row.

Jets over Bengals. I’m picking the Jets for the same reason I picked the Cowboys, because they just embarrassed the Bengals 37-0 last week.

@U-505:

I agree with Jermofoot that the Colts weren’t as dominant as their record suggests. I mean, come on, their division has the Titans, Texans, and Jaguars. They’re dominating a mediocre division. They aren’t as scary as they used to be.

I honestly think they could have gone undefeated in the regular season, but they still had some close games.  I think the Chargers will knock them off like they seem to always do.

The Vikings puzzle me, but I think they have the edge over anybody they play at home. If any visiting team has the best chance to beat them I’m thinking it’s the Packers because they know them as division rivals and Green Bay’s coaches know Favre better than anybody. But, I wouldn’t count out Dallas, either.

Totally agree.

For this weeks games:

Yay, 3 repeats!

Cowboys over Eagles. I can’t stand the Eagles. And last week, Dallas crushed them in Dallas to win the division. It makes me happy to think that it will happen two weeks in a row.

I so hope you’re right.  A good friend is a Philly fan, and gave me a ribbing last year with the Eagles knocking Dallas out of the playoffs 44-6.  I want to see another shutout and I think it can happen unless Philly was completely out of their minds last game.

Jets over Bengals. I’m picking the Jets for the same reason I picked the Cowboys, because they just embarrassed the Bengals 37-0 last week.

I think the Bengals of the next game will be very different.  All they had to gain was a win, so they sat a few people and made sure to be healthy for the bigger game.  Jets’ playoff picture was still up in the air so they had to win.  They could still win (I think they are fairly evenly matched), but I think the Bengals may have them next go around.  The Eagles, on the other hand, were fighting for a first round bye and failed horribly.

I’m gonna go with the Pittsburg Penguins :-D

@Jermofoot:

Cowboys over Eagles. I can’t stand the Eagles. And last week, Dallas crushed them in Dallas to win the division. It makes me happy to think that it will happen two weeks in a row.

I so hope you’re right.  A good friend is a Philly fan, and gave me a ribbing last year with the Eagles knocking Dallas out of the playoffs 44-6.  I want to see another shutout and I think it can happen unless Philly was completely out of their minds last game.

I believe it’s going to end up the same way. I saw somewhere that the Eagles lost their starting center and when you lose 24-0 it’s pretty clear that you aren’t controlling the line of scrimmage so I don’t see the Eagles improving on the offensive control of the line over last weeks effort without their starting center. Dallas is playing sh*t hot football and they’re too good of a team to lose a game when the opposing team’s defense is also going to be responsible for scoring points for their team.

Jets over Bengals. I’m picking the Jets for the same reason I picked the Cowboys, because they just embarrassed the Bengals 37-0 last week.

I think the Bengals of the next game will be very different.  All they had to gain was a win, so they sat a few people and made sure to be healthy for the bigger game.  Jets’ playoff picture was still up in the air so they had to win.  They could still win (I think they are fairly evenly matched), but I think the Bengals may have them next go around.

I agree that the Bengals will play better and they are at home which helps but, I don’t think it will be enough. The Jets have the League leading defense and they are a run first team. And the forecast is for cold weather. Cold weather makes the ball hard as a rock which means it’s harder to grip, bullet passes are harder to catch, tips tend to stay in the air longer, and loose balls tend to be harder to recover. All of which favors the defense against pass first or balanced teams which the Bengals are. Unless it’s snowing. All bets are off then.

@ABWorsham:

Do any of you get tired of the Farve worship from the commentators?

As a lifelong Bears fan, I got tired of the Favre worship years ago.

The Viking’s success has nothing to do with the fact that their defense and punt/kick return are solid, their O-line is strong, their receivers are decent, and they have arguably the best running back in the League. It’s ALL Favre, baby.

Reminds me of the jock riding for Montana in the 80’s and Brady in this decade. QB’s get way too much glory.

Case in point:

http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nfl/news/story?id=4800984

Brady came back from one knee injury. Not only do quarterbacks use their knees to do nothing but stand around most of the time but the rules were specifically changed, because of Brady’s injury, to even further protect quarterbacks from being put at risk.

Williams, who returned from injuries to BOTH of his knees by the way, uses his knees every time he’s on the field because if he isn’t running with the ball, he’s receiving or blocking.

And who had the better chance of being reinjured? Brady was probably tackled at most 50 or 60 times this season while Williams either ran or received 239 times. Now if you eliminate the 7 touchdowns he scored when he didn’t get tackled or the times when he went out of bounds, you’re still looking at probably being tackled at a rate of 3 to 1 over Brady. And that doesn’t even take into account the times he was hit but broke the tackle.

@Brain:

I’m gonna go with the Pittsburg Penguins :-D

I think that the NHL should return Lord Stanley’s cup to Lord Stanley. I think it’s a blatant case of theft and it’s just plain rude to flaunt it in his face every year on television. Maybe it was his favorite cup. :-D

@U-505:

I believe it’s going to end up the same way. I saw somewhere that the Eagles lost their starting center and when you lose 24-0 it’s pretty clear that you aren’t controlling the line of scrimmage so I don’t see the Eagles improving on the offensive control of the line over last weeks effort without their starting center. Dallas is playing sh*t hot football and they’re too good of a team to lose a game when the opposing team’s defense is also going to be responsible for scoring points for their team.

Cheers - I like your assessment.

I agree that the Bengals will play better and they are at home which helps but, I don’t think it will be enough. The Jets have the League leading defense and they are a run first team. And the forecast is for cold weather. Cold weather makes the ball hard as a rock which means it’s harder to grip, bullet passes are harder to catch, tips tend to stay in the air longer, and loose balls tend to be harder to recover. All of which favors the defense against pass first or balanced teams which the Bengals are. Unless it’s snowing. All bets are off then.

Bengals have #4 defense (I think) and the Jets haven’t been incredibly productive, so it could be a slugging match the whole time.

The Viking’s success has nothing to do with the fact that their defense and punt/kick return are solid, their O-line is strong, their receivers are decent, and they have arguably the best running back in the League. It’s ALL Favre, baby.

AP is damn good, the only downside being he fumbles a lot.

My hope (no prediction) is Cowboys vs. New England.

GG

Well U-505, you’ve got 3 out of 4, but it is not looking good for the Packers right now.  Still early though.

@ABWorsham:

The Cowboys and Viking game should be a great one.

I’m looking forward to it as well.  I want the Boys to give Favre another opportunity to mull over retirement.

@ABWorsham:

I’m a huge Dallas fan. I would love nothing more than the Dallas Defense to shut the mouths of the play by play commentors’ worship of Farve. I listen to a lot of talk radio and I have had to stomach two years of weekly Farve retirment updates.

I think it’s quite possible, and the O just needs to be calm and productive.  I think confidence of the past few wins will help.

I actually like Favre all right.  Hell, he even did a commercial mocking his flip floppiness, so he can’t be all that bad.  It’s the commentators that bug me, as you say.  Same people that call Dallas “America’s Team”, which makes all the Boys-haters come out and call Dallas and its fans cocky poopoo heads.  I’ve never heard anyone affiliated or a fan of the team make that claim.

Did you guys see that defensive struggle between Arizona and Green Bay?

@Jermofoot:

Well U-505, you’ve got 3 out of 4, but it is not looking good for the Packers right now.  Still early though.

@ABWorsham:

The Cowboys and Viking game should be a great one.

I’m looking forward to it as well.  I want the Boys to give Favre another opportunity to mull over retirement.

Ditto….almost all of the usual suspects from the KSG are here. A belated +1 to all

@Brain:

Did you guys see that defensive struggle between Arizona and Green Bay?

I followed it on gametrax for a while.  I was surprised at everything.  And ironically the game that lacked in defense was decided by a defensive score.

Also, if you all ever have a desire to see pretty much any sporting event and don’t have tv access to it, try www.atdhe.net.  It has many sporting events that are televised with live feeds, no sign up, no cost.

Thanks for the link Jermo. I feeling positive