Pickin’ and grinnin’
Filed Under Dale Cooper, Sports
Well folks: the NFL playoffs begin this weekend. I’m going to resume my yearly futile effort to predict the correct winners every round. Here is your wild card weekend line-up, and my selections:
1. NY Jets at Cincinnati Bengals
Key factors: The Jets thumped the Bengals in week 17, to the tune of 37-0. Then again, the Bengals showed a lot of signs of not caring about the game (Carson Palmer only threw 11 passes before he was relieved), having already clinched their division and being locked into either the 3 or 4 seed. The Bengals are a division winner with veteran talent on offense; the Jets are the wild card nobody that shouldn’t be in the playoffs, led by a QB many refer to in ironic fashion as Mark Sanchise. (Sanchez was 8 of 16 for 63 yards and 0 TDs, even in victory in this last game.) The Bengals and Jets both started hot and went cold later in the season, although the Jets enjoyed a brief and perhaps illusory upsurge by whomping the Colts and Bengals backups the last two weeks. Finally, the Jets have the league’s #1 ranked defense and run game.
The pick: Jets. The Bengals have looked very shaky for a division winner for weeks now, and the Jets have momentum and a great defense on their side. I think that will give them a smaller victory than the one they just enjoyed, but a victory nonetheless.
2. Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots.
Key factors: The Patriots are banged up to an epic level, having lost the NFL’s highest-volume receiver Wes Welker for the playoffs, and with rumors swirling about Tom Brady’s ribs, finger, and pineal gland (“Brady is out with a detached soul”). Their defense has been porous. Luckily, they still have Randy Moss, some veteran pass-catching running backs, and an opponent who has a long history of not scoring points. The Ravens have been hot-and-cold all year long, looking like world-beaters occasionally and bums the rest of the time. QB Flacco looks to have regressed after a solid rookie season.
The pick: Patriots. Welkerless or not, the Pats aren’t going down at home to the likes of the inconsistent Ravens. (That’ll be next week, when they go down to the Chargers.)
3. Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys.
Key factors: the Eagles and the Cowboys both are the league’s premiere post-season choke artists, now that the Colts have a Super Bowl under their belt. The Eagles like to do it in the NFC Championship game, Dallas likes to do it as soon as possible. This was another week 17 match-up, with the Cowboys whomping the Eagles 24-0 and perhaps showing signs of casting off their traditional December woes.
The pick: Eagles. An old gambling adage says you keep picking a winner until they stop winning, and the reverse is also true: keep picking against a loser until they stop losing. The Cowboys will have to prove to me that they can do it when it really matters. I feel like I should like the ‘boys in this game, but I just don’t.
4. Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals.
Key factors: I don’t care about either of these teams. Improbably this was yet ANOTHER week 17 game, with Green Bay laying the wood to the Cards to the tune of 33-7, in Arizona.
The pick: Cardinals. I think they’re a good sleeper team this year just like last year. I don’t really like the Packers at all – every time I turn on one of their games, Rodgers is getting sacked and the fans are booing. And the two Favre games (which I watched start to finish) showed a team that couldn’t win against a quality opponent even when they really needed to (emotionally).
Comments
4 Responses to “Pickin’ and grinnin’”
i agree with your words but i’m going with the ravens.
I agree with all but the Packers. I like them a lot.
i should probably go with the packers too, but i can’t.
OK, so I’m 1-1 so far. I feel good about that Jets pick (after an opening score, Cincy looked really bad) and awful about that Eagles pick (more thoughts on that in my post this Tuesday).
For today, I still like the Patriots but I am changing my other pick over to the Packers. First of all, I hadn’t realized how beat up the Cardinals are; the Packers are way more healthy. Like a robust longshoreman vs. an aging $10 hooker. Also, I gotta go with destiny here – the Packers HAVE to survive this game, so Favre can finish the trifecta and pull their still-beating heart out of their chests, Mola Ram-style. (Or – dare I hope? – so the Packers can FINALLY make their fans feel better, and get four picks off of the old gunslinger in a Pack blowout.)