POWIP Piece of Work In Progress – Former Abode of Dan Collins

NFL Playoffs: Divisional round prognostication

Are you ready for some football?!?

Well here we are again.  It's the second round of the NFL playoffs, and your humble scribe is here to set his divisional round picks in stone, for the historical record, and to use in the sure-to-come derision later...

It's a good thing that I'm not a gambler, since my picks this season have left much to be desired.  Last week I was 50-50, and, well, at least that would have been a break-even wager.  Enoch fared much better, going 3 for 4; and in my humble opinion, his prescient pick of the Seattle victory should count for a trifecta or some other kind of bonus.  So without any more palaver, I'll get right to it.

Saturday's games:

4:30 pm eastern, Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburg Stellers broadcast on CBS:  Being divisional rivals, every meeting between these teams is like a heavyweight championship; that is, the magnitude of the hits rival the energies generated at the CERN facility and their frequency so great that they dwarf the number of "likes", "totallys", and "you knows" that punctuate a true valley girl's recounting of the previous night's adventure at a club.  Last week's performance in Kansas City indicated to me that the Ravens had finally figured out how to deal with their vulnerability to a saftey blitz; a tactic that had caused them much heartbreak in the second half of the season and indeed cost them the game against Pittsburg in December.  I'm going with the Ravens, in a very tight game.

8:00 pm eastern, Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons broadcast on Fox:  As I predicted last week, the Pack's defense really rose to the occasion, effectively shutting down Vick and the Eagles.  That same "D" will take most of the chill out of "Matty Ice".  In fact, indoors in the dome, on turf, I think that we'll be treated to a positively awesome display of Roger's passing skills; especially on the back of their new found running game.  I'm going with the Pack, by a much greater margin than any would have expected versus the team with the best record in the NFC.

Sunday's contests:

1:00 pm eastern, Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears broadcast on Fox:  I know, I know...I was wrong about Seahawks losing last week.  But this week the Bears defense will seem like a force of nature to the annoying Pete Carroll and Matt Hasselbeck; indeed, I am truly concerned for QB Hasselbeck's physical health at the hands of Chicago's defensive lineman.  Erlacher will shut down their dink-n-dunk short passing game, and a combination of the line pressure and Chicago's excellent DBs will shut down the vertical stretch.  And Seattle's running game?  As they say in Brooklyn, Fuhgeddabowditt ...  I'm looking for the Bears to win big, with a signifigant percentage of the points scored coming from their defense.

I mean, you knew that the NFC championship was going to boil down to round 3 of the Bears-Packers divisional rivalry, didn't you?

4:30 pm eastern, New York Jets at New England Patriots, broadcast on CBS:  This may have been my hardest pick to make.  The Patriots are very good, well coached and led by Brady as always.  But, they're chock full of young talent, with few veterans.  The Jets, on the other hand, have a good balance of veterans and talented young players.  Also, their coach, Rex Ryan, is no piker, and is terribly motivated to give the press other questions to ask him than about his personal life.  LT is looking back in championship form, and there is no Junior Seau, or Mike Vrabel on the Pats "D" to stuff him.  Much like in Saturday's AFC division game, I'm going with the underdog in a close game; that is, I'm calling it for the Jets by a nose...

Now, as before, in the interest of full disclosure, I have an interest in these matches given that I'm a Ravens season ticket holder; and the fact that should both the Jets and Ravens win this weekend then I will suddenly be in possession of some very valuable tickets to the AFC championship game in Baltimore.  That said, I've tried to go about my analysis with classical disinterest, going on the merits alone.  But, given my track record this season?  Well, who knows...

What are your thoughts kind reader?  Who do you like?  And more importantly, who do you think will actually win ?

Let me know somethin', playah! and enjoy the games :)

Rocketman

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