Playoff Picks - Divisional Round
The Giants.
The Patriots.
The Packers.
The Broncos.
If you know me, you know that I'm not looking forward to these teams making it to the Super Bowl.
Not because I hate them (I have nothing against the Giants, Broncos or Packers), but because of their previous Super Bowl appearances.
Giants-Patriots, Packers-Patriots, Packers-Broncos, Giants-Broncos.
Those Super Bowl matchups have all happened. And I don't like repeats.
The problem with this week is that one of those teams from each conference is going to advance to the Conference Championship round.
Leaving us very little room for error to avoid a repeat matchup, which equals a waste of a year for me.
Which teams will cause me angst for the next week? Read on for my picks.
Defense wins championships. That's the mantra I keep coming back to when I think about the Saints against the 49ers. (San Francisco, for its part, has also played Denver in the Super Bowl.) There's also the fact that San Francisco is a home underdog. Home field advantage in this divisional round is such a big deal. I think a home underdog is a gross underestimation. My problem is the 49ers' offense - even if they hold the Saints to, say, 17 points, can the Niners score 18? I'm hoping they get 19. 49ers, 19-17
I'm not going to say 100% that the Broncos will lose. How could you? They've already lost to the Patriots - just a few weeks ago. Will lightning strike twice? And how come the clearly inferior team gets the greater focus against a team like New England? I just don't see how Denver goes to New England and hands the Patriots another loss in their first playoff game. Their only hope might have been if they aired it out and took the Pats by surprise - but that's not a surprise anymore because that's just what they did against Pittsburgh last week. I think they'll put up some points, and they'll keep the Patriots from scoring way too many - but that still means the Patriots will put up 30+ in my opinion. Patriots, 31-20
If I'm doing anything other than watching football at any point this weekend, I'm doing it from 1-4pm on Sunday. Ravens versus Texans just doesn't do it for me. Last week, though, the Texans played a better game than I expected, and I think they'll hang with the Ravens. But I do think Baltimore will pull out the win. That's all the time I'm spending on this game. Ravens, 24-17
Hello again, Giants. You've stuck around one more week to make me incorrectly pick the game you're involved in. I don't know that I see the Giants going to Green Bay and beating the Packers. I think their string runs out here. Why? No good reason, really. If Green Bay loses, I think it's next week. This one should be an entertaining game, though. Packers, 31-21
Those picks again? There they are to the right, with the help of the recently unemployed Brian Schottenheimer (and additional thanks once again to the artistic talents of the Southern Bureau). Oh, speaking of the Southern Bureau, he's one of our guest pickers. Last week I was 1-3. This week I'm going chalk with the four home teams. Here are the other picks (not against the spread - you can go look those up if you care):
Justin from Sports Crackle Pop! (he was 3-1 last week, with some pretty accurate scores to boot): Saints, 28-17; Patriots 42-23; Ravens, 21-13; Giants, 35-31
Dave from Ann Arbor (2-2): Saints, 38-35; Patriots, 37-24; Ravens, 24-14; Packers, 31-24; and
The Southern Bureau (2-2): Saints, 35-17; Patriots, 42-20; Texans, 17-14; Packers, 42-3
Curious about exactly how we did last week? Or what the Southern Bureau's artistic genius looked like then? Here's that link. Enjoy the 2nd round of the playoffs. We're back tomorrow with the Sunday Paper.
