Wild Card Predictions

NFL Playoffs. EASILY my favorite sports weekends of the year. Toss out any baseball dates, the Masters, March Madness, NBA, or NHL playoffs. Tell the Olympics to take a hike too. Don't disturb me or ask me to do anything these days unless you got TV's present... and even then it better be very important!

I made a number of pretty crappy predictions this year, notably taking the Steelers to win it all, but I figure to keep the streak alive and make some crappy round by round playoff predictions too. I'm actually so bad at predicting that I predicted the Cowboys to go to the Super Bowl at the halfway point then at the three quarter poll reverted to missing the playoffs but now in fact they are looking Super Bowl bound again, ugh.

I'll predict these games in order of which time they are on:

New York Jets @ Cincinnati (-3)

Last week's game, ahem, means JACK SHIT when predicting this match up. Cincinnati had nothing to gain by trying to win. Let's say the Bengals tried to beat the Jets, showed them everything they had up their sleeves, but fell short. They would then be rematching the Jets having already played their hand. Instead they did the smart thing and laid down. They sat Cedric Benson, played vanilla offense, vanilla defense, took their beating, and are ready for this week.

Let's not fail to mention that the #4 spot in the AFC is better than the #3. Why not play the rusty, playoff choke artist Colts round two instead of the Chargers? Smart move from Marvin Lewis.

Also did anyone see the Jets celebrate last week? Dunking their coach with Gatorade, doing victory laps around the stadium, and going nuts... Wow I'm impressed. You beat two teams who laid down for you. Texans fans must be pretty pissed off! I think the Jets, pardon my slang, blew their load last week.

I'll take Cincy (-3). Cincinnati 24 - NY Jets 13


Philadelphia @ Dallas (-3.5)

Everything I just said above can be reversed here. The Eagles had EVERYTHING to gain by winning this game. A win last week gives Philly the #2 seed and a first round bye. Instead they got destroyed and are now the #6 seed looking at an ugly rematch.

I know the whole Dallas, Tony Romo gag job is on everyone's minds but this team is peaking at the perfect time. They beat the 'then undefeated' Saints in New Orleans and have pitched back to back shutouts versus the Redskins and Eagles; the latter was riding a six game winning streak going into the game. Every team that has a label as chokers is stuck with that until they show otherwise but that doesn't mean they can't win. See Indianapolis: 2006.

I like Dallas (-3.5) to win a tighter game this week. Dallas 27 - Philadelphia 17


Baltimore @ New England (-4)

I don't really like the feel of this game as a Patriots fan. Brady is obviously dinged up, Welker went down, and I still don't feel like the Patriots have much of an identity. They seem to be living off this Patriots aura, Brady-Belichick are amazing, hey we won a bunch of Super Bowls 5 years ago stuff.

Let's be honest here. Brady has had the ball with a chance to win games against: Buffalo, NY Jets, Denver, and Miami. He could have closed out Indianapolis and Houston. He failed in every game aside from Buffalo on the opening Monday Night. Maybe he needs another year to get back on his feet, maybe the play calling has sucked, maybe he's more hurt then we are led to believe, or most likely this just isn't his season (and I hope this doesn't hold true for years to come).

This has hands down been Belichick's shittiest season. His decision making has been crappy and he just isn't pulling his usual magic that we are accustom to. Hell, look at 2008. They lost Brady and he guided that team to an impressive 11-5 season. It looked like a BB coached team. Maybe it's the turnover on the roster, maybe it's just a few fluky decisions that didn't work out for him, maybe the loss of McDaniels hurt the offense more than we think, but just like with Brady above... it's a bunch of excuses. They just aren't getting it done.

In the Patriots favor is that they have never lost the opening round playoff game with Brady & Belichick. Aside from 2005 they have won at least two playoff games each time they get into the dance. They are also 8-0 at home this season. The cold weather won't mean shit against Baltimore though who also is use to having nippy balls.

To me this just feels like a back and forth game where a gut punch fumble or pick six turns a Patriots 3 point deficit into a Ravens 10 point lead. I hate to do it but...

I'll take the Ravens (+4) to cover and win the game.... Baltimore 30 - New England 20


Green Bay @ Arizona (-3)

The result last week is a lot like the Jets-Bengals game. Means DICK. Arizona had two game plans laid out. One if the Vikings had lost which would have meant a win & Dallas win (which did happen) earns the Cardinals a bye. They had a second game plan if the Vikings won. The Vikings beat the shit out of the Giants so the Cardinals decided to roll over week 17.

This game here is the hardest for me to predict only because the Cardinals are easily the most Jeckyll & Hyde team in the NFL. I would say about 80% of the people probably feel the Packers are on a nice roll. There always seems to be one game each year in WC weekend where a home team reminds people why they are the home team. This isn't even mentioning that the Cardinals are defending NFC Champions.

I will take the Cardinals (-3). Arizona 34 - Green Bay 30

.... Knowing my track record I fully expect to be 0-4.