Playoff Picks

As the title suggests, I will be covering my predictions for the NFL playoffs in this post. However, there are a few things from week 1 I need to touch on first:

1. I owe a humongous apology to Mark Sanchez. Mark, you looked simply fantastic against the Texans and I'm sorry I didn't believe in you. I am sorry I said that I would ram a *expletive* ball down your *expletive* throat, and if I had the chance, I would give you a big old hug.

2. I never thought I would say the Chargers and Patriots escaped from Oakland and Buffalo, respectively, and actually mean it. But that is exactly what happened last night. Now, I am not so shocked at the Chargers because I have watched them pull stuff like this for years, but the Patriots? WITH Tom Brady?? They really should have lost. The Bills gave the game a way, 100%. I'm surprised Dick Jauron didn't vehemently assure us that the Patriots were, in fact, who he thought they were, and that they had been let off the hook.

3. Last one. Broncos fans, listen up. Don't get used to this whole winning thing. I will not be offering an apology to your defense or Kyle Orton, like I did to Sanchez. First of all, you were playing the Bengals. Secondly, what happened at the end of the game... stuff like that just doesn't happen in the NFL. IT JUST DOESN'T. I have never seen anything like that in all my years of NFL football spectating. If that Bengals defender doesn't tip the ball, it's probably incomplete. Also, the Bengals safety should NOT have come up to lay a hit on Marshall when he already had 2 Bengals and a sideline to contend with. Some higher power was smiling down upon the Broncos that day, but don't get used to it.'

Ok, so that's taken care of. Let's take a look at the 2009 NFL playoffs.

Out of the 6 AFC teams I predicted to make the playoffs, only one team (Baltimore) made me feel good that I had picked them. The Chargers and Patriots almost lost to cellar-dwellers. The Steelers looked terrible on offense and they lost Polamalu for 3-6 weeks. The Titans lost to the Steelers, despite the previous sentence. The Colts narrowly escaped a loss to Jacksonville and their offense looked less than impressive. Nevertheless, I am going to continue with those teams because I chose them and I am not a flip-flopper.

As for the NFC, everything went according to plan. I just would have liked a bigger Green Bay win but that's ok.

Wild Card Weekend:

AFC

Tennessee Titans 16, San Diego Chargers 21
- Chargers offense shows up with 3 TD passes (2 to Gates, 1 to Jackson)
- Titans move the ball well, but stall in SD territory, settling for 3 field goals and 1 TD

Baltimore Ravens 24, Indianapolis Colts 14
- The Ravens D is too much for Manning, returning a pick for a TD
- The Colts D plays well, but gets little support from the offense

NFC

Dallas Cowboys 21, Atlanta Falcons 34
- Matt Ryan picks apart the DAL D, finding Gonzalez and White for 1 TD a piece, Turner adds 2 on the ground.
- The Cowboys can't find a groove on offense until they are well behind, can't come back from deficit

New Orleans Saints 38, Seattle Seahawks 33
- No defense to be found from Seattle as Brees goes for over 350 yards and 3 TDs
- Even less defense from the Saints, but the Seahawks offense just can't score enough

Divisional Round:

AFC
Baltimore Ravens 13, New England Patriots 28
- Brady frustrates Ravens D and puts up a big passing game
- Patriots D steps up and stymies Flacco and the pass offense, run game not enough

San Diego Chargers 24, Pittsburgh Steelers 26
- Better contest from SD than last year, but Pittsburgh D prevails in the end
- Roethlisberger gets great protection and has his way with the SD secondary

NFC
New Orleans Saints 27, Green Bay Packers 34
- Packers offense takes advantage of weak Saints D
- Brees can't come through late, with two 4th quarter interceptions

Atlanta Falcons 31, Philadelphia Eagles 10
- Eagles run into a buzz saw in the form of a blazing hot Falcons offense
- Falcons defense stumps Eagles offense, getting pressure on McNabb all day long

Championship Round:

AFC
Pittsburgh Steelers 13, New England Patriots 17
-Defensive struggle on both sides, but Patriots win on a late Brady TD pass
- With no run game to lean on, Roethlisberger throws over 50 times and gets sacked twice on big third down plays in the 4th quarter

NFC
Atlanta Falcons 20, Green Bay Packers 30
- Packers D comes up big again and forces 3 turnovers
- Rodgers protects the ball and goes up top to Jennings for 2 big TDs

Superbowl XLIV:
New England Patriots 28, Green Bay Packers 31
- Mason Crosby goes "Adam Vinatieri" on the Patriots and wins the game with 44-yard field goal as time expires.
- Rodgers is named MVP with 327 yards passing and 3 TDs
- Brady goes for 297 and 2 TDs, but also has 2 big INTs, one of which is returned for a TD
- Brett Favre puts his Vikings helmet through the flat-screen TV he is watching the game on and refuses to talk to anyone ever again.

And there you have it! Congratulations Packers!

Just so you all know, I will be coming to you every Saturday with my picks for the upcoming week of football, and every Tuesday to make excuses for all the games I got wrong. I will also add some stuff on my fantasy teams (so you can all root me on) and anything else that tickles my fancy in between. You stay classy now.