I think when your sub-sub-sub concious is trying to tell you something, you should really heed to that advice. Last week I talked about long layoffs, and low and behold three of the home teams were upset. Is that going to happen regularly? I hope not, because all the money that was won from the first round of the playoffs would continiously get blown on the second round games. Before I get down into the games this up coming weekend, I want to try to break down the four games that were played. So, with random stories about my past put aside for now, let's get into it.
New York and Phili wrap-up
I just couldn't see how the Giants could have blown this game, but they managed to do because Eli turned into a high school quarterback who can only throw the ball deep and hope his receivers come up with it. I don't recall how many times Manning tried to bomb the ball down field 15+ yards and be off the mark. He must be stuck in thinking that Plaxico is standing down field towering over his defenders or that everytime he lobs it up into the air, much to my chagrin, and that some random receiver is able to pin the ball against his head. Anyway, Manning was terrible, and I kept thinking that entire game that they needed to pound the rock more, Jacobs was getting six yards a carry and then they would put in Ward and he'd get stuffed at the line. Apart from that, they would try to run Jacobs off tackle and feed him sweeps and I'm thinking just go striaght up the gut. The start of the game was just a bad omen when Manning totally missed a wide open Steve Smith on I think the first play of the game that would have went for a touchdown. I don't see why they didn't try screens or shorter passes, but even then Manning would try to force, squeeze, stuff, whatever other adjective along those lines to his tight end Kevin Boss. Without Plax drawing double coverage down field, Manning turned back to what he really is, just an average quarterback.
The Eagles on the otherhand just continue to impress. I've followed them for most of the year with Brian Westbrook on my fantasy team and all so I have a little background when I say that this team can either be the most anemic team in the league or they can come out with the most vigor and totally rock the socks off the other teams. They played great. I didn't give them that much credit after the Vikings win, and I didn't think they deserved any credit. This was a team that squandered away it's chances with a tie to the lowly Bengals and an embarrasing 10-3 loss to the Skins and if it wasn't for the breakdowns and meltdowns of the Boys and the Bucs, they wouldn't even be here. Of course everyone knows all that, but still. They play great defense and they went out and won the game.
Cardinals and Panthers wrap up
If the Giants loss was a ball of yarn that slowly unraveled throughout the duration of the game, the Panthers loss was similar to driving down the road at a nice and easy 65 mph on a bright, sunny day, listening to music half heartedly paying attention to what's in front of you cause you drove that road every day, and then bam, your apart of a thirty car pile up and your left wondering how and why. I'm pretty sure Delhomme had the worst birthday that anyone could ever have. Here's the two things that were just so obvious that I don't see how Panther's coach John Fox can call him himself Panther's coach John Fox. Is coach capitalized in that case? I think so. Anyway, there were so many times when Warner would toss Fitzgerald the ball over the middle or towards the outside, and he wouldn't have anyone within five yards of him. I don't see how the Panthers could not contain the one threat that Arizona had. I'm not so sure, but I think the Panthers were running some sort of zone defense so Fitzgerald was able to get into open space, and if that's the case, why not just play a box-and-one style of defense like in basketball? Not only that, but the Panther abandoned their running game, the running game that pounded down the heart of the Cardinals defense on their first possesion for the thirty yards or whatever it was. The game was over when the Cards went up 21-7 or whatever it was, because you could just see the turmoil on the sidelines for the Panthers. Steve Smith was pouting, the defense couldn't believe that their quarterback kept throwing the ball to the other team. I don't know. I thought this was the sure thing of the playoffs.
Titans and Ravens wrap up
While I was watching this game, I was thinking to myself in the first quarter, "You know what, if you were a smart better, you would take the Ravens in this game." A few moments after that, CBS flashed a little note in the corner of the screen saying that the last.. Well, I can't remember what it said exactly but a decent amount of the games played by these two teams were games where the victor only prevailed by a field goal. In that case, you gotta take the Ravens. Of course I decided not to bet this game, even though I picked the Titans to win and all, but that's besides the point. The Ravens once again were able to force turnovers and the Titans shot themselves in the foot over and over again. This game could have went either way, and it went the Ravens way. If Chris Johnson wasn't hurt though and they had to put in LenDale White who did fumble inside the red zone, it might have been different.
Steelers and Chargers wrap up
I'm just kinda pondering whether I should really recap these games, because I'm sure everyone basically remembers what happens, so for this one I'll just gloss over the highlights... The Steelers got all the lucky bounces and were able to just dominate the Chargers, while San Diego tried to pound the small Sproles inside when it was obvious at the start of the game that getting him the ball outside in space was the smarter thing to do. The Chargers chances were shot when they turned the ball back over in the third quarter on a wicked good play by a defensivive interior player right after they got their own wicked good interior defensive play. Well, there's the wrap up.
Eagles over Cardinals
There's three teams that are riding really high, and of course we all know who they are. I think the Cardinals are the ones riding high the most, and if the NFL playoffs decided to turn into the baseball playoffs where it doesn't matter how good you are only if you catch a big swing of momentum, I don't know what I'll do. There's no reason why the Cubs haven't won a World Series, and I'm not even a Cub fan. Alright, anyway, back to football. The Eagles pounded the Cards back on Thanksgiving coming off the terrible loss to the Ravens where McNabb was benched. But let's actually get to some stats to back up my claims so that I don't sound like some crazy kid rambling about why I think one team will win. The Cardinals ranked last in the season in rushing. You want to know how many more yards the Cards are running for in the postseason? 40 more yards a game. This is starting to feel similar to how the Colts couldn't stop the run for anything in the regular season and then turned it on in the playoffs and went to the Super Bowl. Anyway, the Eagles were third in the league in defense for total yards allowed and total pass yards allowed and fourth in rushing yards allowed and total points. I think it's safe to say that Phili's defense was a top 5 defense in the league this year. Overall I believe Arizona comes in around 20th. They hover in the mid to late teens when it comes to yardage for passing and rushing, but in the season were ranked 28th when it came to points allowed. I have a great feeling that this game is going to come to defense. McNabb has shown that he'll throw some picks and make some dumb plays here and there, but their defense has been able to overcome McNabb's turnovers. But it's not as if McNabb is playing terrible, as evident to his two minute drive at the end of the first half in the Giants game. Even with the terrible play that the Cardinals showcased at the end of the season, they have been able to flip a switch somehow, and that stems from their defense and Kurt Warner.
Speaking of Warner, I watched the entire game when they went up to New England and besides Ken Dorsey I'm pretty sure it was the worse display of quarterbacking this season. It was amazing how bad he was during that game, short arming balls, overthrowing people, getting flustered by the pass rush. He's been great in the post season, as is the norm for Kurt, but I think that the Eagles will be able to get to him, fluster him, cause him to scramble around which he does not like to do, and come in and strip the ball from him. It's evident that Warner holds that ball out sometimes and it's easy to come in and strip it from him if you can get to him, and he also throws some terrible passes here and there. Trust me, he was my fantasy quarterback and I can't count how many times I would get negative points for turnovers. Anyway, I have to take the team with the better running game and the better defense. Phili will win this game, I wanna say like 27 to 21. Even after las week's embarrassment, I'll predict the score.
Pittsburgh over Baltimore
Just how I said last week that I didn't think that the Eagles could go back into Giant's stadium and win two times in a row, I'm throwing out that kind of logic. I'm throwing everything else out and only looking at this game, and I'm taking the Steelers. If I was betting I would take the Ravens because a six point spread is way to high for a team that won by 4 then 3 against the other team. Anyway, Willie Parker came on against the Chargers, but he did that in the regular season as well, so I think we will see more of the Fast Willie that we saw during the season. This will be another one of those slow, old-school defensive games. Everybody knows the score, Ravens and Steelers for the third time, two great defenses, great coaching, whatever. I don't have anything else to explain this pick, I just have a feeling that the Steelers are going to win. How about 16 to 13. I don't know, I'm just throwing out a score. The Steelers have the experience, have been there before, have the home field advantage, have the upperhand, I don't know what else to say. Two very similar teams, and the Steelers have the better more experienced quarterback. I also don't see how a dang rookie can go to the Super Bowl.
Well, there you go. Going back to last week the Super Bowl match-up will be the Ravens and the Cardinals and come Monday everyone will be talking about how Kurt Warner will be a Hall of Famer and how a rookie QB is going to the Super Bowl and not the Keystone State matchup. How about I jinx everybody and say that my betting lock of the week is the Ravens +6. I guess we will all just have to see how it plays out, and with that note, I'm out.
