After going 1-3 last week in my Wild Card predictions, I have to redeem myself this week. A very strange weekend of NFL action though. A 51-45 shootout ends on a defensive play. The New England Tom Bradys lose at home in the first round of the playoffs. The Cowboys smack the Eagles for the second time in six days, and along the way win their first playoff game in 14 years. Coach of the Year Marvin Lewis and the Bengals lose at home to the New York Jets, who as of two weeks ago, were 'done' according to Rex Ryan. I'll try to counter all of the unexpected and wacky story lines this week, so here we go..
Arizona 38, New Orleans 28
The Cardinals are soaring after an exciting overtime win against the Packers last week. The Saints aren't exactly marching as they ended the regular season losing three straight, and they looked completely out of sync on offense. Both offenses cancel each other out as nearly both can score at will. On defense, safeties Adrian Wilson for Arizona and Darren Sharper for New Orleans cancel each other out as they will start along side each other in the 2010 Pro Bowl. So what decides this game? The X factor to me is the running game. Whichever team can get the running game going first is going to have the upper hand. Its hard enough to stop Kurt Warner or Drew Brees. Now imagine is Beanie Wells or Pierre Thomas get hot. Then you have to stack that extra defender in the box rather than in the secondary, opening up the skies for either QB. This Arizona team is reminding me of last years team. They were always the underdogs, never got the respect they deserved and you know what? They took care of business each week in the playoffs and were two minutes and thirty seconds away from defeating Pittsburgh in the Superbowl. Don't count this determined Cardinals team out.
Indianapolis 23, Baltimore 19
Anytime you have # 18 on your side, you are in a position to win. Four time MVP award winning Manning and the Colts have had some time off to rest and prepare for this week, and my guess would be that they used it to their advantage. Manning studies film almost religously, so he will be more than prepared for this stingy Ravens D who I underestimated last week. Ray Rice is proving each week how talented he is, but I don't think he alone is enough for the Ravens to walk in to Indinapolis and upset the Colts. If Joe Flacco plays anything like he played last week (4-10, 34 yards, 1 INT) this game is going to be over early. The Colts are the definition of a "bend but don't break" defense and have come up big time and time again when the game was on the line. Peyton and the passing attack are going to be hard to stop. It would be impressive to see the Ravens defeat Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in back to back weeks on the road in the playoffs though.
More predictions to come tomorrow. Today is a busy day for me. I'm going to go play Madden 10 and try to turn around an awful team in franchise mode and most likely fail. Aloha, world.
No comments:
Post a Comment