Chiefs at Colts: (Line: Colts by 7) The chic pick seems to be that LJ is going to run all over the Colts, just as everyone has done this year, and that as a consequence, this game has upset written all over it. LJ is going to run all over the Colts just like everyone has done this year. I have no doubt about that. And the Colts are going to gag at some point in this postseason. They always do. But it is not going to be against a team that backed into the playoffs when the Colts are at home. Kansas City won't be able to stop Manning, and as KC falls behind, Johnson's ability to rip off 6 yards a run will be less important. The only way this is a game is if KC gets out to a two touchdown lead and can make something of that running game advantage. I do not think they can. Colts 35-Chiefs 24
Cowboys at Seahawks: (Line: Seahawks by 2.5) I was at the Cowboys game this weekend. They looked terrible. Just like they looked for almost the whole last month of the season. But it seems pretty clear to me that even Vegas thinks the Cowboys are the better team -- Seattle has one of the legitimate home-field advantages in football, and home field is almost always worth three points. Yet Seattle is only favored by 2.5? Seattle has been a team waiting, to no avail, to improve all season. They played in an execrable division in a terrible conference, and so won their division and get home field in this game. I guess that is an accomplishment. And while I do not trust Tony Romo, his teammates and defense will bail him out just enough to win in this game, which, were it a college bowl game, would have been played before Christmas. Cowboys 23-Seahawks 19
Giants at Eagles: (Line: Eagles by 7) So the people who thought the NFC East was going to be a good division this year were partly right. The east was less (or is it more?) mediocre than the rest of the NFC and so has three playoff teams, none of which is actually any good. And the Giants are less good than the others. Jeff Garcia has been more than a placeholder for the Eagles, they have home field, and while Tiki Barber will help keep this game close for a while, Eli Manning is not getting it done. It will be fun to see who Tom Coughlin blames after this loss. Eagles 17-Giants 13
Jets at Patriots: (Line: Patriots by 8.5) The AFC is really tough, and I am not prepared to say for certain that the Patriots are going to win the Super Bowl. But I am pretty confident that they are going to paste the Jets this weekend. The Patriots have three components that are better than anything the Jets have: Belichick, Brady, and the defense. The Jets played the Patriots tough this season, beating them a few weeks back in a game that convinced the Krafts to invest in field turf, but this is not then. This is playoff football, and the Mangenius did not suckle at the Belichick teat loing enough to beat the master in a Wild Card round game. New England has been gearing up for the playoffs for a month now, and they are going to the second round. Patriots 34-Jets 17
11 comments:
If the Jets win tomorrow the Pats can't blame it on the field. What will be the excuse this time?
J-E-T-S!
Yes, because the Patriots need to have an excuse for their performance vis a vis the Jets. I'd say that the better record, the multiple division titles, the three Super Bowls, and the fact that by every possible measurement the Pats are a better team leaves me pretty comfortable saying that the idea that Jets fans would inflate themselves to the point where they think that the Pats HAVE to make excuses for an ugly loss to them is pretty funny.
Pats pound the Jets this week, Doc. No two ways about it.
dcat
That's the whole point. The fact that Pats have the better record, the multiple division titles, the three Super Bowls, and the fact that by every possible measurement the Pats are a better team AND still replaced their ENTIRE field right after losing to the Jets is a complete joke!
I know this is going to hurt when I say it knowing who your favorite baseball team is, but I'm afraid that the Patriots and The Patriots fans have become the Yankees and the Yankee fans of the NFL.
Brady=Jeter (except Brady has better taste in women)
Doc --
Lots of people have used that silly analogy, and I know they have done so only because red Sox fans are also patriots fans and vice versa, but it makes little sense to me. The Pats have won three Super Bowls in five years andf so have had a run of success that places them pretty well historically in the NFL, where dynasties are hard to come by. But they have done so in a league that imposes a salary cap and that wholly levels the playing field. They have not been able to pay more, and in fact this year's salary cap figures that they are paying less. It is an insult intended to get under Red Sox/Patriot fans' skins, but there is no substance to it.
How on earth is Brady Jeter? I do not get that one at all.
I might just be mad because you did not put any of my posts on the Bestest Blog carnival!
dcat
Oh, that Blog Carnival was all self-submitted stuff...I didn't pick any of those posts. really only about 60% of them would pass as funny.
The Pats/Yanks comparison is based on the entitlement/cockiness of the fans, and the fact that they are the perennial winners that everyone loves to hate. I don't really think of it as a "buying" type thing.
The Brady/Jeter thing I think is a no brainer. As much as we hate Jeter, we (or at least I) respect the hell out of him for his professionalism and ability to win. Neither he nor Brady are the best players in their league or even at their positions but they have (or at least appear to have) a keen, intangible ability to raise their team to a championship level.
Damn -- missed it. Recap?
dcat
Bellichick is the Antichrist. I have it on good authority he spits on children and leaves small tips at resteraunts.
The children were little wretches and he received bad service at the restaurants.
I heart Belichick.
dcat
I love how Belichick manhandled that camera man at the end of the game!
The camera-man throwdown was great -- and he appears to have ploughed through a few on the way out as well.
I think it is impossible to say what Belichick would have done had the Patriots lost since they didn't, and so judging him based on what you say he would have done seems rather bizarre. All you can judge someone on is what they do. We still do not know this full story. Let's leave it at that because it really is a nonstory.
dcat
"The Pats/Yanks comparison is based on the entitlement/cockiness of the fans, and the fact that they are the perennial winners that everyone loves to hate."
People love to hate the Pats?? I don't see that. The Pats aren't even in the same hemisphere as a polarizing entity as the Yanks. I think people love to hate teams that they either perceive have a competitive advantage (Yanks with their payroll) or are overexposed (like ND football). If anything, I think the Pats are about as quiet a great team/franchise as there is in sports and I don't think there's any sort of movement amongst the general fan base to love to hate them.
I will say it's nice to see the Jets fans hating the Pats though. I was always confused at to why when the Tuna weaseled his way out of New England to go coach the Jets, Pats fans wanted the Tuna's blood, but when Belichick weaseled out of NY to coach the Pats, there wasn't the same uproar. Must have been because they didn't think he'd be this great a coach. But I guess after repeated beatdowns by Belichick the last few years and watching banner after banner be raised in Gilette, it's finally gotten to the Jets fans.
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