Well the matchups have been set now pick your winners: NFC Wild Card Matchups: Dallas Cowboys vs. Carolina Panthers Saturday, January 3rd Seattle Seahawks vs. Green Bay Packers Sunday, January 4th Byes: Philadelphia Eagles St. Louis Rams AFC Wild Card Matchups: Tennessee Titans vs. Baltimore Ravens Saturday, January 3rd Denver Broncos vs. Indianapolis Colts Sunday, January 4th Byes: New England Patriots Kansas City Chiefs Here's my outlook: NFC: Carolina over Dallas Green Bay over Seattle Philadelphia over Carolina St. Louis over Green Bay Philadelphia over St. Louis for the NFC Championship AFC: Tennessee over Baltimore Indianapolis over Denver Indianapolis over Kansas City New England over Tennessee New England over Indianapolis for the AFC Championship Super Bowl Philadelphia Eagles vs. New England Patriots I'll stop there! By the way, I hope I got the wild cards playing who they're supposed to if they win the games.
Okey dokey...here I go: NFC Dallas vs. Carolina...Carolina Seattle vs. Green Bay...Green Bay Philadelphia vs. Carolina...Philadelphia St. Louis vs. Green Bay....Green Bay Philadelphia vs. Green Bay....Philadelphia AFC Tennesee vs. Baltimore....Baltimore Denver vs. Indianapolis....Denver Denver vs. Kansas City.....Kansas City Baltimore vs. New England....New England Kansas City vs. New England....New England SUPER BOWL: Philadelphia over New England. The Eagles have been the bridesmaids many times since their last NFL title in 1960. This is the year they finally become the bride and win the Super Bowl.
Titans 24 Ravens 21 Why: Titans throw over the top, negating Ray Lewis, and enabling them to score. Tennessee will abandon the running game for this game only and will open up going downfield. Ravens will strike with play action and screen passes on occasion. Busting some deep. Titans will bend and break, but not enuff to lose. Look for The Titans Tight End to take small passes and turn them into big gainers trhis week. The Ravens fail to cover Tight Ends. The Titans fail to cover Running backs. Both will result in big plays during the course of the day.
Would it be too much to say every one of the teams in the playoffs this year have a reasonable shot at title? I mean besides the Cowboys which I don't believe in and maybe the Hawks but every other team can beat any team on a good day I think. But my favorites to meet in the Finals must be Kansas City and St. Louis. Should be a great one!!
The NFL rebrackets after each round. The #1 seed plays the worse (by seed) of the first round winners; the #2 seed plays the better. AFC: 1 NE - 2 KC - 3 Ind - 4 Bal - 5 Ten - 6 Den Lil Pun's bracket is accurate if Ind and Ten win. RMTex's AFC-South-hata bracket shouldhave second round games of NE-Den and KC-Bal. NFC: 1 Phi - 2 StL - 3 Car - 4 GB - 5 Sea - 6 Dal The second round games in both Lil Pun's and RMTex's projections should be Phi-GB and StL-Car. My picks: AFC Ten over Bal; Ind over Den NE over Ten; Ind over KC NE over Ind NFC Car over Dal; GB over Sea GB over Phi; StL over Car StL over GB SB XXXVI(II): NE 20, StL 17
rocketman tex and lil pun, if green bay and carolina both win, carolina plays st. louis and green bay plays philly. philly plays the lowest seed that comes out of the wildcard. just clearin it up for you guys, that might change your picks some anyways, i got afc: tennesse over baltimore denver over indy new england over denver tennesse over kansas city new england over tennesse in the afc championship game nfc: green bay over seattle carolina over dallas st.louis over carolina green bay over philly st. louis over green bay super bowl: the rams avenge their loss in the super bowl two years ago against new england.
Dallas Cowboys vs. Carolina Panthers Carolina in a blowout. Seattle Seahawks vs. Green Bay Packers Green Bay in a blowout AFC Wild Card Matchups: Tennessee Titans vs. Baltimore Ravens Baltimore in a tight one. Denver Broncos vs. Indianapolis Colts Denver in a tight one. Then: Green Bay vs. Philidelphia Green Bay Carolina vs. St Louis St Louis Baltimore vs. Kansas City Baltimore (demons of KC's playoff past return) Denver vs. New England New England Green Bay vs. St Louis St Louis (Packer magic finally runs out) Baltimore vs. New England New England Superbowl: St Louis over New England
NFC Cowboys at Panthers... Panthers Seahawks at Packers... Packers Carolina at Philadelphia... Philadephia Green Bay at St. Louis... Green Bay Green Bay at Philadelphia... Green Bay AFC Tennessee at Baltimore... Tennessee Denver at Indianapolis... Denver Denver at Kansas City... Denver Tennessee at New England... New England Denver at New England... New England Green Bay at New England Green Bay My head says the Packers won't get past the 2nd or 3rd round but i think they are a team of destiny, at least that's what i'm hoping for.
NFC Wild Card Matchups: Dallas Cowboys vs. Carolina Panthers Two great defenses.. but there's the X factor, Panther's have an RB. Seattle Seahawks vs. Green Bay Packers Probably the easiest pick of them all. AFC Wild Card Matchups: Tennessee Titans vs. Baltimore Ravens I'm predicting an Eagles/Titans superbowl.. Denver Broncos vs. Indianapolis Colts Peyton gets that monkey off of his back.. in a big way, 400 yards 3 TDs Future Outlook: NFC: Philadelphia over Carolina St. Louis over Green Bay Philadelphia over St. Louis for the NFC Championship AFC: Indianapolis over Kansas City Tennessee over New England Tennessee over Indianapolis for the AFC Championship Super Bowl: Philadelphia Eagles over Tennessee Titans
Look at the playmakers in general to get an idea: Chiefs (10): Holmes, Hall, Green, McCleon, Wesley, Vermeil, Shields, Roaf, Gonzalez, Richardson Ravens (8): Lewis, Lewis, Reed, Stover, Suggs, Boulware, Billick, Ogden Titans (7): McNair, Kearse, Bulluck, Mason, Rolle, Hentrich, Fisher St. Louis (7): Faulk, Holt, Bulger, Wilkins, Little, Pace, Williams Colts (6): Manning, Harrison, James, Thornton, Idiot Kicker, Freeney Panthers(5): Davis, Pepper, Karsay, Rucker, Sauerbrun New England (5) : Law, Poole, Brushi, Harrison, Belichek Cowboys (5): Parcells, Adams, Allen, Glover, Williams Broncos (4): Portis, Berry, Knorr, Nalen SeaHawks (3): Alexander, Hasselback, Jones GreenBay (2): Farve, Green Philadelphia (2): McNabb, Vincent
The 2001 Superbowl Champion Pats had no playmakers, just a good team. Ditto with this year. Pats v. Pack, rematch time.
Rather than looking at the playmakers, I believe you need to look at which teams were hottest at the end of the season. Those teams are... AFC - New England, Baltimore NFC - Philadelphia, Green Bay IMHO, if it isn't a top seed that gets in, in either conference, it will be a wild card. The 2 & 3 seeds from each conference do not impress me, with Indianapolis and St. Louis being the most vulnerable.
I don't think so. I think the Pats are the clear favs, with the Colts, KC, Titans, Eagles and Rams having good shots. The Ravens and Brocs are a long shot, Packers, Cowboys, Hawks and Panthers have almost no shot. Here are my picks: Round 1 winners: Cowboys over Panthers (as much a heart pick as brain pick I admit, but the Panthers are not all that special and I do believe this game could go either way) Packers over Seahawks Titans over Ravens Colts over Broncos (don't be fooled by the game 2 weeks ago, the Colts will be ready to play this time) Round 2 winners Eagles over Cowboys (McNabb is too much even with all those scrubs around him) Rams over Packers (Packers lit up in St L) Pats over Titans Colts over Chiefs Round 3 Rams over Eagles (Rams win a surprising low scoring game through Faulk ) Pats over Colts Superbowl Pats over Rams (Pats steamroll the Rams/Eagles winner)
I'm pretty sure i picked Indy to win it all this year earlier on this message board...so i'll stick with them.
The playoff formula is 1) overall defense, 2) balanced offense, 3) run dominant game, 4) pass dominant game. Playmakers are important in that they contribute to the above (Faulk or McNabb adding balance to their teams, what Ray Lewis does for an entire defense) but I don't seperate them. The Ravens, Bucs and Pats had no real great playmakers. But what they all had is sound to great defenses. This year the Pats have the best defense, they also have a decent balanced offense capable of sustaining drives. That spells trouble for their opponents and why I like them. The other teams I really like are the Colts and Titans--generally balanced teams though each had a couple bad games. I don't really like any NFC team, I think the Broncos, who I would put no higher than 5th or 6th in the AFC, would have had a chance to come out of there. The best defenses in the NFC playoffs belong to the Cowboys and Panthers, but neither are yet at the Ravens/Bucs level from the previous two year where they can overcome truly mediocre to poor NFL offenses. The Eagles secondary is great (the only other real quality aspect to that team aside from McNabb), but their DL and linebackers are weak, and that is even before sustaining more injuries. The Rams are no dominant defense either, but their front 7 is probably better than the Eagles. Plus the Rams still have Faulk who they can run or short pass too to keep them balanced, which is why since I have to pick an NFC rep I go with them.
