All the away teams are favored in these matchups which is good for me considering the Eagles are an away team. Saturday: Atlanta at Arizona Arizona has played great at home this year.....when they're not facing the NFC West. Atlanta has had the second best turnaround this season after the Dolphins and I can honestly see why the Falcons are favored in this matchup as they bring a top-notch running attack along with surprising rookie Matt Ryan and wide out Roddy White, who appears to be turning into a top-3 wide receiver in the league. I think Atlanta wins this one by 13. Indianapolis at San Diego These two teams appear to be the hottest in the league right now. The Colts have won 9 straight and the Chargers have won 4 in a row to clinch the AFC West beating three of their opponents by an average of 25 points and mounting a huge comeback win versus the Chiefs. These two played earlier in the season and the Colts won on a last second field goal. I think the Chargers pull the upset win by 4 points. Sunday: Baltimore at Miami Miami has had the best turnaround this season winning the AFC East over the Jets and Patriots. Baltimore has one of the best defenses in the league and overcame a pretty bad record last year themselves to nab a playoff spot with another impressive rookie quarterback, Joe Flacco. I think Baltimore's defense will be too much while Miami's defense won't be enough. Baltimore by 8. Philadelphia at Minnesota Philadelphia sneaked into the playoffs after wins by the Raiders and Texans and a dominating win over the Cowboys. The Vikings rode Peterson to the NFC North title this year, which was marginal at best. The Eagles have been very inconsistent throughout the year until the benching of McNabb happened against the Ravens and Reid has gone with a more balanced offensive attack. I think the defense of the Eagles will be a bit much for Tarvaris Jackson to handle and the Eagle offense will do just enough to pull out the victory. Eagles by 3.
Given that this match up has enormous implications for me i'm not sure what to think. One part of me thinks the Colts are the hottest team in the league and should roll past SD. The other part of me wonders if the "They're due for a loss, right?" logic applies. I really don't know. If this was a cold-weather game and you took Peyton out of his element, that's one thing. Two dangerous offenses. Two hot & cold defenses. This could go either way but I must admit I like your ability to actually make a prediction. I know I can't!
I don't see every road team winning. I've got Indy, Atlanta, Eagles coming in and winning on the road, and the Dolphins eeking it out against the Ravens at home.
This is probably going to be terribly wrong now that I'm saying it out loud, but I think that the Eagles can go very far this postseason because they are following the pattern of the last few Superbowl Champs- big struggle mid-season gives way to a strong finish... I got all the road teams.
I favor all of the road teams, so another question to consider is which home teams are most likely to win. I rank them this way: 1 San Diego, 2 Arizona, 3 Minnesota, 4 Miami. Unless Flacco melts down, I don't see how the 'Fins beat the Ravens. The Philly to NY Giants analogy makes sense if it happens, but I don't see the Giants or Panthers choking against them in the 2nd round. In the NFC, I think there is a 90% chance the NYG and Carolina meet in the championship game. The AFC is wiiiiiiiiiiide open IMO with only Miami and San Diego having no chance to go all the way.
I wouldn't mind seeing Indy fall. And I wouldn't mind seeing Atlanta go far. Arizona does not impress me.
I think the winner of the SD/Indy game has a great shot at winning next week as well, given how well those two offenses are playing and how the Steelers/Titans struggle offensively at times. It sounds bizarre to think a team with a winning streak like Indy's isn't considered the hot team, but I think the Chargers (four in a row, and look at their offensive production of late) are playing even better and are a slightly more talented team overall. Combine that with the fact that they're playing at home, and I'll take the Chargers. I'll also take the Cardinals — while Atlanta is a great story, they've generally been very soft on defense and the numbers indicate they've been fairly lucky. Combine that with a rookie QB in his first playoff start as well as being on the road, and I'll take Arizona. I'll go with conventional wisdom on the other two and take Baltimore and Philadelphia, though I really think the Minnesota/Philly game is a tossup. The Eagles are so hit or miss from week to week (their offense was absolutely abysmal in Washington, and much of how great they looked last week was self-destruction from Dallas), and the Vikings move the ball very well when they're not committing bonehead turnovers. Logic actually tells me to go with Minnesota, but I'll take Philly because I can't quite pick Tavaris Jackson over Donovan McNabb in a big game. So, to sum up: Cardinals, Chargers, Ravens, Eagles
I think Atlanta is a better team, but AZ is tough at home and they're going to be geeked for the game.... I will take the Redbirds The Colts are red hot, San Diego is limping into this matchup... Gimme da Colts The Fins are a good team, but Baltimore is better... Ravenz Eagles can stop AP, and Tavaris can't win the game after that... Iggles
I think AD is going to shred the Eagles but the Vikings won't win the game with Tavaris Jackson at QB. The Eagles are a more mature team.
I think Kurt Warner is shell-shocked, and I don't trust him at all. Atlanta over the Cardinals. The Colts are hot and better overall than the Chargers. The fact that San Diego has home field advantage is a joke. Colts all the way. The Ravens D is too much to overcome for the Dolphins. I like the Ravens a lot here. Both relatively equal teams. The tie-breaking factor is the fact that Tavaris Jackson sucks. Therefore, I am picking the Eagles over the Vikings.
Atlanta in a close game (say 4), as AZ's offense will be on track.. SD in a close game (say 3) given the homefield advantage (and I'll assume LT can turn it on in the playoffs like he kinda showed in week 17) Baltimore by about 10 cause I just don't believe in Miami and their soft schedule this year. Nice story, Chad.. but I think it's over. Philly in a rout over Minny. I'll go with a 16 point win..
Arizona over Atlanta- Kurt Warner is going to throw for 3+ tds and 300+ Yards. He's been in these types of situations and I just can't see Rookie Matt Ryan leading his team to victory in a hostile environment as brilliant as he has been this season. San Diego over Indianapolis- LT is going to will the Chargers to victory. You'd think he's going to have a monster performance like a 4 td game after all that criticism from last year. It's his turn and I'm not gonna bet against him. Baltimore over Miami- Ravens defense is going to shut down the Dolphins running game and Pennington will be picked off a couple of times and I can see Ed Reed running one of those back. Eagles over Minnesota- I think McNabb will have a big performance. I hope he airs it out early and often and then lets the lanes open up a bit for Westbrook. Westbrook will have right around 85 yards rushing with a TD and 6 catches for 70+ yards and another TD or two.
They are hit to miss week to week but a big part of that Washington loss was coaching and coaching will be a big part of how far the Eagles will go. In fact, coaching was a big reason for many of the miscues of the season. Andy Reid has a tendency to go off-balance and pass, pass, pass then run then pass, pass, pass pass, pass, then run and so on. In that Washington game the Eagles ran the ball only 16 times and 2 of those were to end the first half while they passed nearly 50 times. He needs to be sure to stick to the running game, even if it is not working early and make sure to give Buckhalter plenty of carries, if possible 20 or so to Westbrook and 10+ to Buckhalter. If Reid can give the Eagles offensive balance and the defense continues to play like they have (in the past 5 weeks they have only allowed more than 14 points once while bolstering themselves to the #3 defense #3 pass defense and #4 run defense) I can see them making a deep run.
