Going Up Top (Again): The NFL Playoffs

I am fairly certain I said that I would write the REview of the Divisional round, not the PREview...

Confusion aside, someone needs to do it, so here is my rather hurried take on the upcoming games for anyone who reads this blog between now (6:30pm on Saturday) and the start of the opening game of the weekend, Baltimore at the Steelers at 9:30pm. It's fairly unlikely that anyone will see this then, so I can pretty much predict whatever I want without fear of mockery!

Here goes.

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers

This is a very tough call between two very tough teams. Writing this now, I have the advantage of knowing about Ray Rice contracting some form of illness pre-game. This should mean that he is not playing, and this means that the Ravens' chances have diminished quite a bit. Or he could just get himself pumped full of painkillers and play anyway, in which case Baltimore are right back in there.

Let's look at this at bit more. Yes, the past 6 games between these two have been decided by 7 points or less, but Pittsburgh is 5-2 in the past 7 games. Unscientific I know, but if they have won all of these past close calls then they clearly possess some advantage over Baltimore. Nobody seems to be giving Pittsburgh and Roethlisberger sufficient credit for their regular season performance. Case in point, Ryan predicted a mere 7-9 season for the boys in black and gold. Unerringly accurate! (Shut up Graeme, you're only putting pressure on yourself!). Couple this with Big Ben's improving numbers throughout the last few games of the season and I am very confident that if this is to be a close battle, it will end in another Steelers triumph.

Joe Flacco is not as good as Big Ben and without a running game that frankly wasn't brilliant even with Rice, he will be under too much pressure to carry the offense. He does have a much better offensive line the Ben does, and the score will be kept close in part due to the woeful nature of the Steelers' big men. If Baltimore win, it will be through solid line play.

I hate picking the score, as I almost invariably get it horribly wrong. But how about 34-27 to Pittsburgh?

New York Jets at New England Patriots

The Jets have been too busy talking bullshit to realise that they are nowhere near the class of team that they thought they would be this year. Due to the division rivalry in this game, and the fact that post season games tend be be close, I don't think New England will pummel New York like many others say they will.

I am confident, though, that the Pats will win. Belichick has had two weeks to plan for this game, and his record in games played after two weeks rest is perfect. The Pats are also obviously pissed at the Jets for the tirade of insults and slights they have been getting from them.

Brady for one will be out to teach Rex Ryan a lesson in humility. The Jets are poor at defending the short middle of the field, which conveniently for the Pats is where Welker, Woodhead and Hernandez do their best work. For the Jets, I don't see the Sanchise doing anything well in this. Belichick will be too clever for him, but mainly this will be because he is pish and his own coaches don't trust him. At several stages, I see New York wheeling out the awful Brad Smith pistol formation, which invariably failed in the regular season and will do so again in this game.

New England win 34-10. Belichick completely snubs Ryan at midfield with all the cameras watching. Mark Sanchez puts his head in his hands and doesn't take it back out until training camp.

Green Bay at Atlanta

This one is a real bugger. Green Bay should have won the encounter these two had in the regular season, going down 20-17 after a couple of fluke plays. On the other hand, Atlanta do have that brilliant home record.

And yet, the Falcons were terrible at the end of the season. They couldn't stop the run or run it themselves. They should frankly be a little ashamed of their 13-3 record, as they simply didn't deserve that many wins.

The Pack have Aaron Rodgers, and for me that is the gamechanger here. Not only is he a better QB than Matt Ryan, he has also been in a similar situation before (two season's ago, when they lost narrowly away to the Cards). He should have learned. Unless he forgot it all when he got concussed. Side point, if that happens in this match, Atlanta stroll through.

I'm going to say that the Green Bay defensive front 7 stops Michael Turner dead, and Matt Ryan has to run the show by himself. He will be pressured by Bloodline Matthews et al and, in spite of making some good plays, will get picked off at key moments. The Falcons D will simply not be good enough to stop Rodgers scoring on a couple of deep passes.

Even though it is picking against the number 1 seed in the playoffs, playing in their home stadium, I'm going with the Packers in a shootout. Green Bay wins 31-27.

Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears

Hate this game. Really hate it. The Seahawks are a one game fluke with a bad regular season record, the Bears are a regular season fluke with an unknown playoff record.

I don't trust the Bears at all, but lady luck is evidenty enamoured with them. Much as the Seahawks have given me evidence as recently as last week to pick them, I'm going to go for the lucky team.

Let's just make obvious predictions with this one. Cutler will be shit, Hasslebeck will be shit and then get injured. Both o-lines will fail miserably to get a running game going, and the Bears will score the only touchdown on a running back dive from 2 yards out after a Devin Hester punt return. Pete Carroll will stand bent over so much that the wind will change and he will become stuck that way. Unable to properly stand up again, he will need to be carried out of the stadium by Charlie Whitehurst. Who will fumble him.

Obviously, almost none of this will actually happen.

Bears win in a shit game. Lets pick a low scoring 16-9 due to the random nature of the two offenses, and for the sake of balance.

GM