Your Thoughts Exactly

Playoffs!

With the obligatory Jim Mora reference out of the way, let’s get down to breaking down the divisional playoff round, as well as the results of last week’s games.

Game 1: Washington at Seattle.

The Skins defense won the game against Tampa, despite an absolutely atrocious showing by Mark Brunell, who returns to the Pacific Northwest where he is a legend for leading the greatest football team of all time, the ’91 Washington Huskies. Of course Brunell split time with Billy Joe Hobert, but we will forgive him such a transgression. The toll of a long season has made Brunell less and less effective as the season has gone on, to the point where he is making some awful decisions, such as his interception to Brian Kelly thrown back across the field. While I think Clinton Portis is a stud, Brunell is going to have to pass effectively in order for Washington to have a chance. As good as the Skins D looked, Seattle has by far the best offense in the NFC.

Seattle 31 Washington 13

Game 2: New England at Denver

The Pats win against Jacksonville was not as impressive as the final score looked. New England missed some opportunities, took too long to get moving on offense, and got lucky with regards to fumbles. I was about to worry, but then I remembered that the Patriots never look that impressive in victory. Even when we were winning 20 plus games in a row, we often gave away the impression that we could have played better. In the end what matters is the final score, and that we move to another week.

The key matchup in this game is the Patriots run defense versus the Broncos run offense. We know that Denver will try and run all game. The Pats D has been stiffing the run over the last 8 games, the key to its defensive resurgence (along with forcing a few more turnovers.) I am assuming Bruschi will play this week; Monty Beisel isn’t going to cut it versus the Broncos.

Conversely, I don’t see the Pats being able to run it that much on the Broncos. Brady should be able to move the ball through the air, but needs to be on his A game from the opening snap. The Pats will give up some drives on offense, but need to be able to hold in the red zone and give up field goals, not TDs. Against the Broncos in October, we gave up several long pass plays, got way behind, but rallied and almost tied it up were it not for a key David Givens drop on the final drive (where he dropped it on the 45 and had at least 20 yards of daylight in front of him.)

This game has all the makings of a classic. My guess is that the Pats pull it out with the help of some shady officiating, as the NFL looks to set up the Colts-Pats AFC championship game everyone wants to see. I’ll take it!

New England 24 Denver 20

Game 3: Pittsburgh at Indianapolis

In the Indy Pittsburgh game from earlier this year, I thought that the Steelers D did a reasonably good job of limiting the Colts offense. Conversely, they were totally unable to run against the Colts D. Big Ben, in his first game back, did not perform up to his capabilities. For all the credit the Steelers running offense gets, mostly because everyone is in love with Jerome Bettis and his two yard runs, I think Big Ben is the key to this team, and a much better QB than people give him credit for. He is one of my favorite young players in the league.

That being said, the rest of the Steelers, especially Joey Porter and Hines Ward, are a bunch of punks. They are dirty as well, having taken out both Carson Palmer and Rodney Harrison for the year. After the win over the Bengals, Porter, Ward, and company were bragging about how they knew what it took in the playoffs to win games, while the Bengals had proven that they didn’t. I am sorry, but beating a John Kitna led team doesn’t mean shit. And where do Ward and Porter get off claiming they know how to win in the playoffs when they have been parts of teams that have consistently failed in big games, including, two AFC championship games against the Pats where they were favored. Remember those TJ?

The question for the Colts is, did the last four weeks of half-assing games give Edgerrin James a chance to recharge the batteries? Over the first ten weeks of the season, James’ ability to consistently churn out runs of 4-10 yards made Indianapolis unbeatable. But, as in previous seasons, James began to wear down as the season progressed. If he can be shut down, the Indianapolis offense is manageable, if still dangerous. If James can get yards and first downs consistently, Indy will be very hard to beat.

Indianapolis 30 Pittsburgh 21

Game 4: Carolina at Chicago

Do the Bears have mojo? If so, it will be 12 degrees on Sunday evening. I personally hope they do not have mojo, because by then I will be living in Chicago, and I hope global warming hits that weekend and gives me two straight months of 60 degree weather. This may not happen.

DeShaun Foster will not have the same success against the Bears as he did in the Giants, in fact I would be surprised if he gets more than 50 yards on the ground. This leaves the Panthers offense in the hands of Steve Smith, who will dominate, because he is unstoppable. If I was a Bears fan, I would be worried because Smith is capable of scoring 14 points by himself, meaning the Bears offense needs to put up at least that much to have a chance. A tough ask for the Bears against any D, let alone Carolina’s.

As much as I will be wanting the Bears to win this game (and I will be rooting for them I swear,) it kills me to do this

Carolina 17 Chicago 16

# posted by Marmaniac @ 11:08 AM