NFL 2010 Divisional Round Playoff Discussion

[Vernitis]

Should be the British Knights.

[coolhandluke]

And their first game could be with the expansion team The LA Gear

[Kendergardener]

Um, hello. Snuggeland Periwinkles.

[toptenguy]

Ok, same deal as last week, with 5000 GAY FAKE DOLLARS this time. Any game, you pick one side, I pick the other, either spread of straight up.

FIRST COME, FIRST SERVE! STEP YOUR GAMES UP!

[Vernitis]

Ravens straight up.

[toptenguy]

Originally Posted by Vernitis

Ravens straight up.

Ok, got it! CLUBBER LANG via 2ND ROUND KNOCKOUT!!

[Kendergardener]

Four Big Match Ups

1. Arizona at New Orleans, Saturday, 4:30 EST on FOX – As has been said elsewhere, the Superdome may want to invest in some extra light bulbs because this may be the one of the most high-scoring playoff games we’ve ever seen. Last week, I criticized Arizona for lacking a real quality win recently, and maybe over the whole season. Well, they certainly have one now as the Cards beat the Packers 51-45 in overtime after losing to them by 26 points the week prior, in what was one of the most exciting games this season. Arizona’s aerial assault seems to be having no problems, with Kurt Warner throwing for 379 yards, and after going 29-33 with 5 TDs, had more touchdowns than incompletions on Sunday. The Cards look to be great shape to defend their NFC Championship. For their part, the Saints are a bit of a mystery right now. After starting the season undefeated for the first thirteen weeks, New Orleans has not won a game in more than a month. That said, of the team’s three losses, one loss came when the team was mostly playing for history, one came when the team was only playing for home field in the event that they met the Vikings in the NFC Championship game, and one came when the team had nothing to play for at all and Drew Brees was sitting on the bench. The Saints had an amazing season, and now they’ve had two weeks to rest and get healthy for their first truly meaningful game in a long while. The Cardinals are 6-2 on the road and the Saints are 6-2 at home, so the numbers don’t help us much here, but expect a quality game regardless of who comes out on top.

2. Baltimore at Indianapolis, Saturday 8 P.M. EST on CBS – The numbers were against Baltimore on Wildcard weekend. Belichick’s Pats had never lost in the first round of the playoffs, and hadn’t lost a home playoff game since the 70’s. But for the Ravens, the numbers didn’t matter as they beat down New England at home by nineteen points, backed by a vicious running attack from Ray Rice. The Ravens may have snuck into the playoffs, but they look poised to do some damage. The Colts, like the Saints, have not played truly meaningful football in some time. They lost to the Jets and to the Bills in the last two weeks of the season, but they were on track to win against New York until the Caldwell decided to rest his starters, and in Buffalo, NFL MVP Peyton Manning barely spent a minute on the field. Still, Indianapolis proved yet again that they are one of the best teams in the NFL, racking up fourteen wins and making a boatload of fourth quarter comebacks. Of all the teams who played the Colts when Indy’s starters were in for the whole game, the Ravens came the close to beating them, falling only two points behind in a game where the Colts’ only touchdown was thrown by Joseph Addai. Indy’s offense against Baltimore’s defense is always a great show, and this time around, Baltimore’s O versus Indy’s D might be just as intriguing a match up.

3. Dallas at Minnesota, Sunday 1 P.M. EST on FOX – Conventional wisdom says that it’s very difficult to beat the same team three times in one season. Well, the Cowboys beat the Eagles three times and seemed to do so with ease, at least in the past couple of weeks. Dallas beat up on their division rivals, outscoring them 58-14 over the last two games. The victory gave the Cowboys their first playoff win since 1996, and gave Tony Romo and Wade Phillips their first playoff victories in their respective careers. Riding a four game winning streak, the Boys will look to keep rolling, but they will face a steep challenge against the Vikings in Minnesota. The Vikings looked to be in a bit of a funk to close out the season. They went 2-3 over their last five games, including tough losses to Carolina and Chicago. Nevertheless, all those losses came on the road. In fact, the Vikes have not lost at home all year, and they’ll look to continue the streak this week. Their final game of the season was a 44-7 beatdown of another NFC East team, the New York Giants, in the Metrodome, and the team that looked nigh unstoppable through most of the season seemed to have their swagger back. It’s Favre against Romo in a battle of the quarterbacks that really seem to annoy people, but it should be a good game.

4. NY Jets at San Diego, Sunday 4:40 EST on CBS – The New York Jets faced a lot of criticism for the way that they made the playoffs. After losing to the Falcons in Week Fifteen, the Jets looked more or less out of contention. Then, they were trailing the Colts in Week Sixteen when Indy’s starters took to the bench and New York capitalized with a win. They also beat a Bengals team who would have needed to rely on a fifth tiebreaker for the game to be meaningful for Cincy. Well, the Jets earned their place in Wildcard Weekend when they beat the AFC North Champions for the second time in a row, outscoring the Bengals 61-14 over the past two weeks. Behind and overpowering running game, the Jets are looking to make a big run in the playoffs, but they’ll have to do so against what might be the best team in the NFL right now in the Chargers. The three other teams I mentioned with first round byes all more or less sputtered out at the end of the year, lacking the spark they’d shown through the bulk of the season. Only San Diego kept the fires burning straight through to the playoffs, getting a win against their last four opponents including a resurgent Titans team, and two fellow playoff teams in Dallas and Cincinnati. The Chargers have not lost a game since October 25th, and they look nigh unstoppable. You’ve got a pair of teams who have been on big rolls colliding in the Divisional Round, and this may very well be the best game of the weekend.

[Kendergardener]

New poll up just so you guys know.

[YourRealDad]

One drive each, one TD. I hope the Cards and Saints break 100.

[PCC]

Warner looked hurt. On the plus side, I finally get to see that dream Leinart vs. Bush NFL playoff matchup I've been waiting for.

[Ralph Malph]

World class beat down by the Saints going on.

[YourRealDad]

How can anyone not cheer for the Saints? Unless they're playing "your team" then they have to be a favourite.

[Ralph Malph]

Can't stand the announcers though. The moose and the goose are like a big deuce.

[Don Majkowski]

Fuck the Saints. If they thought Katrina was bad, wait til the Purple Reign comes to town next week.

[Kendergardener]

Watching Peyton Manning operate that offense is a thing to behold.

[Mousehole]

does he not look sluggish?

[Kendergardener]

Haven't had many if any really big gains so far, but the offense is just methodically working down the field. A bit of overthrowing and other out-of-sync stuff going on, but you kind of have to be looking for it. Otherwise, looks like more or less the same well-oiled machine.

[toptenguy]

well, the Ravens just fumbled away the game right there.

[toptenguy]

also, Peyton sounds like Hornswoggle while calling out the plays.

[Don Majkowski]

Great. Another week of Peyton dick sucking from the announcers.