NFL Divisional Round Picks

So now only eight teams remain in the great quest for the Lombardi Trophy. Outside of me whiffing badly on my own team's outcome, I was perfect last week, including awesome Ravens and Jets predicted wins. So, here are my predicitions for the Divisional Round.

Last Week- 3-1
Regular Season Record- 165-91
Postseason Record- 3-1

Original Division Round Predictions:
New Orleans 34 Philadelphia 21
Baltimore 24 Indianapolis 21
Minnesota 27 Arizona 24
San Diego 41 NY Jets 14


New Orleans 38 Arizona 28

I was half tempted to take the Cardinals here with the disgraceful way the Saints finished the season, and if New Orleans didn't solve their predictable issues on offense and inconsistent defense over the bye, they are in trouble. However, when working, the Saints offense is the best in the league and against Arizona's rather ridiculously lousy defense, that spells bad news for the Cards. I think, momentum wise, Arizona has the edge and after last week, their defense will put up a better showing, don't rule them out totally. But I'm giving the Saints the benefit of the doubt that they'll be the early seasons Saints again and take care of business en route to their first ever home NFC Championship game.


Baltimore 24 Indianapolis 21 - UPSET PICK

I'm sticking with my original pick here and banking that the Ravens play to perfection like they did against the Patriots last week. However, it won't be so easy this time around, the Colts are a team with something to prove after their lousy finish and need to shake their poor postseason reputation once and for all. However, something tells me rookie coach Jim Caldwell will have the ill-prepared, and say all you want on how Indy has been here plenty of times before, the starters were sloppy when they did play the last few weeks and the Colts got lucky in early season games as well. In fact, the Ravens should have beat the Colts earlier this season and Indy barely escaped Baltimore. It should be better than the battle of kickers from the 2006 Divisional Round meeting in Baltimore, where field goals made up all of the scoring. However, the defense is oppurtunistic again for the Ravens and Ray Rice works his magic. If the Ravens won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer, why not with Joe Flacco?


Dallas 27 Minnesota 24

I promised myself one thign after the Cowboys dismantled Philadelphia last week. I promised myself I was picking the Cowboys from here on out this postseason, if they were playing the Cardinals or Saints, the Jets or Colts, it would be a Dallas win coming from me. I believe they have the momentum and energy that right now the Vikings are lacking. Don't point to the week 17 win against the down in the dumps Giants, that game was as meaningless as finishing in 30th in a Sprint Cup race. Minnesota has worn down late in the season and while the bye week probably helped them the most out of the four bye week teams, I don't see them prepared for a red hot Cowboy team. The key factor here is the Vikings' banged up and questinable secondary against Dallas' pass offense. The Vikings front seven must penetrate to Tony Romo and force him to make mistakes for them to shut down the pass. This will force Dallas to the gorund, with Marion Barber questionable, Dallas use a lot of Felix Jones, who wears down with too many carries. On the flip side, it'll be interesting to see how Minnesota attacks Dallas, if they opt for the running game or continue a late season trend of throwing more. Either way, Dallas' hunger and team chemistry will be the intangibles that win this game for the Boys and send them to New Orleans.


San Diego 27 NY Jets 14
I'm changing my original prediction, because I think I was a little too harsh on the Jets and didn't respect their fantastic defense. New York is also playing with more heart than any team in the NFL, and I have more fun watching the Jets than any other team in the league other than Dallas. That being said, this is San Diego, not Cincinnati that they're playing, and even though the Jets think they're going to go across the country and knock off the Chargers on Sunday, I just don't see how it's going to happen. San Diego played the most consistent football over the season in the league and were throughly demolishing everyone by season's end. New York, meanwhile, was the most inconsistent and least deserving playoff team, but they got in and they're taking advantage. I think New York will keep this game close and, if the defense shuts down the Chargers juggernaut, the running game slices through San Diego's D, and with a few lucky bounces, they MIGHT pull off the biggest upset of the week. However, I can't see Mark Sanchez leading the men in green into Giants Stadium for an AFC Championship against Baltimore or to Indy to play the Colts. Chargers win.