To me, this is the biggest weekend of an NFL season. This is the weekend a team can make it an acceptable season, or a favorite can look forward to an offseason of second guessing.
It’s the playoffs, and its big time. These are games you regret if you don’t win them. So we will tell you what we think, and who is going to advance:
Baltimore – Denver: It’s Peyton Manning’s first playoff game with the Broncos, and they’ll have a full house pumping them up. While Baltimore has been a very good road playoff team in the past, I don’t expect them to get by the Broncos. This game has a chance to end in a blowout.
Green Bay – San Francisco: The Packers have angry Aaron Rodgers, the NFL’s best QB, against San Francisco’s top notch defense. The niners have Colin Kapernick against Green Bay’s defense. Are you kidding me? I have to take Green Bay because of the emotional factor. They have gotten rolling, and are a different team than they were earlier in the season. I’m going with the Packers in a mild upset.
Seattle – Atlanta: You don’t get rich betting on Matty Ryan and the Falcons in the playoffs. Then again, if Bob Griffin hadn’t had gotten hurt, you would have seen Washington playing in this game. We have to think matchups here. I’m not sure Atlanta can run the ball in this game against Seattle’s defense. I believe the Falcons should be able to get stops against the Seahawks. An unemotional look says the Falcons easy, but there’s the emotional side that says Seattle’s on a roll. We’re going with the Seasquawks here. Football’s an emotional game and we’re not going
Houston – New England: Houston lost earlier to New England, 42-14. There’s no reason to pretend it’s gotten any better. It’s a poor matchup for Houston; plus the Texans are extremely conservative offensively. They have weapons but don’t use them aggressively. New England is the better team, they’ve shown it on the field and BSP looks for them to cover the spread.
Our picks are Denver and New England in the AFC; Green Bay and Seattle in the NFC. That’s rough, betting against the niners in Candlestick. Picking Seattle in a road game against the top seed might not be the smartest decision.
You get to the conference championship game and it’s been a good season.
