San Francisco at Carolina

Not a huge fan of the Panthers. Certainly not a fan of the niners at all. But I’m really looking forward to their matchup this Sunday.
This is shaping up to be a take-no-prisoners battle between two run-the-ball, stop-the-run, rush-the-passer teams. SF might be facing a QB with as much physical talent as their own starter. Cam Newton is a winner, too. This has the opportunity to be a good one. Not a high-scoring one but a good one.
Of course, this weekend, the NFL will be looking to praise Peyton Manning and the Donkeys as some kind of blessed scoring machine. Frankly I want to see him face anyone except New Orleans IF the Donks make it that far. In SF, Carolina or Seattle, he’ll get to see a team that doesn’t respect him at all and is capable of putting a physical beat down on him. Not sure the league wants to see Seattle blitzing P. Manning looking like a statue while his receivers are in man-to-man lockdown.
Seattle is the only team left in the NFC playoffs that has beaten the other remaining NFC teams. While everyone else is giving Seattle a win already against New Orleans, the playoffs are a different animal. The Saints have discovered they can win on the road against solid opposition. I’m still picking Seattle, but the Saints have gotten walloped twice at Seattle in the last few seasons. Playing there means you get used to the noise and other stuff that goes along with playing there. The link I provided shows in the playoff rematches of teams that have lost by at least 27 points to the other, the team that lost has won rematches about half the time. It’s hard to beat a quality team twice in a season. Plus those home winning streaks tend to be overrated. Cincinnati was 8-0 at home.