NFL Playoffs: Enough With New England

Are you tired of watching USC hand a national championship over to Cow U. on a silver platter? How about tired of watching some of the nation’s ugliest people get their fifteen minutes of fame after this mine fiasco? Or are you just plain tired of the NFL brown-nosing every little thing that comes out of the Foxboro area? Well I am. That means it’s time to break down three of the playoff games. So turn off the 24-hour news networks, put down the remote and give me your full attention.

SATURDAY


Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4) at New England Patriots (10-6)(-8)
8:30 p.m. Gillette Stadium
The NFL’s obsession continues with the New England Patriots. I thought we were done with this team. I thought we could move on. I guess not. The fact that the NFL comeback player of the year award was split two ways, and Mark Brunell wasn’t either of the winners, is just lunacy. Tedy Bruschi got this award? What? Did I miss something? He only played half the season. And no, I don’t give him credit for playing following a stroke. If anything, I would give him the NFL dumbest player of the year award. What the NFL did is give Bruschi an award for foolishly risking his own health and his own future, along with the future well being of his own family, for his own selfish desire to help win some meaningless football games. You can twist it any way you want (and ESPN usually does), but that is what Bruschi did. This is not a good precedent for the NFL to set. And on top of all that, Bruschi didn’t play well this season. Every time I turned on a New England game, there was Bruschi, missing several tackles. There he was, getting embarrassed by the tight end. There he was, in the wrong position to make a play. So let’s give him a rather meaningful award instead of a player who truly earned it by his play on the field. I can’t stand this crap anymore. At least Tom Brady didn’t come close to winning MVP.
And conveniently, the NFL playoff system has helped the Patriots to an easy first round victory. This has been my lone complaint with the NFL playoff system. Playoff seeds should be determined on records, not on division winners. The Jaguars were two games better than the Pats this year. But, because they are in the same division with the Indianapolis Colts, the Jags are rewarded for their 12-4 season by being given a first round playoff game in New England. A game against an average 10-6 team that was simply the best team in a horrible division.
So, there will be no real analysis of this game. In fact, I will not even watch this game. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t watch a playoff game out of anger and spite. I don’t think that’s ever happened. But I will give you a brief synopsis of what you can expect to hear from Al Michaels and John Madden:
“That Tedy Bruschi is one amazing and courageous guy.” (Repeated at least twice despite the fact that Bruschi is out with injury).
“Tom Brady is a proven winner. All he does is win.” (Repeated at least three times).
“Bill Belichick is a genius.” (Repeated at least five times).
“Jacksonville Jaguars.” (Mentioned maybe once in the entire game. ABC is wishing they don’t even show up so they can have 3 ½ hours to wax ecstatic about New England).
Pick: Patriots 31, Jaguars 13

SUNDAY

Carolina Panthers (11-5) at New York Giants (11-5)(-2.5)
1:00 p.m. Giants Stadium
This game depends on which Carolina Panthers team we see. The Giants are of little consequence. If the Panthers team that blew out the Falcons on the road shows up, then it will be time to celebrate, as the Giants would be knocked silly from the playoffs. If the evil Panthers show up, then we’ll have to wait one more week to see the Giants season end.
I really think this matchup favors the Panthers. Just a few weeks ago, the New York Giants were tortured all game long by Santana Moss. The Panthers have Moss-clone Steve Smith. I assume that Will Allen will try, and fail, to stop Smith like he did with Moss. So there is one major advantage for Carolina. The Giants defensive strength is at the end position. It’s too bad for New York that the Panthers offensive line is one of the best in the league. So by negating a strength of the Giants, the Panthers will get another decisive advantage. The Panthers also have one of the league’s best run defenses. They only give up 91 yards a game on the ground. So Tiki Barber won’t be facing the weak Kansas City or Oakland defenses. Which means he won’t be able to break seven tackles a play. So if Carolina’s defense can control Barber, then Eli Manning will be forced to win the game. And we all saw how well that worked out against the Redskins.
Don’t get me wrong. I expect a close game here. I expect a defensive struggle. There will plenty of occasions when Jake Delhomme will make a Brett Farve-like mistake and give the Giants opportunities. But when picking teams in the playoffs you have to ask yourself one question. Can I (or you) really picture this team making the Super Bowl? If the answer is no, then don’t pick them in the postseason. I can see the Panthers making it to Detroit. I can’t say the same for the Giants.
Pick: Panthers 20, Giants 16



Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5)(-3) at Cincinnati Bengals (11-5)
4:30 p.m. Paul Brown Stadium
This will be the rubber match for these two teams. I think we can throw the two previous games out the window. When Pittsburgh won at Cincinnati earlier this year, the Bengals were still a team that was coming together and trying to find themselves. They weren’t ready, at the time, for a big time divisional game. And when Cincinnati won at Pittsburgh, the game came at a bad time for the Steelers. They were banged up both physically and mentally. The Steelers played one of their worst games of the year.
Hopefully, this game will better played by both teams. It should be the most interesting matchup of the weekend. The Steelers come in with more momentum. The Bengals have tanked a bit in their last two games. This worries me. It wasn’t like these were meaningless games. First round byes, homefield advantage and seeding were on the line and the Bengals failed miserably.
As for the game itself, look for Cincinnati to come out and establish their game plan from their win at Pittsburgh. It is imperative that the Bengals establish their running game early. In their loss to Pittsburgh, Carson Palmer was forced to throw the ball too many times in comparison to Cincinnati's running attempts. The Bengals barely had the football because Pittsburgh hogged it for almost 40 minutes. So Palmer was forced to throw his team back into the ball game. His inexperience against a great defense showed. But in game two, Palmer and the Bengals were able to mix in the run with the pass, and confused Pittsburgh all day long. Just look at the numbers:
Game 1 vs. Pittsburgh – 21-36, 227 yds, 0 TD’s, 2 INT’s, 2 sacks, 7 knockdowns
Game 2 at Pittsburgh – 22-38, 227 yds, 3 TD’s, 0 INT’s, 2 sacks, 3 knockdowns
You can see, that despite the same amount of passing yards and basically the same amount of completions and attempts, Palmer was much more efficient when Cincinnati was able to use their running game. Even if the running attack doesn’t work early, it is important for Marvin Lewis to stick with it. I think Lewis is a brilliant coach, and that he will do the same thing to Pittsburgh that he did in their second meeting.
Pick: Bengals 28, Steelers 23

Tomorrow I give you all a double dose. In an effort to enjoy my weekend (ie: getting nuts), I'll talk, at lengths most likely, about the Redskins-Bucs rematch. Also, Maryland gets into the bulk of its ACC schedule (finally!). I think they're playing Miami. But it could easily be one of the other 27 ACC schools. I'll have to look into it.