NFL Playoffs: Conference Championships

Conference Championship picks:

Wes Welker will be facing his former team, and while he never had as low receiving yardage on New England as he's had
on Denver, he has more touchdowns this season than he ever had in a season with Brady throwing him the ball.

(1)Denver Broncos vs. (2)New England Patriots
With the exceptions of the Texans and Falcons, just about every team that was expected to go far this season, did.  In fact, the Broncos, Seahawks, Patriots, and 49ers were probably the top four most popular picks to win the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season.  When these four teams go at it today, we won't get anything less than expected.  The Broncos and Patriots square off first, after a wild week 12 shootout between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady that ended with the wind(literally) favoring New England.  Peyton however is 6-0 in rematches within a season since 2008, and Brady has been putting up mostly pedestrian numbers his entire 2013 campaign.  Last week, both teams shifted their play-calling to the run game, something they had done at other points in the season, and succeeded.  This time around, both squads will need their entire offenses.  That bodes well for Denver, who has the better offensive attack, and while defense is usually just as important, this playoff game won't feature much of it.  In Manning-Brady XV, not even the great Brady-Belichick duo will be ably to stop The Sheriff.

Prediction: Broncos 34  Patriots 30

Michael Crabtree has a solid 31 receptions for 435 yards and 1 touchdown in 7 games this season(including postseason)

(1)Seattle Seahawks vs. (5)San Francisco 49ers
The last time any team made it to the Super Bowl in consecutive seasons, Tom Brady was winning his third NFL championship.  The San Francisco 49ers plan to be next.  At the C-Link tonight, the 49ers and Seattle Seahawks go at it for the fifth time in two seasons.  The Seahawks found out on Friday they won't have their game-changing playmaker Percy Harvin.  This greatly affects their offense in that they will need to rely more on their core players Russell Wilson and Marshawn Lynch.  This usually wouldn't be a problem for Seattle, but they're playing San Francisco, against whom Wilson performs average at best, and, no matter how well "Beast Mode" has done in the past, has a defense built to abolish the run.  Since 1990, teams from the same division have met in the conference championship four times.  The road team has won three of them.  Even with the Seahawks defense and Legion of Boom playing their best, Kaepernick, Gore, and the rest of the 49ers will emerge victorious, and head to a showdown of epic proportions at MetLife Stadium.

Prediction: Seahawks 16  49ers 24

NFL Playoffs: Divisional Round

Divisional Round picks:

Marshawn Lynch will turn on his "beast mode"
against the Saints.

(1)Seattle Seahawks vs. (6)New Orleans Saints
Since 2005, when a six-seed plays a one-seed in the playoffs, the six-seed has won six of eight total matchups.  The Seahawks, when playing a team twice in a season, have only won both games five of twenty times.  After this weekend, that number will be six.  In a battle of short statured quarterbacks, Russell Wilson and Drew Brees will have to rely on their entire supporting casts to get a win.  Both teams have a strong pass-rush and an average offensive line.  This will force both teams adjust, which in turn will boil the game down to one factor; the 12th Man.  New Orleans painted a Seahawk logo on their turf and blared crowd noise through the Superdome speakers, but it isn't the same effect.  Even with all the favorable statistics, this is where the Saints quest for a second Super Bowl trophy in four years will come to an end.  Also, I'm feeling a Bobby Wagner pick at some point.

Prediction: Seahawks 34  Saints 20

Tom Brady hasn't had his best season, but hasn't slowed
when it comes to the playoffs.

(2)New England Patriots vs. (4)Indianapolis Colts
Andrew Luck may be the hottest name in the NFL right now.  That game last Saturday in Indy was one of the best playoff comebacks by an individual player I've ever seen.  Luck will look to duplicate that performance at Gillette Stadium tonight.  The Colts blindsided the Patriots earlier this week by signing ex-Patriot receiver Deion Branch, looking to fill a void in the receiving corps.  New England has some holes too.  However, even though they've struggled at various points in the season, I can't see Tom Brady losing this one.  His playoff experience and knack for making heroes out of nobodies on offense will carry the Patriots to the next round.

Prediction: Patriots 31  Colts 17

(2)Carolina Panthers vs. (5)San Francisco 49ers

With 120 individual tackles, 5 sacks, 11 passes defensed,
2 INTs, 4 FFs, 2 fumble recoveries, and 1 defensive TD,
NaVorro Bowman is a Defensive POY candidate.

With Michael Crabtree active, the 49ers are undefeated this season.  Yes, I know that's only six games, but it's not without evidence.  The last time these two teams played each other, it was a nose to the grindstone fight, with only one touchdown scored and both quarterbacks throwing under 170 yards.  Crabtree didn't play, and San Francisco's speedy tight end Vernon Davis and rookie safety Eric Reid both left due to injury before the final whistle blew in favor of Carolina.  In Cam vs. Kaep 2.0, the outcome will be reversed.  While these teams are extremely similar- both have a dual-threat QB, a mediocre receiving corps., and a dominant defense, especially their front sevens- the one with the playoff experience, home crowd, and hottest hand(s) will move on to the NFC Championship.

Prediction: Panthers 17  49ers 20

Peyton Manning broke nearly all major passing records this
season, including passing yards and passing TDs in a season.

(1)Denver Broncos vs. (6)San Diego Chargers
Peyton Manning had arguably the best season a quarterback has ever had in the NFL.  He and the "four horsemen" have created the most potent offense in league history.  Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Wes Welker, and Julius Thomas each have 10 or more touchdown receptions.  Knowshon Moreno has 10 rushing touchdowns.  All these factors will bring the San Diego Chargers' season to an end.  The Broncos only lost three games all season, but the Chargers are riding their own 5-game winning streak into this matchup.  But while many point to San Diego's upset of Denver earlier this season, people forget Denver handled the first contest between these two division rivals.  Peyton will do it again Sunday in a high-scoring affair.

Prediction: Broncos 42  Chargers 31

NFL Playoffs: Wildcard Picks

Here are my picks for the four wildcard matchups this weekend:

The Chiefs Tamba Hali, who is tied for the team lead in sacks
with 11, plans on playing Saturday despite a swollen knee.

(4)Indianapolis Colts vs. (5)Kansas City Chiefs
When these two teams met in week 16, the Colts stomped the Chiefs 23-7 at Arrowhead.  Going into Indianapolis, the Chiefs will look to prove that game was a fluke.  The Colts are playing as good as is possible without Reggie Wayne.  However, the Chiefs defense will be playing like this is the Super Bowl.  They want to prove they're more than just a team that beats non-post season teams.  Offensively, Kansas City will do what it's been doing nearly all season; lean on Jamaal Charles.  He'll run circles around Indy's defense, and along with Alex Smith, will make sure those four turnovers don't happen again.

Prediction: Colts 17  Chiefs 31

Drew Brees should torch the Eagles porous secondary,
even with the cold playing conditions.

(3)Philadelphia Eagles vs. (6)New Orleans Saints
This is arguably the most intriguing game of the wild card round.  The two quarterbacks attended the same high school, and both have their offenses red hot after huge late season wins.  But while the Eagles have the more rounded offense, the Saints have a more rounded team, allowing just 305.7 total offensive yards a game, fourth best in the league.  New Orleans' new-look defense also has two breakout pass-rushers in Cameron Jordan(12.5 sacks) and Junior Galette(12).  Besides, I can't take the worst passing defense in the league against the 2nd best passing attack.

Prediction: Eagles 27  Saints 31

Chargers rookie Keenan Allen put up 8 catches for 106 yards
against the Bengals in week 13.

(3)Cincinnati Bengals vs. (6)San Diego Chargers
 Perhaps the wildest stat of the playoffs as of late is this; as of 2009, whatever team plays the Eagles in Philadelphia's season opener wins the Super Bowl.  It happened to the '09 Saints, '10 Packers, '11 Giants, and the '12 Ravens.  Now I'm not saying the Chargers are winning it all, but they will get past the wildcard round.  This is another matchup that played out earlier in the season, with the good version of Cincinnati coming out on top.  This time around, Dalton and the Bengals won't be able to stop San Diego and it's four game winning streak.

Prediction: Bengals 23  Chargers 28

Frank Gore and the 49ers are riding a 6-game
winning streak into Lambeau.

(4)Green Bay Packers vs. (5)San Francisco 49ers
At -30°F, this could wind up being the third coldest pro football game ever played.  Other than that, and the fact that Aaron Rodgers is back, there isn't much pushing this game in Green Bay's favor.  The biggest difference in the Packers from this year to last is the new, potent rushing attack, ranked 7th in the league.  The 49ers however have the 4th ranked defense against the run.  For Green Bay to have their best chance of winning this game, they need to turn it into a shootout between Rodgers and Kaepernick, which means containing the run, something I just don't see the Pack being able to do.  The 49ers have proven three times in the past two years that they can out-duel this team.  They'll prove it again on Sunday.

Prediction: Packers 17  49ers 38


Yes I am aware all my picks are the visiting teams.  It wouldn't be the craziest thing to happen this season.