Sarcastiholic

2010 NFL Season – Conference Championship Picks

Getting these picks in under the wire…

I’m going with the home teams on both games. I have to figure that there will be an upset in one of these games, but I have to go with the simple basis that the two home teams are the statistical favorites to win and I’m sticking with that.

Maybe I’m taking the easy road out, but there it is.

2010 NFL Season – Division Round – Pick Results

I really didn’t think I could do that much worse with my picks in this round of the NFL Playoffs. Just goes to show, that if you put your mind to it, you can really screw up.

0 for 4.

I have to let that sink in for a little bit more…

Ouch. Bad picks all around.

Hats off to those jerks from New York in the big upset of weekend. The New York Jets’ defense kept the mighty Charger offense to just 7 points until the final minutes of the game.

2010 NFL Season – Divisional Round – Jets at Chargers

The final game of the Divisional Round is another game that leaves me with nobody to root for as the Jets travel to America’s Finest City and take on the Chargers.

I really hate the Jets. And, to be honest, I am not very fond of the Chargers (specifically Philip Rivers and Ladanian Tomlinson) either.

I’m kind of disappointed in this matchup but I guess that the silver lining is that at least one of these teams will lose.

The Chargers’ high-flying offense will be taking on the Jets’ numero uno pass defense with a trip to Reevis Island. This probably was not the matchup that the Chargers were hoping for. Their strength has been their passing game and the Jets’ defensive strength is against the pass.

Well, I guess that the Chargers can rely on their explosive running game to help carry the day for them. Wait… what running game?

Ladanian Tomlison is averaging 52 yards rushing per game. Overall, the Chargers have the 31st ranked rushing attack in the NFL. For those of you not paying attention, that’s the second worst in the league. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

I think it’s awesome, by the way.

Meanwhile, the Jets have the number one rushing game in the NFL and will be using it against the Chargers’ defense which ranks 20th in the league. That’s a pretty good matchup for the Jets. Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene should be able to put up some good numbers against them.

But the key to the Jets victory on offense will be whether or not Mark Sanchez can make plays down the field. The Jets should be able to control the clock against the Chargers but it will be the passing game that keeps them in a position to win.

Meanwhile, Reevis Island is ready for its next guest when Vincent Jackson steps off the boat and onto shore. If Darrelle Revis shuts down Jackson, then the bulk of the passing game will fall on Antonio Gate’s shoulders. But that might not be enough, so Malcolm Floyd will have to have a solid game.

Philip Rivers is a cocky S.O.B. though, so I expect him to challenge Revis early. I think the Chargers pull off the best game against Revis that anybody has had to date this season, although I can’t expect the numbers to be phenomenal.

I also expect Norv Turner to make some boneheaded decisions on the sidelines and put his team in a position to lose the game. And I expect Rex Ryan to somehow actually continue to gain weight while he is standing on the sidelines thus enabling him to substitute for the Charlie Brown balloon in next year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And that will be the only parade that he goes to this year.

Chargers pull off the win in what I am guessing is going to be the lowest scoring game of the weekend.

2010 NFL Season - Divisional Round - Ravens at Colts

The second game of the weekend features the rushing game of the Baltimore Ravens versus the passing game of the Indianapolis Colts.

The Ravens enter the game with the 5th ranked rushing attack in the NFL. Based upon the lack of a passing game that they have demonstrated over the last part of the season, the Ravens are going to need every bit of it. Luckily for the Ravens, the Colts are going in the offseason with the 24th ranked rushing defense. Seems like a match made in heaven for the Baltimore Ravens.

But teams have tried to control the clock against the Colts by featuring a steady run game and keeping Peyton Manning off the field. So far, it really hasn’t worked. Give Manning any window to score and he seems to do it. The Colts have come back from behind to win seven games this season.

The Ravens can’t afford to rely on controlling the clock with the run game. They are going to have to score in their passing game, and for that they will need an injured Joe Flacco to throw the ball more than the 10 attempts he had in the game against New England. A solid running attack should help to keep the pass rush in check and force the Colts to play their safeties up which should allow for Joe Flacco to have some success.

They are going to need a complete game on offense if they are going to have a chance against the Colts. The passing game might just be the key to a win unless the Ravens’ secondary can come up with some big plays. But even turnovers might not be enough as the Colts don’t make the habit of allowing points off of turnovers. They may give you the ball, but they usually don’t give you six when it happens and that was the key to the Ravens’ win in Foxboro last weekend.

Turnovers and field position allowed them to gain a big lead early in the game. But the Ravens’ were only able to score 9 points after the scoring bonanza of the first quarter. That kind of repeat performance probably won’t get it done against the Colts’ offense this week. But an open passing game would.

The Colts have really not played a full game in about a month. Peyton Manning’s playoff record coming off a bye week is 0 – 3. That doesn’t give me much confidence in the Colts’ ability to muster a complete game in this round of the playoffs.

The Ravens have been in playoff mode for the last month. They’re hungry. The Colts have been lax.

All of the regular season statistics point to the Colts as the clear winners of this game.

So, naturally, I’m taking the Ravens as the upset.

2010 NFL Wildcard Pick Results

Most of these games were rematches from Week 17, and the results were pretty much the same – the teams that played in Week 17 came out to play in the playoffs.

Teams that took the week off, played like it.

And I picked like it… 1 of 4 on Wild Card Weekend. That was pretty bad. I’m guessing that a psychic hotline would have come up with a better list of winners than I did.

“Of course I’m taking the Jets! What’re you, a friggin’ idiot? Now about your love-line…”

Jets at Bengals:
The New York Jets came out running the ball and their defense did the rest as they blanketed the Bengals’ passing game keeping them to only 146 yards on 36 attempts. Chad Ochocinco got the luxury treatment on Reevis Island and had only 2 catches for 28 yards (both of which were in the 4th quarter). About the only player that showed up on the Bengals’ side was Cedric Benson who rushed 169 yards on 21 attempts. Unfortunately for the Bengals it was not enough to push them into next week.

Eagles at Cowboys:
The Dallas Cowboys’ defense ripped into the Eagles’ offensive line for a second straight week and their secondary continued to play with abilities that they had not shown all year. Michael Vick made the only big play on offense for the Eagles with a 76 yard TD to Jeremy Maclin. The Eagles threw the ball with McNabb gaining 230 yards on 36 attempts but everyone knew they could throw the ball. The lack of a running game really hurt them while Dallas was able to gain almost two hundred yards on the ground helping them to hold onto the ball for a 20 minute differential in time of possession. The Eagles only rushed for 43 yards (not counting some scrambles by McNabb).

Ravens at Patriots:
Baltimore showed up at Foxboro to play. New England did not. New England won the coin toss, and it was the only thing that went right for them all day. Actually, considering that the Patriots deferred the ball to the Ravens and Ray Rice scored an 83 yard TD on the first play from scrimmage, maybe it can’t be considered a positive at all. On the Patriots’ first offensive possession, Terrell Suggs stripped the ball from Tom Brady and the Ravens ended up scoring another TD on their ensuing possession. Down 24 – 0 at the end of the 1st quarter, the Patriots’ defense was able to hold the Ravens to only 9 points for the remaining 3 quarters but they could never gain control of the game from the Ravens’ defense and rushing attack. Tom Brady was only to muster 154 yards on 42 attempts and the ground game was only able to contribute 64 yards to the game. 3 turnovers by Brady, short fields, and a lack of halftime adjustments gave the Patriots’ their worst playoff performance since the Bears routed them in the Super Bowl twenty-five years ago.

Packers at Cardinals:
The final game of the weekend pitted the Green Bay Packers against the Arizona Cardinals in what turned out to be the shoot out everyone had been waiting for all weekend. While there were never any lead changes in the game, the Packers were able to close the gap after being down 17 – 0 at the beginning of the second quarter and push the game into overtime. Both quarterbacks combined for 9 touchdowns and over 800 yards. Warner had five touchdowns and only 4 missed passes. Obviously, defense wasn’t much of a factor in the game, until the final play in overtime, when Karlos Dansby stripped the ball from Aaron Rodgers and ran it in for the game winning touchdown. A lot of sportwriters are saying that this game sealed Warner’s enshrinement in Canton. I can’t argue against it.

There were a lot of teams that fell flat in the first round of the playoffs but I have to believe that the Divisional games will feature some better matchups. I don’t want to have to shoot my television again because that’s becoming a really expensive habit.