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 - Division Round - Cardinals at Saints

No team has ever won a Super Bowl after losing their last three game of the regular season. But that’s just what the New Orleans Saints are going to try and do.

First off, they will have to beat the Arizona Cardinals who just piled on 51 points against one of the league’s best defenses last weekend. In order to do so, the Saints are going to have get back to their average of 31 points per game instead of the meager 15 points per game that they averaged over their final three games. The Saints offense needs to get rolling early and Darren Sharper has to come up with some big plays.

No, strike that…

Darren Sharper is going to have to come up with some HUGE plays to limit what the Cardinals are capable of doing if they are firing the ball like they did last week. Kurt Warner put together the highest rated passing performance in the modern era of the NFL against the second ranked defense.

There is no reason to think that he will not be able to repeat that performance this weekend against a soft New Orleans’ defense which ranked 25th overall and 26th against the pass. The Saints’ pass rush performed slightly better in the overall standings with a rank of 13th in the NFL but they will have to get consistent pressure on Warner in order to give their secondary any chance at limiting the Cardinals’ offensive production.

On the opposite side of the ball, the Arizona Cardinals have the 6th ranked pass rush and will definitely be doing everything they can to pressure Drew Brees into making bad decisions. The plus side for the Saints is the simple fact that Brees does not tend to make a lot of bad decisions having finished the regular season with only 11 interceptions, a 70.6 completion percentage, and a 109.6 percent passer rating.

Unbelievable. I have no idea why this guy didn’t get more votes for MVP.

Peyton Manning finished with 16 interceptions, a 68.8 completion percentage, and a 99.9 percent passer rating.

Unbelievable. I won’t even get into the Chris Henry argument…

Anyway, despite the overall unbelievable play of the New Orleans’ offense during most of the season, I can’t get past the fact that they were totally flat for the last month of the season. I just do not see how they can pull off a win against this Cardinal team, right now.

Cardinals win.

2010 NFL Season - Week 17 Picks

The last week of the regular season of the NFL is here.

I am excited for the playoffs to start but I still hate this time of year. The holidays are over. Football is almost over, and all we have to look forward to is the long, cold remainder of winter with an occasional half-ass holiday like President’s Day thrown in until we can at least dig into OTA’s and the NFL Draft.

No more Monday Night Football. No more Thursday night games.

They’re going to stop selling Egg Nog pretty soon, too.

Somewhere, somebody’s puppy just died.

Winter blues…

Now onto the picks!

Indianapolis at Buffalo:
How much playing time do the Colts’ give their starters? Does it really matter? The Bills have no offense right now, and why should the defense give a crap?

I’ll take the Colts to squeeze a win out of the kicker.

New Orleans at Carolina:
The Panthers have been kicking the hell out of everybody the past couple of weeks, but I think the Mojo ends this week when the Saints come marching in.

The Saints have to pull it together and win this game. They need to go into their bye week with a solid win against an inferior opponent otherwise they will be sorely suited for the divisional round. There will be too many questions being asked inside the locker room otherwise.

The Panthers will be without Steve Smith, who broke his arm on a touchdown catch last week against the New York Giants. That should take a ton of pressure off of the scattered New Orleans’ secondary.

Saints win. They better win.

Jacksonville at Cleveland:
Jacksonville is the better overall team, but I’m taking the Browns to continue their win streak behind Jerome Harrison’s hot streak. This crazy guy has put up 434 yards in the past two weeks. I have to figure that they will continue on this track.

Feed him the ball. Feed him!

New England at Houston:
A doofus from the Pittsburgh Steelers is adamant that the Patriots and the Bengals are going to “lay down” to their respective opponents this week because they are afraid of the Steelers making it into the playoffs. If these teams lose, the Steelers are out of the playoffs even if they beat Miami.

I really don’t think that Pittsburgh playoff chances are any factor in any decision that Bill Belichick is going to make in this game. The Patriots really don’t have anything to really gain by playing all of their starters for the entire game this weekend, but I figure that they will play for most of the game. The same goes for Cincinnati.

These teams need to go into the first round of the playoffs on a solid note, and resting their starters for the entire game would not be the way to do it.

NY Giants at Minnesota:
I’m taking the Vikings again this week. Probably a dumb idea.

The Vikings has dropped three of their last four games. Their advantage is that the Giants are a dysfunctional team and are now out of the playoffs. They have nothing left to play for, and if they couldn’t get it together to keep themselves in the hunt of for a Wild Card slot, then I’m not sure if they do it this week.

The Vikings are currently the number three seed. They can get the second seed, and a bye week, with a win and a Philadelphia loss.

I figure they will win this game, and Brett Favre will hug it out after the game with Brad Childress.

Gross.

Pittsburgh at Miami:
The Steelers need help to make It into the Wild Card round. But they have to start by beating the Dolphins in Miami this week. They can’t control anything else.

This is not going to be an easy game for the Steelers but I think they will leave the dumb comments at home and put together a good game.

Chicago at Detroit:
Even if the Bears win this game, they will still be ending the season with a losing record. It has now been three straight years without a playoff appearance since losing the Super Bowl.

Changes will be made in Chicago this offseason. It’s hard to say exactly what though. I have a feeling that Lovie Smith will be back this year, but if the Bears lose to Detroit…

Anything can happen.

2010 NFL Season – Week 16 Results

Those jerks from the ’72 Dolphins popped open their champagne bottles as the last undefeated team went down this week. The Indianapolis Colts decided to pull their starters and got rolled by the Jets.

My dream of two undefeated teams in the Super Bowl was already in ashes, so I didn’t really care as much that the Colts’ win streak ended. I just wanted somebody else to do it so I can stop hearing about how great that Dolphins team was.

Supposedly, Mercury Morris is disappointed that the Colts didn’t go for the perfect season. But I think he was probably happy about it.

The Saints dropped another game. They lost to the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home. Woe is the thoughts of the Saints’ organization this December. They get another shot to get the train back on the tracks again in Week 17 before going into the bye.

Even though they lost, the Saints win the first seed by default after the Vikings lost to the woeful Chicago Bears on Monday night.

The Bears put together a 16 -0 lead going into the half, and naturally gave it all back. They managed to win in overtime and should be celebrated as such. But the defense rolling over in the second half, after a great start to the game should not be overlooked. There is talent and determination on this team. It just doesn’t present itself for four quarters.

That has to come back to the coaching. Speaking of which, there were more Lovie Smith game management (or mismanagement) but I won’t go into it.

Suffice it to say, there will be some coaching changes in Chicago after the season ends this Sunday. I think that Lovie Smith will be back, but there will be a lot of new faces blowing whistles on the sidelines in Spring.

The reigning Super Bowl Champions are still in the mix for a playoff spot but they need a lot of help. The first thing they had to do in Week 16 was beat the Baltimore Ravens. They did it. Now they need a lot of help to get into the Wild Card round.

I don’t think it is going to happen.