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 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.

2010 NFL Season - Wild Card - Jets at Bengals

The first game of Wild Card Weekend will be a repeat a Week 17 game (3 of 4 are, actually) when the Jets travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals.

The Bengals came out of apparently nowhere this year to win the AFC North title over the reigning Super Bowl champs, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Baltimore Ravens who were in close contention for the Super Bowl last year after making it to the conference championship. The bottom line on the Bengals is that they won a very competitive division by sweeping both of these teams. That is no small task, and not to be taken lightly.

Now they have a rematch against the New York Jets who managed to slide into a Wild Card spot. To be fair, the Jets did do what they needed to do by winning games at the end of the season. But, to be truly honest, they had a light schedule at the end of the season and one of those key wins was against an Indianapolis Colts team that sat all of their starters. If the Colts had played to win that game, the Jets would have lost and they would have missed the playoffs.

That being said, the Jets ARE in the playoffs. How they got there isn’t that important. Anything can happen once you get there and the Jets have the number one running game, and the number one defense in the NFL. That makes for a very dangerous combination. What they don’t have is a proven QB and passing game.

The key to this game is going to be Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones (both former Bears, I might add). The only other weapon that the Bengals have is Chad OchoCinco but the Jets have Darrelle Reevis to counter their passing game. The only way to free up the passing game for the Bengals is going to be pounding the ball with Cedric Benson. He has proven he can do it all year, but he has yet to do it in the playoffs.

And the Jets are going to be very confident that Reevis can shut out OchoCinco. So much so, they should be able to stack the box against the run and leave their cornerbacks out alone in coverage. Cedric Benson is going to have a rough day.

The Jets have Thomas Jones who might be the most underrated running back in the NFL. The Bears never should have let him go and most of the fans were screaming from the mountain tops when it happened. Expect him to have a big day despite the fact that the Bengals will also be stacking the box in an effort to force Mark Sanchez to beat them with the passing game.

I expect Thomas Jones to have a better day stat-wise than Cedric Benson but this game will come down to key plays in the passing game. Which side makes them, and which side turns the ball over?

This game is actually a tough call. Both teams are very similar in a lot of respects. But quarterback is the big difference between these two teams and I have to back the veteran over the rookie. I’m taking the Bengals in a tight game over the Jets.

Oh, yeah… Did I mention I really hate the Jets?

2010 NLF Season - Week 16 Picks

I always start getting a little depressed around this time of year. It doesn’t have anything to do with the holidays. It’s just the bitter realization that football is coming to a close and pretty soon it will be the cold, dark days of deepest winter and early spring where there is nothing to comfort me other than the occasional news regarding free agency, the draft, and organized team activities.

Woeful.

But it’s not over yet. So, rejoice…

There are still a lot of teams struggling to make the playoffs, and even the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers, are not technically out of it yet despite a six game losing streak.

Unfortunately, even if they lose the next two games, it looks like the San Diego Chargers will be the second seed in the AFC. Which brings me to…

San Diego at Tennessee:
I’m taking Tennessee for the win in this game. I know that the Chargers don’t lose in December, and that thought really makes me mad since I really don’t like the Chargers but I’m taking the Titans anyways.

They’re at home, and playing for a Wild Card spot. I figure they have to pull this one out. Chris Johnson has a lot of yards left to gain in his two remaining games and this is a great place to start against the Chargers’ 21st ranked rush defense.

Unfortunately, Tennessee has the 31st ranked pass defense, and that’s what the Chargers do.

But I’m taking the Titans anyway. Screw you, Rivers.

Kansas City at Cincinnati:
It was a tough loss last week for the Bengals in San Diego. They have to keep playing hard their final two games in order to keep any kind of momentum going into the playoffs.

The Bengals should be able to win this game outright.

Baltimore at Pittsburgh:
The Steelers aren’t out of the race yet, even though it seems they did their best to try and eliminate themselves with a six game losing streak.

They need to beat the Ravens at home, and they will.

NY Jets at Indianapolis:
The Colts are so close to achieving a perfect regular season. I figure they will have to go for it. That means bad news for the New York Jets.

Minnesota at Chicago:
The final Monday night game of the season is going to be a stinker. The Vikings travel to Chicago and look to keep the second seed in the NFC. Philadelphia is right behind them, so a loss in Chicago (unlikely) and a Phillie win (likely) would put the Eagles into the second seed.

Nothing would make me happier than that. It would be a helluva Christmas present.

The only thing going in the Bears’ favor right now is going to be the weather. The Bears need to capitalize on this and beat the hell out of Peterson and Favre.

Of course, that is also taking into consideration the fact that the anemic Bears’ offense would miraculously manage to become a scoring offense.

That would be a helluva Christmas present, too.

I would love for the Vikings to lose the second seed to the Philadelphia Eagles and, if they made it through the first round, watch as they have to play outdoors at the Eagles in a divisional round.

Bye, bye, Favre. Bye, bye, Vikings.

Go Bears, go.

If you do one thing right this season, beat the hell out of the Vikings on national television. Send Favre to the retirement village with a busted clavicle and a lump on his head the size of his ego.