If you would have told me that Philadelphia, Miami and San Diego would make the playoffs a few weeks ago, I probably would have laughed at you. Well they’re in, and they’re part of this weekend’s Wildcard Playoff weekend.
In looking at the 4 games this weekend, you see a real trend. It’s hard to pick against the road teams. They are all very good and probably would have won the divisions that their opponent’s hail from. If you look at the games individually, I see 3 of the 4 road teams winning. Here’s a glimpse of my thoughts.
ATL @ ARI (Falcons are 2.5 pt favorites)
I think Arizona has a little better defense than they’ve showed in the last 6 weeks. When good running teams came into their building (MIA, BUF, DAL, NYG), they showed the ability to slow them down enough to win or at least have a chance to win. Then add in some other tidbits, like Kurt Warner’s experience, Matt Ryan’s inexperience, Boldin and Fitzgerald’s size advantage and the good elements under the dome, I see an Arizona close victory.
Cardinals 27 - Falcons 24
IND @ SD (Colts are 1.5 pt favorites)
I know San Diego has been surging but they still finished the season at 8-8. Mr. Parcells used to have this saying that you are what you are (record-wise). That makes the Bolts mediocre. Look, I really think the Chargers were the beneficiary of 2 ridiculous collapses. The obvious is the Broncos. The not so obvious is the Bucs. If not for Denver, Tampa Bay would be getting grilled for backing out of the playoffs with 4 straight losses, including the loss at home to SD. I really like Peyton’s experience and offense. I think they’re defense needs work but it’s good enough to beat the Chargers.
Colts 27 - Chargers 23
BAL @ MIA (Ravens are 3 pt favorites)
Miami is a great story this year but I think they have done it with smoke and mirrors. Pennington won his second comeback player of the year award in 3 years. How bad was he in 2007 to get it again in 2008? I think Baltimore’s defense is just too good for the Dolphins. They will turn Miami into a one dimensional team and Chad doesn’t have the arm to make the deep throws hurt the Ravens. The Ravens offense is not stellar but solid. We’ve heard this before right?
Ravens 30 - Dolphins 17
PHI @ MIN (Eagles are 3 pt favorites)
I’d be a liar if I didn’t tell you the Eagles are my lifelong favorite team. Maybe you need to take my points with a grain of salt. It’s true the Eagles are streaking but don’t forget they are capable of some egg laying. However, the Vikings have their share of broken yolks themselves this year. If Andy Reid continues to mix the play calling up and continues to include Buckhalter, I think the Eagles are just too good for the Vikings defense. On the other side of the ball, Tavaris has not seen a defense playing this well all year. If the Eagles can box in Peterson and Taylor and force Jackson to beat them, I like the Eagles handily. Given the home field, I will temper my pick slightly.
Eagles 27 - Vikings 19
Entries (RSS)