Are you ready for some FOOTBALL - Playoff Edition

[Ming]

You can find the old one here...

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=4224015#post4224015

With College football ending tonight, we can soon pay attention to the good stuff

I'm still in a state of shock that the Bears have a first round bye and will be playing a home playoff game. Who would have thunk it when Grossman went down before the season started.

The fact that Indy, Pitt, Denver and New England are in the playoffs in the AFC are no real surprise. Jacksonville and Cincy would be considered a surprise by some.

I think the surprise in the NFC (besides the Bears) is not who made it, but who didn't. I don't think anybody is too shocked that Seattle, NY, Tampa, Washington and Carolina are in. But when the season started... Dallas, Philly, and Minny were considered playoff teams.

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!

[Jaguar]

I'm a Washington area person. We didn't really expect the playoffs before the season, although we expected definite improvement. I think most of us thought around 9-7 or so, with the Eagles owning the division as usual. Once they were 3-0, though, we saw it coming. Here are my thoughts on the upcoming Skins game.

Nobody doubts that Tampa Bay has a great team. However, their schedule was filled with walkover games. The Bucs played the anemic NFC North and the equally pathetic AFC East. That gave them six free wins. Culpepper handed them the ball five times, JP Losman played his second career start horribly, Green Bay missed an extra point and lost by one, and Joey Harrington was his usual self. The Bucs were 4-0, and suddenly the experts hailed the Bucs as the best team. I remember one "analyst" graded the Colts as an A- team and the Bucs as an A+. Then they lost to the pathetic Jets, beat the Dolphins, and then lost to the Niners. They started 5-2 against seven non-playoff teams.

In contrast, Washington has played a fairly difficult schedule this year, and the Skins are probably a great deal better than the 10-6 record shows. They were in a difficult division, but they went 5-1 in it. heir ten non-division games included games against the Bears, Seahawks, Broncos, Chiefs, Chargers and Bucs. They were 2-4 against those six good teams, but most Washington people believe they were robbed against the Bucs. Video replay of the play shows that Alstott's elbow clearly touched the ground before the ball crossed the goal-line.

Tampa has homefield advantage because they're 11-5 and a division winner, and the Redskins are a 10-6 wildcard team. However, the Redskins believe that they should be the 11-5 team, and the Bucs should be 10-6.

The Redskins are on a five game win streak, and in those five games Portis has rushed 115 yards on average. This is a team on an intimidating hot streak, looking for revenge.

[Imran Siddiqui]

In fact, Washington had the #2 hardest schedule this season (for comparison's sake, Tampa was in the bottom 5 in hardest schedules)

[Berzerker]

Saturday Jan 7

Washington
Tampa Bay 4:30pm

Jacksonville
New England 8:00pm

Sunday, Jan 8

Carolina
NY Giants 1:00pm

Pittsburgh
Cincinnati 4:30pm

Washington at Tampa, good match up. Strong D's with Tampa slightly better but the Skins have the edge on offense, so give the spread of <3 to Tampa. But I'll take Washington in the upset, they have momentum with some really dominant wins down the stretch. If Brunell to Moss is clicking it wont even be close. My prediction: Wash 27 TB 17 (could be even bigger win, I'm actually being a bit conservative)

The Jags at New England, Lord Byron is coming back from a nice vacation and he'll need those fresh legs against the swarming
front 7 of New England. Good luck, he'll need it. The Jags have a good D and rolled to easy wins the last 2 weeks under Gerrard, but Brady is the master. He consistently picks apart the better defenses and the Jags effort to stop him will open nice holes for Dillon. Big day from Brady and solid day from Dillon with a pestered and battered Byron Leftwich sounds like happy patriot fans. My spread is NE by 12 but I think it'll be even worse. NE will win 31-14

Carolina at New York (Giants), hmmmmm...... home field advantage being the factor? I dont know, neither team was too impressive down the stretch. The Giants probably played a little better, Delhomme to Smith is still clicking but the Giants lost only 1 game at home all year and that was the fluke vs the Vikings (all 3 TDs were on special teams). Shockey is out so minus 1 big weapon will turn this into a close game. Giants by 4, but given the fact Steve Smith helped get me into the SB I'll be pulling for Carolina. NYG win 27-21

Pittsburgh at Cincinnatti

Wow, home field sure didn't help in their 2 season games, visitors won both. Who knows how this one will turn out, Pitt has the D and Cincy has the O. Will the Steelers make it a trifecta for the visiting team? In their first game the D did its job but in their recent matchup Cincy won 38-31 in a shootout. The Steelers have been strong down the stretch while KC ran and threw all over the Cincy D last week so expect big days from the running game with Parker racking up the yards and Bettis getting in at least 1 TD and Big Ben will have a good day. The big question: is Palmer getting used the Steelers D? Going into Pittsburgh and scoring 38 points is about as good as it gets, but the Cincy defense is looking too weak to be a contender for the SB and Pitt put up 58 in their 2 games. Rudi can run on the Steelers thx to an effective aerial assault but Big Ben lit up the Bengals for almost 400 yds in their last game. Bengals have to make this a shootout or it will be a repeat of their first game with Pitt winning 27-13. I'd have to give Pitt the spread, say 3 points. I'll go with the trifecta, the Steelers will win 31-24.

[Guynemer]

The Lions will own all next year!

[Berzerker]

the cellar of the NFC north

[Guynemer]

You doubt the power of the mighty Honolulu Blue?!

[Berzerker]

every team in the playoffs is .500 or better on the road

[OzzyKP]

pssh, Detroit is so good they don't need to win ANY games on the road. Hell Detroit is so good, they are gonna be in the Superbowl this year no matter how the playoffs turn out.

[Ming]

Originally posted by OzzyKP
Hell Detroit is so good, they are gonna be in the Superbowl this year no matter how the playoffs turn out.

Yeah... most of players will be vendorss at the Superbowl this year

[Donegeal]

Bah!

First week of the NFL playoffs?

BORING!!!!!

(This year) Its the divisional games that matter.

Go Bears!!!

[Jaguar]

Steelers
Patriots
Redskins
Giants

You heard it here first.

[Imran Siddiqui]

You know, I heard something on sports talk radio that I didn't think about at all. New York wins the division and hosts Carolina while Washington has to travel to Tampa Bay. New York got one EXTRA home game against the Saints at the beginning of the year. Maybe NY would have won if it was played in San Antonio, but Washington got jobbed.

[Apocalypse]

Like a game against the Saints really decided this season....

In other news...the real excitment is with the 2006 NFL Draft....that's what this thread should have been called. Local stations have been told Vince Young is still leaning towards staying. Texans will look at Mack Brown as a possibility for their new coach though. And you know that mean would mean.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yeah... um... PLAYOFFS >>>>>> Draft.