Wild card weekend was wild to say the least. A stunning upset by the Seahawks over the Saints started the weekend, as well as showed us what "beast mode" really meant courtesy of Marshawn Lynch. A field goal in Indy to send Petyon packing and Vick's season ending on an interception made the upcoming divisional round that much harder to wait for. If you didn't know this already, the NFL is awesome.
Saturday 4:30 eastern, Ravens at Steelers: The Ravens dominated the Chiefs last weekend and showed they were deserving of facing the Steelers. After splitting with the Steelers in the regular season, this match-up has some familiarity. Yet, the Steelers are almost a lock to win this game. Despite the thrashing on the Chiefs, Jamal Charles had a stellar first half rushing for over 80 yards and a touchdown. Quietly this has been Baltimore's worst rushing defense since 1996 giving up 3.9 yards per carry. The Steelers will pound the ball with work horse Mendenhall giving opportunities to the speedy Mike Wallace on the outside. The bye week gives the Steelers a chance to rest their star safety Troy Polamalu. Over the last two seasons the Steelers are 14-4 with him and 5-7 without; he is a stud. And I have a gut feeling Joe Flacco can't win a big playoff game, I don't trust him. Steelers get the nod.
Steelers 16 Ravens 10
Saturday 8:00 p.m, Packers at Falcons: This is a tough game. The Falcons don't do anything flashy or spectacular, but they are efficient and well-coached. The Falcons were the least penalized club in the NFL and had the third best turnover ratio. That being said, the Packers and Aaron Rodgers are red hot. If the NFL ended today the best quarterback rating of all-time would belong to Aaron Rodgers. He is that good. The best corner back in the duo will be enough to slow down Falcon's receiver Roddy White and tight end Tony Gonzalez. Matt Ryan is having nightmares of Clay Matthews. Packers win this game in a dogfight.
Packers 20 Falcons 17
Sunday 1:00 Seahawks at Bears: Wouldn't it be crazy if the Seahawks pulled this off? Knock off the super bowl champions then go into Chicago and end their season. The reality is the Seahawks are 2-6. But, there is always a but, one of those road wins came in week 6 at Chicago in a 23-20 win. Cutler could throw a couple picks, Hester could be contained, and the Lynch could be in "beast mode" once again. It just can't happen two weeks in a row though. The Bears defense causes turnovers, and when the Bears are rolling they really are a special football team. In Chicago they won't lose to the Seahawks, who despite winning last week, still are a sub 500 football team.
Chicago 30 Seahawks 20
Sunday 4:30 Jets at Patriots: Rex Ryan has pegged this game as Rex vs. Belichick. Bold move after the 45-3 beat down the Patriots gave the Jets last time they visited Foxboro. Ryan does his mind games with the media, but calling out Belichick, the best coach in the league seems like a bad idea. Ryan said Manning worked harder than Brady. Yes, Ryan beat Manning the week before, but the Colts are missing half their time due to injuries. Brady is playing '07 good and maybe better considering the supporting cast around him. Two rookie tight ends, number one receiver nine months removed from knee surgery, a scat back cut by the Jets at the beginning of the year, and a return of Deion Branch equals 36 touchdowns and a historically low 4 interceptions. The Patriots are silly good right now. It looks like Rex will get back to rubbing feet instead of watching film a few weeks earlier than planned.
Patriots 28 Jets 17
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