NFL Wild Card Predictions
January 4, 2006, 9:07 PM | 0 Comments
The Playoffs are here! It’s been a long season so far, especially for Packers fans, so it’ll be nice to watch some great playoff action this weekend. What’s nice for me is that the Colts (my 2nd favourite team) are the front runners to win the Superbowl.
This week’s wild card match-ups present some very interesting games. Honestly, it’ll be tough to predict every one of them because there aren’t really ‘underdogs’ in any of the matches.
Here are my picks for Wild Card Weekend.
Washington Redskins (10-6) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5) - This is the second match between these two teams this year. If you remember what happened the first time around, you’ll know that this game will probably be a very close one. The first time these two teams met the Buccaneers eeked out a 1-point win on a controversial 2-point conversion at the end of the game.
This time around, the Redskins may have the advantage. Joe Gibbs has done a great job in Washington this year, has a great post-season record and the ‘Skins have one of the better defenses in the league. Washington is also on a 5 game winning streak and won a big game last week against the Eagles to make it to the playoffs.
Jon Gruden took the Buccaneers to the Superbowl (and won) three years ago and is one of the most dedicated coaches in the league. Guaranteed he’ll give the Redskins a run for their money. The Bucs are also the NFL’s number one ranked defense. It’s been said that Defense wins championships and offense wins games. The problem is, if the Buccaneers don’t get their running game going, their offense usually doesn’t produce well and makes it very difficult for them to out score their opponents.
If I was picking this game based on which team I like better, I’d pick the Buccaneers, but I just think that with Washington’s momentum and the way they’ve played this year, they have a better shot of winning this game. Pick: Redskins.
Jacksonville Jaguars (12-4) at New England Patriots (10-6) - Jacksonville comes in to this game as the lower ranked team, even though they won more games than New England did. That will make it tougher for them to win because they’re playing in New England, not Jacksonville.
Both of these teams have been saying lately that no-one respects them. In the Patriot’s case, that’s completely wrong. In the case of the Jaguars, there may be some truth in that statement because of the schedule they’ve had to play this year. Jacksonville’s last few games have been against losing teams, and their final push to the playoffs was rather ‘easy.’
The Patriots are the team that no one wants to play right now. Probably the main reason for that is Tom Brady/Bill Belichick. Belichick and Brady have a perfect record together in the playoffs, 9-0. One more reason is that the Patriots have been on fire for the last 2 months and are starting to get healthy again. While I don’t think that the Patriots will win the Superbowl this year, I do expect them to make it interesting. Pick: Patriots.
UPDATE: Wow! It was actually painful watching the Jaguars get whipped by the Pats. You really have to wonder why the Jags decided to play Leftwich at all. Can they honestly say that he gave them their best chance to win? I guess we’ll never know. Anyways, the Jaguars are lucky that they aren’t a team in a large market; otherwise they’d get eaten up by the media.
Carolina Panthers (11-5) at New York Giants (11-5) - The Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants have both been pretty inconsistent this year. This game could probably go either way.
For New York, they need to get Tiki Barber and their running game going early. They’ll also need to limit their turnovers and penalties. Sure, that sounds like a winning formula for any team to win, but if the Giants can play some mistake free football, I think they’ll get the win at home.
Carolina has recent playoff experience to draw on, which probably gives them a bit of an advantage. Steve Smith has had an incredible year setting new records for the Panthers franchise and Jake Delhomme has been good over the entire season.
I think overall, the Giants have a better team than the Panthers and the only thing that I can see costing the Giants (besides the obvious mistakes) is their relative inexperience. Pick: Giants.
Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5) at Cincinnati Bengals (11-5) - Two meetings between these teams this year have resulted in both teams beating the other team on the road. It’s tough to tell if there’s really such a thing as home-field advantage for these teams.
Consider this though, the Bengals haven’t made the playoffs since 1990 and fans in Cincinnati have been waiting for this for years. Carson Palmer has really come alive this year and the Bengals offense can shoot out the lights if needed.
The Steelers have an experienced coach in Bill Cowher, an excellent defense and a strong running attack. If their defense can limit the Bengals offense, I think they’ll have a shot at the upset. Pittsburgh doesn’t have the offensive firepower that the Bengals do, so if the cats get ahead early, it’ll be very tough for the Steelers to come back.
Although the Bengals have been a little lackluster over the past 2 weeks, I still think that they’ll have a true home-field advantage this week, and it’ll be a tough game for the Steelers. Pick: Bengals.
Picks Summary
AWAY - HOME - PREDICTION - RESULT
Redskins - Buccaneers - Redskins - Redskins √
Jaguars - Patriots - Patriots - Patriots √
Panthers - Giants - Giants - Panthers Χ
Steelers - Bengals - Bengals - Steelers Χ
UPDATE: 2-2 this week to open off the playoffs. I feel a little sad for the Bengals. 15 years without a playoff appearance and now they’re ‘one and done.’
Posted in: Sports