This weekend's conference championship games will set up what should be a great and perhaps surprising Super Bowl matchup for Feb. 7th. In the AFC, top seed Indianapolis Colts hosts the lowest seed New York Jets. In the NFC, it's the battle of number one and two with the New Orleans Saints hosting the Minnesota Vikings. Below are my pre-game analysis and predictions. Chances are that I'm off, just hopefully only by a little. Haha....here goes.
AFC Championship
New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts
This game is a rematch of Week 16 where the Colts hosted the Jets and lost 29-15. The Jets ran the offense nearly exclusively off the run, with Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene combining for over 200 yards. The Colts controversial laying down gameplan that weekend will have no forbearance on this game. Say what you will, Peyton Manning and company will play the way everyone expects them to play, smart and mistake-free. The primary match up of the game will be Manning vs. Jets defense. The Jets defense is one of the tops in the AFC and will need to play very aggressive, especially on the line. Blitz, blitz, blitz Manning and disrupt any tempo he may have. Sanchez will have to play perfect football, which means for him, just manage the time, avoid costly mistakes and convert on big plays. The Colts defense can be shredded by the big plays, both run and catch, so the Jets must be able to put points on the board to match the Colts offense. If this game gets close through the third quarter, I won't be surprised if the Jets can come out with the victory. If they take Manning out of the game either physically or mentally, they will make their run one of the more compelling cinderella stories of the year. However, I do not see the Colts laying down again and will steadfastly put points up and never give the Jets a chance to come back. Manning is too smart and experienced to let this one go through his fingertips like in postseasons past. I believe this game is the Colts to lose.
Prediction: Colts 27, Jets 17
NFC Championship:
Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints
As the season progressed, both of these teams became the heavy favorites to clinch the NFC. Not surprising, the top two NFC teams that exhibit similar game styles and philosophies meet in the championship game. Both have great QBs in Drew Brees and Brett Favre. Both have explosive playmakers on the offensive side of the ball and both have stout defenses that punish the takeaway battle and put up points. I believe this game will be more of a tug-o-war type game where both teams either trade points or field position. Could this be a shootout? Perhaps. I'm less inclined to say this will be a low scoring game, devoid on big plays because of all the offensive superstars. Their defenses will be tested from the get-go. I do want to see Brees and Favre each throw 3 tds and over 300 yards, but that would undermine how good those defenses are. It's tough to rule out home field advantage and since both teams play at domed stadiums, weather is not a factor. In the end, I see Favre having slightly more impact than Brees and Peterson playing up to his expectations and the Vikings take control of the clock. Vikings play spoiler at New Orleans.
Prediction: Vikings 27, Saints 21
Friday, January 22, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
And then there were four.....
NFL Divisional Playoff Recaps!
Saturday
Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints - 45-14 Saints
Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts - 20-3 Colts
Winning is a Brees.
Unless you're the Cardinals. Their high-flying season came to a brutal and injury-prone end Saturday at New Orleans. Coming off a spectacular finish at home to the Packers, Kurt Warner and the Cards could not establish their same offensive gameplan against a more sound and stingy defense in the Saints. The game started off great for the Cards, with a 70 yard TD run by Tim Hightower in the opening minutes, but their offense could not match the Saints and could not establish any consistency to control the game. In what may be his last game in the NFL, Warner showed no signs of the QB that in the week previous threw with pin-point accuracy and more touchdowns than incompletions. He looked pedestrian at best with zero touchdowns and one pick. He had to be replaced after a crushing blow knocked him out in the first half, and Matt Leinart, despite his illustrious career at USC, cannot play at the NFL level.
On the other hand, the Saints, having been the NFC favorite all season to go to the Super Bowl, played with the energy and motivation that had escaped them in the three weeks previous to end the season. That three-game stretch resulted in all losses, and one could doubt if the Saints would bounce back in the Divisional game or have their season end in disappointing fashion. The Saints squelched their detractors and played the same Saints football that garnered them the best record in the NFC. Brees threw for 247 yards and three TDs and Reggie Bush danced around with highlight reel plays that proved that he was still as versatile and deadly in the open field. Bush ran for a 46-yard TD run and returned a punt 83 yards for a TD.
Best team in the league, led by the league's best QB, does what it does best, win.
Indianapolis was the favorite from the AFC to reach the Super Bowl, and proved it by going 14-2 in the regular season. Despite flirting with history, the team decided to rest their starters in the final two weeks of the season and subsequently lost those games. Truth be told, they had nothing to play for, as home-field and the bye were already awarded to them for the playoffs. On Sunday, they didn't skip a beat, methodically and predictably putting up points and shutting down the Ravens offense to reach another conference championship game. Peyton Manning was not flashy and he didn't have to be; he did throw for 246 yards and two TD's and compensated for the lack of a running game.
Establishing the run was much tougher this time around for the Ravens. They could not get the big play type runs from Ray Rice, despite a decent 13 carries for 67 yards. The Colts defense forced the Ravens' hand to rely on second year QB Joe Flacco to beat them and he could not get it done. Last week, Flacco only needed to throw ten times for 34 yards in their win in New England. This time around, he commanded the offense more but threw two errant picks and could not lead a drive into the end zone. The Colts defense controlled the game throughout and had a plus-3 on the turnover battle.
Sunday
Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings - 34-3 Vikings
New York Jets at San Diego Chargers - 17-14 Jets
Dallas' offensive line is offensive.
The Cowboys came into Minnesota hot from two consecutive wins against the Eagles. With all the playmakers on offense, this looked like the season where Dallas can finally make a significant run towards the Super Bowl. Like the Cowboys of the past, the strength of the team relies on the big men up front. You protect the QB, good things will happen. You can make a superstar out of a guy, Tony Romo, whose private life precedes his playing ability. However, yesterday the offensive line failed to protect Romo and failed to give their running backs good holes and running lanes. Romo was pressured nearly every down; he was sacked six times, fumbled twice and threw a pick. To add insult to injury, Cowboy-turned-Redskin-turned-Cowboy kicker Shaun Suisham, missed two field goals that despite only being six points, could have threatened the Vikings lead and could have changed the course of the game.
Brett "Farv-rah" (whose Pro Set rookie card as an Atlanta Falcon in 1992 I still have at my parents house and worth $8!) is quite the NFL storyline. He retired from Green Bay, played for the Jets last year, retired again only to come back as a Viking and had his best statistical season of his career.....at the age of 40. He led the Vikings to a 12-4 record and proved that he was that missing piece to an already good team. Yesterday he threw for four TDs and couple that with the stout defensive gameplan I mentioned earlier, those stats make up the recipe for a solid win. Adrian Peterson, who was probably drafted first in nearly 80% of all fantasy football drafts, only averaged 2.7 yards in the game. Be cautious, New Orleans, I guarantee that won't happen again.
J.E.T.S! JETS! JETS! JETS!
A Ron Burgundy once told San Diego to go @#$% themselves, and boy, did the Chargers do just that. Coming off 11 straight wins, they were one of the hottest teams in the NFL this year and they completely blew it at home to the Jets in such a close loss. On paper, the Chargers have one of the NFL's best starting lineups, with both a top 5 offense and defense. However, this game against the Jets relied on special teams. The most frustrated player on the team has to be kicker Nate Kaeding. Coming into the game as the league's most efficient kicker, Kaeding missed all three field goal attempts. He was perfect from under 40 yards all year and had not missed his last twenty kicks. Losing by three, those points would have completely changed the outcome and those misses got to hurt and hurt bad going into the long offseason. Another missed opportunity for Norval Turner and his Chargers.
This improbable run by the Jets is extended by at least another week. Going back home of sorts to southern California, Mark Sanchez and company took advantage of the poor showing by the electric Charger offense. Sanchez didn't have to do much besides handing it off to fellow rookie Shonn Greene. Greene rushed for 128 yards and a TD while Sanchez only threw for 100 yards with one TD and one pick. Their defense held the backfield of LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles to just 57 yards rushing and picked off Philip Rivers twice. Next the week, the lowest seed of the AFC gets another shot at the Colts, whom they beat in Week 16.
Next week: AFC and NFC Championships
New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts
Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints
Saturday
Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints - 45-14 Saints
Baltimore Ravens at Indianapolis Colts - 20-3 Colts
Winning is a Brees.
Unless you're the Cardinals. Their high-flying season came to a brutal and injury-prone end Saturday at New Orleans. Coming off a spectacular finish at home to the Packers, Kurt Warner and the Cards could not establish their same offensive gameplan against a more sound and stingy defense in the Saints. The game started off great for the Cards, with a 70 yard TD run by Tim Hightower in the opening minutes, but their offense could not match the Saints and could not establish any consistency to control the game. In what may be his last game in the NFL, Warner showed no signs of the QB that in the week previous threw with pin-point accuracy and more touchdowns than incompletions. He looked pedestrian at best with zero touchdowns and one pick. He had to be replaced after a crushing blow knocked him out in the first half, and Matt Leinart, despite his illustrious career at USC, cannot play at the NFL level.
On the other hand, the Saints, having been the NFC favorite all season to go to the Super Bowl, played with the energy and motivation that had escaped them in the three weeks previous to end the season. That three-game stretch resulted in all losses, and one could doubt if the Saints would bounce back in the Divisional game or have their season end in disappointing fashion. The Saints squelched their detractors and played the same Saints football that garnered them the best record in the NFC. Brees threw for 247 yards and three TDs and Reggie Bush danced around with highlight reel plays that proved that he was still as versatile and deadly in the open field. Bush ran for a 46-yard TD run and returned a punt 83 yards for a TD.
Best team in the league, led by the league's best QB, does what it does best, win.
Indianapolis was the favorite from the AFC to reach the Super Bowl, and proved it by going 14-2 in the regular season. Despite flirting with history, the team decided to rest their starters in the final two weeks of the season and subsequently lost those games. Truth be told, they had nothing to play for, as home-field and the bye were already awarded to them for the playoffs. On Sunday, they didn't skip a beat, methodically and predictably putting up points and shutting down the Ravens offense to reach another conference championship game. Peyton Manning was not flashy and he didn't have to be; he did throw for 246 yards and two TD's and compensated for the lack of a running game.
Establishing the run was much tougher this time around for the Ravens. They could not get the big play type runs from Ray Rice, despite a decent 13 carries for 67 yards. The Colts defense forced the Ravens' hand to rely on second year QB Joe Flacco to beat them and he could not get it done. Last week, Flacco only needed to throw ten times for 34 yards in their win in New England. This time around, he commanded the offense more but threw two errant picks and could not lead a drive into the end zone. The Colts defense controlled the game throughout and had a plus-3 on the turnover battle.
Sunday
Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings - 34-3 Vikings
New York Jets at San Diego Chargers - 17-14 Jets
Dallas' offensive line is offensive.
The Cowboys came into Minnesota hot from two consecutive wins against the Eagles. With all the playmakers on offense, this looked like the season where Dallas can finally make a significant run towards the Super Bowl. Like the Cowboys of the past, the strength of the team relies on the big men up front. You protect the QB, good things will happen. You can make a superstar out of a guy, Tony Romo, whose private life precedes his playing ability. However, yesterday the offensive line failed to protect Romo and failed to give their running backs good holes and running lanes. Romo was pressured nearly every down; he was sacked six times, fumbled twice and threw a pick. To add insult to injury, Cowboy-turned-Redskin-turned-Cowboy kicker Shaun Suisham, missed two field goals that despite only being six points, could have threatened the Vikings lead and could have changed the course of the game.
Brett "Farv-rah" (whose Pro Set rookie card as an Atlanta Falcon in 1992 I still have at my parents house and worth $8!) is quite the NFL storyline. He retired from Green Bay, played for the Jets last year, retired again only to come back as a Viking and had his best statistical season of his career.....at the age of 40. He led the Vikings to a 12-4 record and proved that he was that missing piece to an already good team. Yesterday he threw for four TDs and couple that with the stout defensive gameplan I mentioned earlier, those stats make up the recipe for a solid win. Adrian Peterson, who was probably drafted first in nearly 80% of all fantasy football drafts, only averaged 2.7 yards in the game. Be cautious, New Orleans, I guarantee that won't happen again.
J.E.T.S! JETS! JETS! JETS!
A Ron Burgundy once told San Diego to go @#$% themselves, and boy, did the Chargers do just that. Coming off 11 straight wins, they were one of the hottest teams in the NFL this year and they completely blew it at home to the Jets in such a close loss. On paper, the Chargers have one of the NFL's best starting lineups, with both a top 5 offense and defense. However, this game against the Jets relied on special teams. The most frustrated player on the team has to be kicker Nate Kaeding. Coming into the game as the league's most efficient kicker, Kaeding missed all three field goal attempts. He was perfect from under 40 yards all year and had not missed his last twenty kicks. Losing by three, those points would have completely changed the outcome and those misses got to hurt and hurt bad going into the long offseason. Another missed opportunity for Norval Turner and his Chargers.
This improbable run by the Jets is extended by at least another week. Going back home of sorts to southern California, Mark Sanchez and company took advantage of the poor showing by the electric Charger offense. Sanchez didn't have to do much besides handing it off to fellow rookie Shonn Greene. Greene rushed for 128 yards and a TD while Sanchez only threw for 100 yards with one TD and one pick. Their defense held the backfield of LaDainian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles to just 57 yards rushing and picked off Philip Rivers twice. Next the week, the lowest seed of the AFC gets another shot at the Colts, whom they beat in Week 16.
Next week: AFC and NFC Championships
New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts
Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)