Wild Card Weekend
LINES ACCORDING TO BOOKMAKER.EU
SATURDAY 4:30PM (eastern standard)
Cincinnati Bengals @ Houston Texans -4
The public has moved this line up 1 point in favor of the Texans which
is shocking to me. The Texans are banged up and have Yates and
Delhomme as their quarterback options. Andy Dalton has been tested
all season, as has the Bengals defense, and they have made it to the
post season. Look for Scott and Benson to get a lot of touches to try
and find seems in the Texans stout defensive front seven. Utilizing
the running game to open up the play action pass attack as well as the
well-known quick passes from Dalton, the Bengals have a great
opportunity to upset a very hungry Texans franchise for a playoff win.
I don't trust the Texans quarterback situation and I know both
defenses will keep this game close.
ERIC'S PICK: CIN 16 HOU 21
DANNY'S PICK: CIN 17 HOU 16
SATURDAY 8:00PM
Detroit Lions @ New Orleans Saints -10.5
It is extremely hard to bet against Drew Brees. Now throw in a home
game and its even harder to bet against him. Eric likes the Saints by
8, but I think this game will be closer. Brees ultimately will get it
done, but Stafford and his receiving corps are too efficient not to
keep this game within reach. It comes down to the Lions defense
making plays and creating turnovers. Looking back at last years loss
in Seattle, Brees was hit on basically every drop back and their third
down conversion rate was horrible. Playing in front of a hyped up
home town crowd I do not believe Brees will be one and out again.
Statistically, Brees is the best quarterback in the NFL this season.
Rodgers has been simply amazing winning 20 of his last 21 (Flynn
started 2 of the past 23 (1-1)). Stafford throws touchdown passes,
but he is not as safe with the ball as Brees. Brees gets this win and
moves on to San Francisco next weekend.
ERIC'S PICK: DET 30 NO 38
DANNY'S PICK: DET 30 NO 35
SUNDAY 1:00PM
Atlanta Falcons @ New York Giants -3
Are the Giants for real or simply the beneficiaries of playing an
incompetent Dallas secondary twice in the closing weeks of the season?
Victor Cruz and Jason Pierre-Paul represent two of the biggest
breakout stars of the 2011 season. Cruz and Nicks present massive
headaches for any opposing secondary and while his numbers went way
down, running back Ahmad Bradshaw still finds his way into the end
zone.
The Falcons played as consistent as a team could throughout the
season. They rarely appeared great but never terrible. I don't feel
they have enough upside potential to dominate teams and the Giants
continue to demonstrate teams cannot allow them to hang around. Julio
Jones and Roddy white should have little trouble finding openings in
the New York Secondary and while not the force of nature he once was,
Tony Gonzalez remains a viable red zone threat. The Giants hold the
potential to dominate the line of scrimmage and make big plays on
offense. They appear to have momentum and confidence coming into the
playoffs. The Packers snuck in last year and went all the way as did
many of these Giants a few years ago. Until the confidence waivers,
I'll ride New York while Danny is on the other side with MATTY ICE.
ERIC'S PICK: ATL 24 NYG 28
DANNY'S PICK: ATL 27 NYG 24
SUNDAY 4:30PM
Pittsburgh -8 @ Denver
ERIC - With the bloom officially off the Tebow rose in Denver, very
few feel the Broncos can muster any sort of magic to prevail over the
Steelers. Despite injuries to Mendenhall and Roethlisberger, the
Steelers remain heavy favorites. Defense and a power running attack
fueled Denver's mid-season surge. Since then, running back Willis
McGahee began to show his age and star linebacker Von Miller suffered
a lingering thumb injury. This placed more pressure on Tebow, or
perhaps the Divine, to engineer unlikely wins. Tebow's receivers
cannot seem to find any separation or threaten teams down field which
allowed defenses to key in on Denver's quirky run-heavy offense.
While there's nothing more in this world I'd like to see more than
Tebow trucking James Harrison in Mile High for the go ahead touchdown,
it is a bridge too far. Pittsburgh will struggle offensively but it
will not take much to win this one. If God is in fact on Tebow's
side, I doubt he'd provide any divine intervention for a backdoor
cover.
DANNY - I see this game as a huge opportunity for Denver. Teams have
figured Tebow and the Bronco's offense out, but have the Bronco's
figured that out as well so will they develop a new game plan for the
Steelers. I will assume John Fox is a smart man and will break out
some new schemes that the Steelers haven't scene on film yet. Tebow
should not be throwing the ball 25+ times in this game. McGahee and
Ball should run it 35-45 times and hopefully find some creases in the
Steelers defense. Where Tebow has to be effective is with the
playaction pass game, and I believe he will. Decker, Royal, and
Thomas will get open on the Steelers defense as they will be in
press-man coverage probably 95% of the game. The Steelers are banged
up on both sides of the ball. Pouncey has been ruled out, Big Ben's
ankle is lingering and that is bad for his style of play going against
the Broncos premier pass rushers in front of the Denver faithful.
Everyone in Vegas and the Media is betting against Tebow, and that is
exactly why my money is on Denver. Take the points and I am going
with the money line +325. Tebow OUTRIGHT!
ERIC'S PICK: PITT 20 DEN 10
DANNY'S PICK: DEN 16 PITT 13
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