Wild Card Weekend

For the year, I went 185-71 on my NFL picks, good enough for 72%, not too shabby. I did horrendous on my college picks so I will just leave it at that. I am genuinely excited for wild card weekend, even though part of me thinks that none of the four games will be close. The other part of me knows that in the NFL, anything can happen and in the playoffs it usually does. I can't wait for the Broncos-Steelers game most of all and am hoping that the Broncos pull it off and Tebow plays well. I am not a Broncos fan, but I am a Tim Tebow fan, and in a sports world where we have so many punks and players who are flat out not good role models, I love being able to cheer for someone who is by all accounts a genuinely good person. Is he the best QB? Far from it. Will he even be playing QB next season? I honestly don't know, but I hope he is. Is he a little like Ned Flanders with how much of a goody two-shoes he is? Sorta. My full feelings of the Tim Tebow situation are too long to put into this, but to sum it up, I hope he does well. Now, onto my picks

Bengals 23, Texans 17 - This is a very difficult game to pick, because I don't know which Texans team will show up. The Texans are the better team in my opinion, and if they play how they can, they should win this game fairly easily. The problem is that I don't trust their play calling. I think the Bengals will load up to stop the run, and the Texans will not allow T.J. Yates to take control, and they'll be too conservative and fall behind a good Bengals team that won't allow them to make another late comeback the way they did last month.

Saints 41, Lions 23 - I don't see this game being close. The Lions had something to play for last week and yet still gave up a ton of yards and points and lost to a Packers team playing mostly backups. Now they have to go on the road to the Superdome to play arguably the best offense in the NFL. Bad matchup, and I think the Saints jump on them early and never let up.

Giants 27, Falcons 13 - This is another game that I don't think will be as close as the "experts" do. The Falcons beat up on bad teams and mostly at home. They struggle any time they play even decent teams on the road. The Giants are playing well right now, and that will continue as Matt Ryan goes to 0-3 in the playoffs.

Broncos 16, Steelers 13 - My head says 27-9 Steelers, but I'm picking this game with my heart. I can't stop picturing Big Ben having no mobility and the Broncos getting after him all game long. The defense or special teams will come up with one or two huge plays, and Tebow will protect the ball, and do just enough to get the Broncos down the field for Prater to kick a game winning field goal.

Til Next Time,
Dallas