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January 04, 2008

NFL Scorecard - Round 1 Predictions

Well, that was slightly depressing... While I was in Pasadena watching my Illini get run over by USC (I swear, there was one moment where I thought we were coming back, but boy, did that escalate quickly...), my picks were getting similarly crushed in the final week of the regular season. I missed a couple games by that stupid half-point hook, dropping my overall season record to one game under .500. I was riding high after 14 weeks, only to come crashing down. Somewhere along the line, I must have flown too close to the sun...

But now, the playoffs are upon us, and depending how I do, I may or may not add this total to my previous record. Considering I didn't watch much football last week, I'm wondering how much that will affect my view of some of these teams, but fortunately, most teams decided to take the week off as well, so hopefully I didn't miss much.

In other news, my fantasy seasons both ended with disappointments. But the guy I drafted for using the default Yahoo list won the title, so that's fantastic... I did however win my confidence pool, which means I either work with equally inept prognosticators or I can at least pick winners, just not against the spread.

Seattle (-3.5) vs Washington - I realize that the Redskins are hot, but this is still Todd Collins we're talking about. I mean, there's a reason he wasn't a starter for ten years, right? Now he's in a hostile environment in the playoffs? True, the Redskins are a great story at this point, with everything that they've been through, but when you get down to football, Seattle is still the better team, and should take this one at home.

Jacksonville (-2) at Pittsburgh - The Jaguars dominated the Steelers in their last matchup, which sort of caught everybody off-guard. They won't be able to surprise this time, but their defense is solid and the one-two punch of Taylor and Jones-Drew can grind it out through the suddenly vulnerable Steelers defense. Willie Parker is out, which puts a lot of pressure on Najeh Davenport and Roethlisberger. Big Ben has been in this position before, but while I like Davenport, I don't think he can carry this team past the Jaguars.

Tampa Bay (-3) vs New York Giants - I still can't believe that the Bucs are hosting a playoff game. Who saw that coming? Oh well, it is what it is, and I think it'll be the difference in this game. The Giants, who valiantly played their starters for the entire game against the Patriots, are bound to suffer an emotional letdown this week. It's almost as if they knew that their only chance at greatness this season was knocking off the Patriots. Well, that didn't work, so now what? I'm thinking the offseason...

San Diego (-9) vs Tennessee - Well, this is why Norv Turner is here, right... to get the Chargers deeper into the playoffs than Marty Schottenheimer. That's a slightly scary thought, but they shouldn't have any problems with the Titans, who will either have an achy Vince Young or a Kerry Collins-esque Kerry Collins under center. After a slow start, the Chargers have started to put it together, finishing with an impressive 11-5 record against the spread. I see no reason they won't add to that this week.

Last Week: 5-10-1
Overall: 121-122-13

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