Thursday, January 03, 2008

NFL Wild Card Weekend Playoff Picks

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The air of inevitability surrounding the Patriots
has turned Wild Card Weekend into Wild Dud Weekend. This ain't like a few years ago when the 6-seed Steelers went on a championship run via the Wild Card.

In the AFC, it's like "Does it really matter?" Does it matter if the Jaguars beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh? Sure, it's interesting (and unprecedented) to see the Steelers lose at home to the same team twice in one season, but does it impact the winner's chances against the Patriots? Not really. Does it matter if the Chargers beat the Titans? As hot as San Diego is right now, they still have to get through the Colts before they even GET to the Pats, who already dispatched them. (And, don't forget: It's still Norv Turner.)

In the NFC, the operative phrase is: "Who cares?" Things are even bleaker, with the playoff winner considered nothing more than a straw man, a tomato can that will be -- if fans are lucky -- anticlimax to a decent Pats-Colts AFC title game and the final step in a perfect 19-0 season for the Pats. Does it matter who that 19th win is against? No.

So as for the NFC Wild Card games: Giants-Bucs? Zzz... Redskins-Seahawks? Zzz... When the ultimate outcome is all-but-predetermined, every incremental step is diminished -- particularly the Wild Card Weekend.

Picks:
Jaguars over Steelers.
Chargers over Titans.
Bucs over Giants.
Seahawks over Redskins.

Your picks in the Comments and over at DSCommenters. Things get slightly more interesting next week... but not much.

-- D.S.

5 comments:

sigszilla said...

Are you just waiting for someone to call you on this, Dan?

The NFL Playoffs are not a foregone conclusion, no matter how much you say it's all a dud. That's why the NFL is the most popular sport in America right now. The fan bases of eight teams have a horse in the race this weekend. AFTER the Super Bowl, IF the Pats win it all, then we can all agree they are the best team in history and all this was a pointless evolution. And besides, weren't the Patriots double-digit dogs against the Rams a few years ago?

Redskins over at Seahawks
Jaguars over at Steelers
Giants over at Bucs
at Chargers over Titans

Michael W said...

I think the Jags and Colts actually have a decent chance of knocking off the Patriots. I say the Jags do because they are a team that can control the line of scrimmage (on both sides of the ball), and as we have seen in the last couple weeks, that's New England's Achilles heel. I think the Colts have a shot because they came so close to knocking them off without Harrison, and there's a good chance he'll be back.

Jags over Steelers - I think pretty much everyone is picking the Jags.

Chargers over Titans - The Chargers look nothing like the team we saw early in the season.

Giants over Buccaneers - Which Eli will show up?

Redskins over Seahawks - I hate picking against the 'hawks, but Alexander has been so average this season.

marcomarco said...

Jags 24-13
Chargers 31-6
Skins 23-21
Bucs 20-7

But, I'm rooting for Pitt.

ImaDinosaurROAR said...

Kind of like it was a foregone conclusion that Florida was going to be #1 in the polls in 2008, right?

John said...

Steelers over Jags
I guess I'm the one person not on the Jags bandwagon.

Bolts over Titans
Is it too late to sub the Titans with the Browns?

Bucs over Giants
Eli can't play like Peyton two weeks in a row.

Skins over Seahawks
Maybe it's the east coast bias in me, but the Seahawks just don't seem that impressive.