NFL Divisional Round Picks

Well the return of the blog did not get off to the start I wanted last week. After suffering through a miserable Steelers loss and a 1-3 wildcard weekend, the flu put me out of commission for the early part of the week. While my thoughts on most of the sports world will have to wait until next week for now, we'll look to get this week off to a much better start with a big comeback in the NFL Divisional Round!

HOME TEAM IN CAPS

SAN FRANCISCO (+4) over New Orleans – At the beginning of the year I picked New Orleans and New England to meet in the Super Bowl and I have to admit that those picks feel pretty good right now. However, this game has all the makings of a San Francisco upset. New Orleans has found it more difficult to score on the road, especially outdoors, where they average only 25.8 points per game versus 35.6 indoors. Moreover, the Saints have really struggled scoring when they have been unable to run the football. Well guess what, New Orleans is on the road, outdoors and will really struggle to run the football against the 49ers' top ranked run defense. Throw in the fact that Sean Payton's coaching, usually a monster advantage in almost every game, is pretty much nullified by Jim Harbaugh and his staff having two full weeks to prepare for this one. I'm not yet ready to give up on my pick of the Saints as the NFC representative in the Super Bowl but I think this one comes down to a last second field goal, and while I am picking the Saints, it wouldn't surprise me one bit to see the 49ers advance. Saints 27 - 49ers 24

NEW ENGLAND (-13.5) over Denver – Remember last year when Seattle upset New Orleans at home and everyone wondered if they could do it again on the road the following week in Chicago? Well guess what, Chicago throttled the Seahawks before taking their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter and this one is even more of a mismatch. Throw in the Patriots refusal to ever take their foot off the gas and I can see this one getting ugly. I don't think I really need to go into all of the football details why New England will win this one big. Of course, Tim Tebow is involved (I tried my hardest not to mention him here but it was impossible) and weirder things have happened, but ultimately last week is going to be the highlight of this Broncos season. Patriots 38 - Broncos 20

BALTIMORE (-7.5) over Houston – The case for the Texans is that they can limit Ray Rice, run the football and shorten the game while expecting to capitalize on a Joe Flacco mistake at some point during the game. Could it happen? Sure, but that is a lot of circumstances that need to play out. The way I see it is that the Texans are really going to struggle on offense against the Ravens fantastic rush defense and T.J. Yates will be confused by the Ravens blitzing attack. Joe Flacco probably doesn't need to play well to win but I suspect he will after hearing a ton of criticism leading up to this one. Ultimately, I think we get a game that looks awfully familiar to the one the Ravens won in week 6. Ravens 27 – Texans 10

GREEN BAY(-7.5) over New York Giants – This was by far the hardest of the four games for me to pick because the Giants definitely have the ingredients to make this one close and possibly even pull the monumental upset. Their ability to get after Aaron Rodgers, especially if the Pack's o-line is banged up, on defense and Eli Manning and the Giants very capable passing offense give the G-Men a fighting chance in this one. Much like the 49ers, however, the Packers have had 2 weeks to get healthy and prepare for this one and oh yea, they just happen to be the best team in football since the beginning of last season's playoffs! There's always one wildcard weekend team that gets a little overhyped heading into the second weekend before falling flat on its face and this year I think it could be the Giants. Packers 37 – Giants 24