NFL Divisional Playoff Predictions

I have been negligent with my football picks since early in the season. Primarily because I was lousy at it. I predicted the Giants would self-destruct earlier than the first round of the playoffs. The fact that they won the division first, should be a good building block for next year. Just makes you wonder how big of an advantage did they get with that extra "home" game against the Saints in the September? Would they have made it with one less win? I doubt it, there whole season might have been different.

I could not foresee the Jets falling to pieces because of injuries, and now they are back to the drawing board looking for a new coach. I find it strangely odd, how more Jets coach wind up quitting and not being fired. I doubt any other team has that problem. Why is it that the Jets are only interviewing those that just got fired (Vitt, Tice, Haslett), with the exception of this Mangini kid up in New England? And in the coaching carousel, why would the Packers higher the offensive coordinator from SF, when the 49ers were virtually last in the league in offense. It seems they are swapping one bad coach for another.

I also missed the mark on the Saints. I really thought they would play more inspired ball for the folks of New Orleans, but I guess it is really tiring playing 16 games on the road, and having no consistent practice schedules when you need to be relocated for an NCAA volleyball tournament and high school events.

Oh well, so here goes my predictions for the final eight, which will be revised weekly, until Super Bowl XL

Chicago vs. Carolina - The Panthers looked good last against the Giants. I think the USC or Texas teams would have looked good against the Giants last week. Carolina showed they belong in the playoffs and are hungry to get back to the Super Bowl. However, they have been sporadic all year showing flashes of brilliance then terrible from week to week. Can they sustain the momentum from the big win in Jersey and take it to Soldier Field?

Chicago is a great defensive team with a chip on their shoulder to prove that their 2003 playoff appearance was not a fluke and they are for real. The return of Rex Grossman, though he has played sparingly, has been a much needed shot in the arm for the struggling offense. Assuming he can stay healthy and Mushin Muhammed can get open, which will free the running lanes for Thomas Jones. Bears will win (17-13) .

Seattle vs. Washington - On paper this looks like an easy Seattle win, however there has been a lot written this week about the intangibles of being coached by Joe Gibbs. He has won more playoff games than every other coach but Tom Landry and Don Shula, and the only coaches with better winning percentages are Vince Lombardi and Bill Belichick. Pretty impressive company. The rest of the Redskin team is pretty vanilla. A resurrected Marc Brunnell, throwing to former Jet Santana Moss and handing off to Clinton Portis. The defense has been good but not great. If they can stop Shaun Alexander, they will win.

Seattle did win the weak NFC West, and home field advantage with the best record in the conference, but until they win a playoff game, they will always be suspect to me. Holmgren had a great team in Green Bay led by a great QB in Brett Farve, and he has developed a good team in Seattle with a good QB Hassleback and a great RB Shaun Alexander. I am concerned that Washington this week or Chicago next week will put 8 guys in the box to stop the league MVP, and force Hassleback to beat them in the air. I don't see that happening, so I give the Redskins the upset win in Seattle.

Broncos vs. Patriots - The Patriots are looking like the defending champions now, after some early season struggles. The Broncos beat out two of the toughest non-playoff teams (Chiefs and Chargers) to win the AFC West. I have always like Jake Plummer, and figured he would eventually be the second coming of Joe Montana. He has finally demonstrated that this year, as coach Mike Shanahan has been able to contain the snakes gunslingers way. The knock against Shanahan is he has been unable to win in the playoffs since Elway retired, and I don't see this changing this year. The Patriots are too strong and know how to win on the road in January. New England is going move onto the Championship game.

Colts vs. Steelers - Bert Jones vs. Terry Bradshaw. Lydell Mitchell vs. Franco Harris. This is the playoffs as I remember them as a kid. Of course the Colts called Baltimore home then, but hey that was 30 years ago. This is gong to be a tough game for Indy for three reasons. First this is the first significant game they have played in almost six weeks. Second, how will Tony Dungy respond after returning from his sons funeral a few weeks back. Three, they are also facing a different Steeler team than they faced in the regular season. This team is playing very well, relatively injury free and coming together at the right time. This is going to be a dog fight. In past years, this would have been an easy Steelers win, but this year Indy is supposed to be different. Somehow, with the events of the past few weeks, I think Indy has lost their mojo. I am going back to the team I supported as a kid, the Steelers will upset the Colts in the dome, though I could see the Colts winning. Talk about a wimpy hedge on my behalf.