The 2002 NFL Playoffs

Color me surprised!

- wadE

Wow! I really didn't think the Bucs had it in them.

This game was as close as most of us thought it would be...but it was extremely boring. The Eagles D just didn't show up, and their offense looked pathetic agains the tough Bucs defense. As soon as it reached the 3rd quarter and the Bucs still had the lead, you knew it was over.

On the other side of the country you had the expected result of the Raiders v. Flaming Thumbtacks game. Although the scoring didn't go as high as I thought, it was more or less a shoot-out with the Raiders coming out on top.

This of course sets up the great drama which will be beaten to death this week (thank god there isn't two weeks between games this year) of Chucky Gruden facing his old team.

The other wrinkle in the game will be the ex-Viking factor. Both teams are quarterbacked by ex-Vikings. The Bucs have more ex-Vikings than the Raiders, so Oakland has an advantage there.

My pick (changed since I thought the Iggles had it in them this year):

SuperBowl XXXVII

Bucs v. Raiders

Final Score: 31-17

Oakland Raiders

- 01/20/2003

What another fantastic weekend of football. All of my picks came through...although the Steelers v. Titans game was much closer than expected...ending with the obligatory playoff questionable call. I wonder what next weekends questionable call will be?

So, let's look at this weekend's championship games!

AFC Championship

Titans @ Raiders

At least I had this pick from the beginning. I originally thought this would be a closer game, but Oakland's D is looking tough, even the injured secondary was fantastic last week. It's nice to watch good cornerbacks for a change (stupid Vikings)... As much I love the old Oilers, I think the old men are going to head to the SuperBowl.

Raiders 28 - Titans 20

NFC Championship

Bucs @ Eagles

The Bucs reach the NFC championship in Gruden's first year...but he loses, and is fired after the game. TB trades their next 2 years worth of draft picks to Dallas for the Tuna...Dallas uses those draft picks as it did the ones from MN (see Herschel Walker), and becomes the first dynasty since the mid 1990's.

Eagles 10 - Bucs 9

The SuperBowl

...I'll smoke it!

Eagles vs. Raiders

Defense is completely lost in this shoot out.

Final Score: 56-49

Winner: Philadelphia Iggles

See you next week!

- 01/14/2003

Divisional Round

As expected, this weekends games were completely unpredictable. The Jets completely dominated the Colts...to the point where I turned the game off at the half, and played a game of Swing-Away Golf on the PS2 against Alex. I lead for most of the game, then suffered a complete collapse at the end...(a game more fitting for Sunday, but we'll get to that). The Jets looked good...real good. How much longer can they ride this emotion? Will they lose it when they go on the road? We shall see...

The Packers v. Falcons game... I really thought this was going to be a good game...but I did not think the Pack would come out with no emotion...completely flat! I would love to put this all on Favre... but nobody showed up. Nobody on Defense. Nobody on the offense, and nobody on Special Teams. The Falcons are a decent team, but they played a team that was still shell-shocked from the Jets. It'll have to be a spectacular Vick performance for them to go any further.

What the Saturday games lacked in drama, the sunday games more than made up for it. Halfway through the Browns v. Steelers game, I was thinking "here we go again...am I going to be wrong on all 4 of my picks this weekend?". But as the game wore on something kept nagging me... it was the -4 yards rushing that the Browns had in the 3rd quarter. Though you couldn't blame the Browns for passing nearly on every down, I just knew that they couldn't control the ball, and therefore couldn't control the clock. Sure enough, unable to move the ball late in the game on the ground to eat up the clock, the Browns through a couple incomplete passes...the one on 3rd down going right through the hands of Kevin Johnson...game over. The momentum had turned, and it was the Browns who ran out of time.

Then there was the Giants v. 49ers game...whose script was plagerized from the previous game. Giants up big...Shockey being an asshole, even the genial Tiki Barber getting into the act. Ah, but the football gods tend to frown on this sort of taunting. The Giants go into a prevent offense of some kind... they couldn't run all day, but could pass down the field at will (sound familiar Cleveland fans?). They couldn't hold onto the ball when it counted...then SF went into the no-huddle, Strahan sucked (for air), and by the end of the 3rd quarter, down by 16, you knew this wasn't over.

So, 50% on my picks for the weekend...time to revise my picks.

Bill Cowher's Jaw @ Flaming Thumbtacks

Hey, I actually have this one right so far! So here is what I said below (since I'm guessing you are too lazy to scroll down and look). I'll stick with my pick...but I wouldn't be surprised if the Steelers win. Who would have guessed Tommy Maddox would be any good...maybe the Steelers can pick up "He Hate Me" in the offseason.

If you know me, you know my love of the Houston Oilers. Thus, I still really like the Titans, and it still hurts to think about when they lost to the Rams (How did the Rams get annointed as the next dynasty so fast anyway? They barely beat Tampa Bay, and barely beat the Titans. They follow it up the next year getting beat in the playoffs by New Orleans, and then lose to New England the year after that. With all of that they had to totally tank this year before people finally got off that bandwagon!).

The Titans have been on a very quiet roll, winning 8 out of the last 9. You have to give the nod to a team who enters the playoffs on a roll. Expect a tough, physical game.

Titans 20, Steelers 14

Dirty Birds @ Iggles

Well, I expected SF to be headed to Veterans Stadium, but the Eagles will get the Falcons instead. I think the Eagles defense is good enough to shut down Vick. If Vick had anyone to throw to, I might give them a chance.

Vick rushes for 200 yards, before one of this legs falls off when it gets caught in a seam on the turf.\

Eagles 31 - Falcons 17

Bill Walsh @ Tony Dungy...no, Bill Parcells...no, Chucky Gruden

Who the hell knows... 49ers riding high... TB sucking in the post season. I do know one thing, if SF gets down early, there won't be any 24 point comebacks in this game. This game could to overtime, or it could be over by the half. Do not bet money on this game!

Bucs 24 - 49ers 23

New Jersey Jets @ O-town

Look for Pennington to do more of the same...test those injured cornerbacks on deep routes...expect those aforementioned cornerbacks to pick him off at least twice. Jets finally come back down to Earth when they face a real defense. Gannon then does his best Pennington impersonation and passes for big yards against the Jets secondary.

Da Raiders 28 - Jets 10

This puts me back on track with my AFC/NFC Championship games below... but with my luck the 49ers or Steelers will win, and I'll have to redo this again next week.

See you next week!

- 01/06/2003

Wild Card Weekend

Now that Wade and Alex have graced us with their football "insight", I thought I chime in with some thoughts of my own.

If you pay any attention to professional football you are well aware of how mediocre the teams have become. A single dominant team hasn't appeared since Cowboys of the mid-90's. Personally I think this isn't a horrible thing, in fact it might even be good. At least it made last weekend one of the most exciting final weeks of a season there has been in a long time.

This also makes picking games damn near impossible. So, I'll begin the futile effort of predicting the entire playoffs... expect a revised version of this article sometime early next week! :-D

Let's go!

Round 1

Colts @ Jets

After spending the holidays in NY, I was swept up in the excitement as the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets beat the crap out of the much-hated Packers! Good times! I like Pennington...he continues my theory that Testaverde will never lead a team to any success. Some QBs are just destined for mediocrity...although I thought Dilfer was going to be one of those too. (Side Note: Take a look at the next pass Pennington throws deep. Does it not look like a Tom Tupa pass from Super Tecmo Bowl? Perfect horizontal spiral that floats deep down field in a nice rainbow arc. Hee-larious!)

Anyway, the Colts might be the quietest 10-6 team. After an early slump, Peyton Manning woke up and threw the ball to Marvin Harrison a lot...and I mean a lot! 143 times...beating the old mark by more than 25%. How does Marvin Harrison not get more attention? He's got nobody to take the heat off of him...Reggie Wayne, Qadry Ismail?

These teams match up pretty evenly on paper, but I see the Jets having a let-down after last weeks crushing victory. Colts 27 - Jets 24

Falcons @ Packers

This one actually could be interesting. Outside of the 4th quarter against the Vikings, Favre hasn't played a decent game in 2 months. He's slumping at the wrong time.

Last week the Pack could have assured themselves a trip to the SuperBowl with a win agains the Jets (they would have sealed up home field advantage), but now they are hosting a wildcard game. Now they don't have an extra week to rest an injured Ahman Green (who is the real MVP of this team), and they will have to rely on Brett not to play like the 1993 Favre he's been playing like lately. Add a couple of key injuries (Driver and Sharper), and this won't be a slam dunk.

The Falcons aren't much better. As with LeBron James...Mike Vick has been annointed the king before he's proven himself. This team is all Vick...and nothing else. Their backfield is banged up, and their defense needs to stop Favre who has never lost a playoff game at home. Good luck!

Packers 23 - Falcons 17

Browns @ Steelers

Ha!

No really...ha!

How did Cleveland end up in the playoffs? Who let this happen? This is ridiculous...although after watching Couch and William Green in the preseason, I did pick both of them for my fantasy football team (as backups! I repeat, backups!).

As much as I love Kordell, Maddox has shown to have the timing that was keeping this team from winning. The defense isn't as good as last years...but they are playing the Browns...who cares?

Steelers 35 - Cleveland 14

Giants @ 49ers

Again, I was "lucky" enough to be in NY to watch the much-hated G-men play their best and worst football of the season against an Eagle team that never showed up.

Maybe Andy Reid should have scripted the first 60 offensive plays, because after that first series, the offense was not heard from again.

This game was Ugly...with a capital U! Seven fumbles from the Football Giants, and countless dropped passes from the Eagles receivers. It took an improbable miss by Akers for the Giants to even have a chance in this game. Add that to the fact the Kerry Collins is their QB and I'm not too optimistic on their chances. (P.S. how in the hell did Collins have a "perfect rating" 2 weeks ago? If that isn't a sign that the QB rating system is flawed, I don't know what is!!!)

SF could have moved into the playoffs on a roll with a win over the craptacular Rams (yes, there is a God!) last week, but decided that resting their stars was more important (I think they needed the practice!). I wouldn't be totally shocked to see the 9-ers lose...but I doubt it'll happen.

In OT: 49-ers 27 - Giants 24 (Giants kicker misses all the extra points and a game winning field goal in OT)

Round 2

Colts @ Raiders

This might be the Raiders year. They get to avoid the snow and cold for the playoffs (although a monsoon isn't out of the question in the Bay area). The only question mark for the men in black is their secondary. Peyton and Marvin will need to have outstanding days to take advantage, but I don't think the Lucky Charms will have enough luck to pull it off.

Raiders 38 - Colts 24

Packers @ Bucs

Brad Johnson has been declared the stater! Woo! Yeah...and stuff... Whatever. I think this will be the best game in all of the playoffs. If this game would have been played on the frozen tundra, I'd easily give the nod to the Pack.

This game will come down to if Favre and Green are healthy and ready to play. I don't think they'll be ready.

Bucs 17 - Packers 13

Steelers @ Flaming Thumbtacks

The Titans have been on a very quiet roll, winning 8 out of the last 9. You have to give the nod to a team who enters the playoffs on a roll. Expect a tough, physical game.

Titans 20, Steelers 14

49ers @ Eagles

49ers come back to Earth...McNabb uses the game as a tune up...

Eagles 38 - 49ers 21

AFC Championship

Titans @ Raiders

I just know something stupid is going to happen and this is going to be a Jets vs. Titans game...I hope so, because I think that's the only way the Titans reach the SuperBowl.

Unfortunately I think the old men are going to head to the SuperBowl.

Raiders 31 - Titans 27