Friday, January 06, 2006

First Round Sort Of Playoff Preview

Tampa Bay 20, Washington 17:

Bucs are at home and will slow Clinton Portis down enough to prevail in a close one. No Mike Alstott 2-point conversion controversies but the host Bucs can run the ball, control the Redskins passing game, and will prevail in a nailbiter.

New England 23, Jacksonville 10:

My beloved Pats take over the contest late, as the defensive front seven asserts itself like it has been late this season, mitigating the tall receivers vs. small DBs advantage the Jaguars have. And let's not forget that Tom Brady is our QB. And Bill Belichick is our coach. Pats prevail in a physical contest even with their battered secondary.

Carolina 26, Giants 24:

I can't figure this one out, but Jake Delhomme has been there, done that, come playoff time. The jury's still out on Eli Manning AFAIC. Two evenly matched teams, but I see a late John Kasay FG winning it for the visiting Panthers.

Pittsburgh 23, Cincinnati 20:

I can't really figure this one out either, but the Steelers are more epxerienced come post-season time. I realize the last three opponents of their recent hot run were Minny, Cleveland, and Detroit, but the Steelers went back to their type of football. That smashmouth offense and just enough defense to win does the trick here.

2 comments:

Bill-DC said...

Props on picking the 'Skins to score 17 :)

Bill-DC said...

The Steelers have won their opening playoff game their last seven times they have been in the playoffs while the Bengals last playoff appearance was in 1990. I like the Steelers here.

I'm callling the Panthers over the Giants in overtime tomorrow 27-24.

Pats are cruising along as I type this, up 21-3 after 3 quarters.