Season: 61-51-1
Playoffs: 2-0-0
The playoffs got off to a wild start on Saturday as the 7-9 Seattle Seattle Seahawks dethroned the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints and Rex Ryan and the New York Jets battled back to knock Peyton Manning and the Colts out of the postseason. What will Sunday’s games entail? Home teams in CAPITALS.
Ravens (-3) over CHIEFS
Joe Flacco and John Harbaugh will be making their 8th straight road playoff appearance as quarterback and head coach of the Ravens. Baltimore is heavily tested in the postseason on the road and even though the Chiefs have a major home field advantage at Arrowhead Stadium (7-1 in 2010), I like the Ravens in this matchup.
The key to this matchup will be the Kansas City rushing attack. The Chiefs finished the regular season number one in the NFL on the ground. In their 10 victories, Kansas City averaged 197 yards rushing per game. In their six losses? 109 rushing yards. Who will come out ahead? The combination of Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones or Baltimore’s Ray Lewis and Haloti Ngata?
While Baltimore’s offense was a bit disappointing this year, they did seem to find a formula that worked down the stretch. RB Ray Rice averaged 24 carries per game over the last month and Baltimore finished the season 4-0. With safety Ed Reed playing with a heavy heart due to the loss of his brother on Saturday morning, I’m expecting an emotional effort from the Ravens and another playoff road victory for Baltimore.
Packers (+2.5) over EAGLES
It is always the toughest decision. Do you pick with your head or do you pick with your heart? My head tells me that Green Bay comes into Philadelphia and pulls off the victory. But my cheesesteak filled heart wants me to roll with the Eagles. For this reason, I’d advise anyone to probably look in another spot for advice on this particular game.
The Eagles took on the Packers all of the way back in Week 1 of the 2010 season in a game in which Green Bay narrowly escaped. QB Kevin Kolb left the game with a concussion and Michael Vick’s redemption arc began. Both of these teams have come a long way since then and this matchup should not look the same as the one all of the way back in September.
Michael Vick comes into this game beat up and with 6 interceptions and 9 fumbles (3 lost) in his last 6 games. Aaron Rodgers has completed 71% of his pass attempts in his last seven games.
There are two keys to this matchup. The first is Green Bay’s pass rush (47 sacks on the season – 2nd in the NFL) against the Eagles offensive line. With both G Todd Herremans and G Max Jean Gilles missing practice during the week due to injury, Philadelphia’s offensive line is even more suspect than normal. The Eagles will have to use a lot of max protection and give Vick enough time to make plays down the field. Andy Reid will also have to (gasp) run the football to keep the Packers down field defensive attack honest.
The other key to the game will be Eagles CB Dmitri Patterson. Philadelphia’s secondary has been decimated by injuries and the 5th year undrafted free agent has struggled in recent weeks. Aaron Rodgers probably won’t throw to Asante Samuel’s side of the field more than five times all afternoon, so Patterson is going to have to play on of his best games of the season to try to neutralize the Packers aerial attack.
Philadelphia can win this game. Everyone in the national media is picking Green Bay. It should be a great matchup at 4:30pm EST between two of the top quarterbacks in the NFC. Ultimately, I’m picking the Packers. I hope I’m wrong.
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