I am going to take the Bengals +4 to win outright against the Texans. Hats off to Marvin Lewis for the great job he has done with this team. The whole Carson Palmer situation should have been a big distraction for the team but not only did they pull off a great trade with the Raiders they still got to the playoffs with a rookie quarterback in Andy Dalton. Once Peyton Manning went down this really should have been the year of the Texans in the AFC. They should have locked up a bye but ended up being caught up in injuries themselves. They've done well to get to this point but I think their season ends today.
The Lions finishing 10-6 and making it to the playoffs is a great sports story given where that franchise and more importantly where that city has been but in a way even with the Green Bay Packers being in that division they almost seems like an underachieving team given the way they started the year. If Ndamukong Suh can keep head on straight this should be a start of great things to come for the Detroit Lions in the coming years. I think the Lions will cover the 11 point spread but the Saints will pull out the win. What a year Drew Brees had. I think Aaron Rodgers slowing down late in the season will help Brees pull out the MVP. The Saints probably are the one team in the NFC who can stop the Packers from repeating.
Even with a four game losing streak (and two additional losses to the Washington Redskins) the Giants somehow managed to make the playoffs and save Tom Coughlin's job. For whatever reason people like to knock Eli Manning but he took a big step forward this year. With the game on the line there are very few quarterbacks in the league who you'd want guiding that two minute drill. He is one of those quarterbacks. The Falcons should be a lot better at this point with Matt Ryan. I understand that being in the same division as the Saints doesn't help but this team doesn't excite me one bit. They do have a sour taste from last year's playoffs but I believe they lose again this weekend. I'll take the Giants -3.
"Tebow Time" is finished. I made a post earlier in the season saying Tebow would no longer be a starter by the middle of next season but a loss today could very well push that up to the start of next season. The Broncos offense continues to look awful. I think if they lose big today the Broncos will bring someone else at least compete with Tebow for the job next year. Given how banged up the Steelers are right now things are laid out pretty good with Broncos, the Steelers could very well lose this week......but I just don't think the Broncos have it in them. I'll take the Steelers -9.
For the heck of it here are my picks for the rest of the playoffs at this moment.
Divisional Round
Packers over Giants
Saints over 49ers
Patriots over Bengals
Ravens over Steelers
Conference Championship
Packers over Saints
Ravens over Patriots
Super Bowl XLVI
Packers over Ravens
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