Entertaining and surprising seemed to be the two magic words when it came to the NFL’s Wildcard round this past weekend.
I myself wasn’t shocked at all to see my hometown Green Bay Packers defeat the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, Jan. 9, by the final score of21-16. I even almost got the score right, printing a 17-14 final score prediction in last week’s column.
Perhaps the only shocking moment came Saturday, Jan. 8, when the lowly [7-9] Seattle Seahawks used a little Pete Carroll mystique to pull off one of the bigger upsets in recent memory, defeating the heavily favored New Orleans Saints, 41-36.
So much for those football analysts at ESPN saying a 7-9 team shouldn’t be allowed to participate in football’s version of March Madness.
I did pick Rex Ryan and his “Animal House” New York Jets to beat the Indianapolis Colts 14-10. Instead, the Jets won
17-16. I’ll take it.
As for the Baltimore Ravens, I figured a 28-14 win was likely, but if it wasn’t for a Matt Cassell breakdown [three interceptions] the 30-7 loss to the Ravens would have been much closer.
With the Wildcard weekend gone, I’m 3-1 in this year’s playoffs. As for my counterparts, Bob Young, Rick Walsworth and Luke Steege are each 2-2. All three picked the Eagles and we all picked New Orleans.
As for this week’s Divisional round, I have to go with the Pittsburgh Steelers over the visiting Ravens, 10-7. The two teams are split down the middle in almost every major statistical category but the Terrible Towels at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh will prevail.
In the other AFC Divisional game, I’ll go with the cut-off sweatshirt-wearing Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots over the “it’s personal” Ryan and his sweater vest Jets, 35-14.
In the NFC Divisional round, I’ll pick the hated Chicago Bears to end Seattle’s miracle run, 20-12.
I’m also going to stay with the green and gold, picking the Green Bay Packers to beat the Atlanta Falcons, 24-20.
Green Bay went to Atlanta earlier this season and lost 20-17, and I believe that experience will help them this Saturday.
As for Walsworth, he picks Pittsburgh to win, 27-17, Green Bay, 31-30, Chicago, 24-17, and New England, 30-20.
Steege is going with Atlanta over Green Bay, 27-17, Baltimore over Pittsburgh 17-7, Chicago over Seattle, 31-20, and the New York Jets over New England, 24-13.
Over at Mingus, Young is picking Baltimore, New England, Green Bay and Chicago. I wasn’t able to get scores from Young until after press time.
Good luck once again, gentleman. Go Packers!
