After nailing all four games last week, I try to extend my perfect playoff
record on the way to the Super Bowl.....
Pittsburgh at Tennessee - The Steelers had to come from way back to beat
the Browns last week, and paid a heavy price, losing Chad Scott and
Kendrell Bell in the process. Meanwhile, the bye week has helped the
Titans get healthy on the offensive line, and also give Jevon Kearse
another week of rest as he is eased back from his ankle injury that kept
him out all year. The biggest concern for Tennessee is that with Kevin
Dyson out, there is no WR to take the pressure off of Derrick Mason. Both
teams are in the playoffs after a terrible first month of the season, and
thanks to the benefits of an easy schedule. Indeed, the Titans got two
games against the expansion Houston Texans, whereas the Steelers managed to
lose their one game with the Texans. I think that says it all, the
Steelers are way too inconsistent to win a road playoff game like this,
especially with Tennessee still smarting from being upset at home as the #1
seed in the AFC by the Baltimore Ravens two years ago. I think that
McNair finds a way to get the ball to his backup WR's against Pittsburgh's
hurting seconary, and that Tennesse's pressure defense should force Maddox
into mistakes. I like the TITANS by at least two scores.
Atlanta and Philadelphia - I've said for a couple weeks now that the Eagles
are the best team in football. Any team that can lose an NFL MVP like
McNabb and still beat opponents behind Koy Detmer and AJ Feely is truly a
great team. Their defense is outstanding, and their running game has
really emerged. The biggest weakness is a pedestrian group of WR's.
Meanwhile, Atlanta has been woefully inconsistent as of late, starting
slowly, running off a string of wins in the middle of the season, and then
being upset at the end of the season by an emerging Seattle team, and then
on the road in a strange game with Cleveland, where with just a minute left
in the game and Atlanta on the Cleveland goal line the Cleveland PA
announcer began broadcasting over and over "The Carolia Panthers have
defeated the New Orleans Saints - the Atlanta Falcons are in the playoffs,
repeat the Atlanta Falcons are in the playoffs." Bizarre - so I'm not
sure how much that loss to Cleveland means. Oh yes, and the Falcons never
could even get competitive with Tampa Bay in two tries, and the Bucs, of
course, are famously unable to beat Philadelphia. Then again, syllogism
never has worked in the NFL. The Falcons proved to themselves that they
could win anywhere by upending the Packers in Lambeau, and although I love
Donovan McNabb, I think that he may struggle early on in his first game
back from injury. Besides, if the Falcons do win, I could never forgive
myself if I abandoned them now. Remaining inexorably Super Bowl bound, I
like the FALCONS by a touchdown. (Heaven knows with their kicker they
won't be winning by a field goal!) UPSET SPECIAL
San Francisco at Tampa Bay - The 49'ers just engineered the second-greatest
comeback in NFL playoff history last week, making special teams coach Bruce
DeHaven, formerly of the Buffalo Bills the only person to be part of the
two greatest comebacks in NFL playoff history (and notably, the coach whose
special teams gave up Tennessee's illegal forward lateral 'Homerun
Throwback' play, that helped cost him his job.) While listening to the
game on Westwood One Radio, the announcers said with the Giants up by 24 in
the 3rd "Go to hotwire.com to find the best hotel deals on the Internet,
and Giants fans may start looking for hotel rooms in Tampa for next week,"
to which I had the glee of pointing out that there was a lot of football
left to be played. This week, though, the Niners are truly banged up
along the offensive line, and it is unclear if their secondary which was
torched by the Giants last week will be in any better shape injury wise
either. The Bucs, meanwhile, have really come on as of late, minus a loss
to Pitsburgh on Monday night. Their offense finally seems to be coming
together, and their defense is always very good. Still, I see the Niners
runing the ball effectively behing Hearst, Barlow, and Garcia, controlling
the clock, and forcing enough punts by the Tampa offense to keep the game
close. The difference in this one will be the kicking game, where Tampa
has a huge edge. So the pick is the BUCCANEERS by a field goal.
NY Jets at Oakland - The Raiders are thought by some to be the best team in
football. There is no question that they have an offense that can move
the ball, and a very good kicker. The biggest question in my mind is
whether the defense can play consistently, especially starting two
cornerbacks who are coming back from injury. The Jets meanwhile are
simply on a roll in all phases of the game. They have the best special
teams coach in the game, and Santana Moss is probably the best return man
in the game - and certainly among the top 3. On defense, the players
finally lookcomfortable with Herman Edwards' system, and on consecutive
weeks have completely shut down the Patriots, Packers, and Colts - three
teams that are hardly offensive slouches. Curtis Martin finally looks
healthy, they have three superbly talented WR's in Coles, Chrebet, and
Moss, and Chad Pennington looks positively Joe Montana like. Of course,
the Raiders have Charlie Garner, some guys named Brown and Rice at WR, as
long as the emerging star Jerry Porter, and just the NFL MVP at QB, Rich
Gannon. So, the offensive talent is a wash. The difference is that I
think the Jets defense can get more stops of the Raiders offense than the
Raiders defense can get of the Jets offense. Plus, the Jets have a huge
edge in special teams. Thus, I like the J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS in a
big way on Sunday to keep my other Super Bowl pick alive.
JDG
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John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
People everywhere want to say what they think; choose who will govern
them; worship as they please; educate their children -- male and female;
own property; and enjoy the benefits of their labor. These values of
freedom are right and true for every person, in every society -- and the
duty of protecting these values against their enemies is the common
calling of freedom-loving people across the globe and across the ages.
-US National Security Policy, 2002
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