Conference Championships 07
Making these picks is really hard this week.
On one hand, I can't pick against my boys because, well, it would suck to have my lack of faith exposed like that and then have them decide to screw me and win.
On the other hand, it's going to be a close one and this pool could hinge on this week...
Saints @ Bears
Da Bears
Seriously, how do I not stick with my team? That'd be a sin of such consequence...yeah, no fucking way. Plus, I really do believe they can win this one, no matter what my fellow Chicago Ex-Pat Lt. Cmdr. Southside says.
Yes, Da Bears hasn't been the same since Harris went out. Yes, they've been having trouble stopping the run. Yes, NOLA has more weapons than the punchline to a really ignorant joke involving Iraq, an American high school and Quentin Tarantino. BUT! That D still has the ability to get on up, I don't think the NOLA ground game is going to respond favorably to the field conditions at Solider Field, and I honestly believe that Sexy Rexy will do just enough to Orton our way to a win.
Bear Down, people. Bear the fuck Down.
Patriots @ Colts
Patriots
Right, so there are too many ways for Peyton Manning to screw me on this one. If I pick him, he loses, if I don't pick him...right. But I have to remember to stick to my guns on my Football Truths. Plus, a rematch of '86 would be really freakin' awesome. But I need to justify this....
OK, here we go. If the Colts D shows up this week like it has the last two weeks this game is going to he hellaboring and like Willy said, there's no one better at winning the boring game that should be awesome than Tom Brady. It's his signature move, much like Grossman is the two incomplete five yard passes followed by the forty yard bomb for the first down.
If the Colts D doesn't show up then Brady runs wild on these guys and it doesn't matter. Honestly, Manning is to the Colts what Bush is to the Saints, a decoy. Everyone is so keyed up about Manning and Bush that they forget to worry about Addai or McAlister. Yup, Addai will have a huge game but it's not going to matter, we're getting the rematch.
Dude, was that coherent? I hope so, cuz those are the picks.
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#1 Let's not forget that if not for a typo, I'd be in the driver's seat here. ...but that is like saying save for two plays the Phoenix Suns would be on a 28 game win streak (which they would be).
One of the things I love about sports is picking your moment. A lot of people simply have to be content with the moment finding them, but a lucky few get to say, "This is it. I'm either winning or losing right here, right now."
That being said, I am picking my moment.
The Saints of New Orleans will defeat the Bears of Chicago.
No exposition. No rationale. Just playing for the win.
Da other game!
The Patriots have been the closest thing I've ever had to a team in the NFL. If the archives are intact, you can go back and see that I have never picked against them.
I'll take the Pats, Bob.
...besides Peyton Manning is a douchebag.
My picks are coming a little early this week because I'm just so damn sure of them. I have never claimed to have understood the media, especially not the sports media. I find it really hard to trust the sports media on any issue whatsoever. Yes, I realize that we are talking about something kind of trivial here, but I would like to have my sports shows filled with at least a little bit of common sense. This week I have been completely befuddled by the coverage leading into these games, and the coverage coming out of last weeks games. I'm going to tackle three instances of this that just defy all logic, so bear with me here.
The first thing that has me confused comes out of last week's game of the week (correctly picked by Mr. Charles Connell), I am speaking of the Patriots/Chargers game. LdT got all worked up after the game because Rosie Colvin (BOILER UP!) was doing the Shawne Merriman dance at midfield. Apparently this is completely classless and comes from Belichick who is just as classless since he obviously has 100% control of every action his players make. While it may have been rubbing it in a bit and a show of poor sportsmanship what I don't understand is the way the media played it up. Every talk show was railing on the Patriots and agreeing with LdT about this. Judging from the national media the San Diego Chargers are the classiest organization in sports while the Pats are worse than the Raiders of the 70's. Yet no body points out that Merriman is a CHEAT who celebrates being within five feet of a tackle with a ridiculous dance. No one seems to care that San Diego committed two absolutely absurd personal fouls that were completely classless. No one points out that if the San Diego secondary wasn't going for a nice show-off interception and just batted the ball down that they probably would have won the game. LdT is a very classy player, that is not my point at all, I wish more players would just flip the ball to the ref like he does after scoring (this was always my favorite thing about barry sanders). My point is that maybe he should open his eyes and look at the people around him for a minute or two before sending accusations (which I'm sure is spelt wrong) towards the Pats. On with my picks. . .
SAINTS @ DA BEARS
God I want to make a "Hurricane Ditka" joke right about now, but it seems a bit classless. Perhaps Belichick made me do it. . . enough of that. Here is my second beef with the media this week. Every week ESPN posts their "Expert" picks. You can see them here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/features/talent. Not a single one of them has picked Da Bears. None. 7 of 8 are going for the Saints and Hoge hasn't turned anything in yet as of tonight. So I ask the following question, Has a #1 seed ever recieved so much disrespect? I hate playing that card, I feel it is completely overused, but this is borderline absurd. Didn't the Saints finish 3 games behind Da Bears? If Da Bears had anything to play for on New Year's Eve I would assume that there would be another game of difference between them. Da Bears are 14-3 for fuck's sake, and if you listen to the way the media talks about them you would have thought they were the 8-8 NFC team that snuck into the playoffs. It's insane how everyone is picking the Saints, most likely because of one of 2 reasons. A) They want the nice story book ending for New Orleans. B) For some reason they have never understood that defense wins championships. The media always fawns over the teams with the most offense. The Colts, The Bengals, The Cowboys, The Saints. I'm not saying that offense is expendable, we wouldn't be here with Henry Touchdown Burris at QB, but you need to have a good defense to win in this league, it's a fact. Name an offensive superstar from the Patriots super bowl run not named Brady. You can't because there wasn't one, and if you say Corey Dillon or Deion Branch we all know you are stretching it. (Although would Vrabel count?) Look at the last bundle of years. The only real "High Powered" offense to win the big one was the Rams in 99. The Pats, Ravens, and Bucs all won on defense. Although I'm sure that Salisbury thinks that the Colts were the champs all those years. The Saints are not coming into Soldier Field and prancing their offense all around the field on us. Da Bears D are going to get it done. Da Bears O might have a nice day too. And the media, including Da Coach and his turncoat ways, can all kiss my Super Bowl shuffle DVD.
The Pick, Finally: DA BEARS 24, SAINTS 10.
PATRIOTS @ COLTS
My last complaint of the day, I promise. When was the last time a team went on the road and beat the odds on favorite to win the Super Bowl and was then poopooed by all of the media the next week? Once again I find the disrespect stunning. The Pats didn't go all the way out to San Diego just to lose inside to a bunch of pansies who dive down to avoid a hit every time one is coming. After years of whining about needing home field advantage in the playoffs I wonder if Colts fans will realize that it wasn't the grass or the snow or the cold that beat them, it was Bill Belichick and the boys. This is going to be fun to watch, even if it's just for that look on Peyton's face.
The Pick: PATRIOTS 38, COLTS 31.
"...besides Peyton Manning is a douchebag."--takes one to know one, my friend.
Bears vs. Saints
I bought a ticket for the bandwagon. I'm riding it until I get kicked off.
Go Bears.
Indy vs. New England
Welcome to what Leo was talking about when he coined the phrase "having to choose between the lesser of who cares." Being a student and lover of stats that would even make Packer proud, I almost ran some numbers, but that's not how I play this game. Instead, I will base my picks on commercials. Manning's commercials are dumb, but endearing and vaguely amusing. Brady's commercials prove he isn't intelligent enough to read a cue card and so they are based entirely on that smug look I'd personally like to punch off of his face. Besides, some hatreds never die.
Colts, ftw.
Thank you for riding Bears BandWagonAir. Please keep your seatbelt buckled as there will be turbulence on this flight.
Life sucks, wear a helmet. This is the Bears Fan's motto. Welcome Al. But methinks that your quest for one for the thumb has trained you well for this ride.
Also, quoting The West Wing and Tazz in the same post? Good to see your senses haven't dulled out east.
My two picks can be easily summed by watching two youtube videos in two blog posts.
You're my Brady.
Go 'head - be bold with it
They say it better than I ever could.
Pats
Bears
February.
I wish I'd been posting my picks all along; if the Chargers hadn't fallen asleep in the fourth quarter last week, I'd be 8-for-8. But no matter.
PATRIOTS AT COLTS: I was just in Terre Haute for a job interview on Thursday, and over the course of the day the AFC Championship came up a lot. Every single person who said anything about the outcome was unanimous - the Colts have no chance. I don't know if it's just because they've been here before and are conditioned to losing to New England, but in any event, they'd know this team better than I do.
I *did* say this was Peyton's breakout year and I stand by that; but what I meant was that he'd win two playoff games instead of the usual one.
Patriots win by a touchdown.
SAINTS AT BEARS: Look, I know what I said. All along, even before the playoffs started, I was saying the Saints would win, that they have too many weapons, that they're the Team Of Destiny this year. But then I found out we're supposed to get four inches of snow tomorrow.
Bears by two.