Everything You Need To Get Ready for Wild Card Weekend

Saturday Edition

The first round of playoff football is finally upon us, after 17 weeks of watching battling, and playoff jockeying, and eventual choking, the supposed cream of the crop, the league's best 12, have risen to the top.  Eight of them square off this weekend, in a battle for the right to move on to face teams that are way, way better than them.

Falcons (+1) @ Cardinals

First of all, if you saw this one coming, pat yourself firmly and squarely on the back.  Matter of fact, have someone else do it so you don't have to do any more work.  Well done.

Second of all, this one should be a fun one, if only because it's something new.  Don't get me wrong, Colts/Chargers is compelling, and has provided great playoff drama in the past.  However, as most baseball fans agree, Yankees/Red Sox games get a little boring after the 100th time.  Point is, this game features some new playoff blood, both teams haven't been here in a bit.  Both teams feature offenses that can put up points in an absolute hurry.  

The rub, as they say in the movies, comes from two pointed differences in these two teams. First, both are quite prone to giving up yards, however, the Cards are in the bottom 5 in the league in points allowed per contest at just under 30.  The other problem Arizona faces is that they couldn't have played much worse football down the stretch of the season to "tune up" for the playoffs.  After a hot 7-3 start, the Cardinals dropped four of six, and at least 35 points in every loss.

Atlanta, on the other hand, finished the season 5-1, with impressive victories against Carolina and Tampa Bay, and at Minnesota and at San Diego.  We all know that Matt Ryan's a rookie QB, and how rare that is for him to be starting a playoff game (only 3 other guys have done it, and one was Shaun King).  That said, he hasn't Joe Flacco'd his way through this season.  Ryan's had to carry an offense at times, not simply manage it.  And, as the team's success indicates, he's done a pretty damn good job.  With such a small line, I'm going with Atlanta, behind one of the league's best new running backs Michael Turner and star rookie QB Matt Ryan.

Scott's Pick: Falcons  Jordan's Pick: Falcons

Colts (-1) @ Chargers

Before we get into this one, is there a more blatant example that the idea of division winners getting automatic home field in the first round is absolutely moronic?  Here's a San Diego team that backed into the playoffs, largely due to Denver's never ending, confounding incompetence.  All Indy's been doing since Week 9 is winning, plain and simple.

Then again though, LaDainian Tomlinson did look mighty spry against that Denver D.  Now, that is a swiss cheese defense, no one's doubting that, but, for the first time in a while, LT looked like his old self again, making cutbacks, exploding into the open field. Indy's been susceptible to the run game this year (122 ypg), so if Tomlinson's feeling good again, this one could be swung to the home team.

Still though, it is hard to pick against a team that's won nine straight and has the league MVP, unless, you're negative and you're constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.  

But, if we may for just a second, let's take a look at that nine game winning streak.  Credit where credit is due, Indy did beat Pittsburgh on the road and New England at home.  However, of the other seven games, not one was against a winning record (if you take out a meaningless win against Tennessee in the final week of the season).  Houston, San Diego, Cleveland, Cincy, Detroit and Jacksonville all had under-500 records at the time they faced the Colts.  Cleveland, Cincy, Detroit and Jacksonville just happen to be four of the worst teams in the NFL.  Not so impressive now, huh?

And so, I'm going with San Diego, if only because I want to see a last gasp effort out of LT and finally see Philip Rivers get some credit.  He had the year of his life, and it's not nearly talked about as much as it should be.  I expect he and LT to step up big time, because they're going to need it in this one. 

Scott's Pick:  Chargers  Jordan's Pick:  Colts