Before attempting to build on my 3-1 record of last week, allow me a word or two on Tim Tebow.
I am much amused by the conversational train heard last evening on The Fan as to whether Steelers Loyalists should root for or against Tim Tebow this weekend against New England. The gist of all Yinzer thought was that (a) we don't like Tebow, because (b) he's a phony and (c) he's getting too much media attention and (d) he's a lousy quarterback who can't throw a perfect spiral and has a lousy completion percentage. To those objections, I offer the following:
(a) Not sure what there is not to like about Tebow. So he's a devout Christian. Good for him and he is no more in-your-face with his beliefs than is, say, Troy Polamalu. If we started making numerous and endless signs-of-the-cross and called it "Polamalu-ing", would that be okay?
(b) So far, Tebow has shown us nothing in his life to make us think that he is anything but the sincere guy he appears to be.
(c) We can agree that he is getting more than his share of media coverage, but it that his fault? Blame the networks for the Tebow saturation, including the gasbags at ESPN who yesterday were promoting a special "Tebow Roundtable" on Sports Center.
(d) Tebow may not be pretty throwing his passes, and if he is not a good quarterback, the NFL will catch up to him. That said, the so-called "lousy quarterback" ripped the Steelers to shreds last week, knocked them out of the playoffs, and left them for dead. Until the Steelers beat Tim Tebow, the Yinzers should just shut up.
Now, the games:
Saints at 49'ers. As you recall, I picked New Orleans to play in the Super Bowl, and nothing I saw last week would cause me to change my mind. I expect that the 49'ers defense will give the Saints a much tougher game than did the Lions last week, but in the end, Drew Brees will be too much. SAINTS to win.
Broncos at Patriots. Ahhhh, yes, the aforementioned Tebow against the Golden Boy, Tom Brady. As I said, the NFL may indeed catch up with Tim Tebow one of these weeks, and the Patriots bring, statistically speaking, one of the poorest defenses in the NFL to the table in this one, so I am not willing to concede that this will be the week that Tebow falters. He may well have yet another good game, like the one he had last week, but I think that Tom Brady will have a better one. PATRIOTS to win this one, but if the Broncos pull this one off, maybe there is something else at work going on here.
Texans at Ravens. The Ravens have shown an ability to lose games against teams that they should beat (Seattle, San Diego), however, they were 8-0 at home this season, and I think that the veteran defense of the Ravens will prevail over rookie T.J. Yates. The Texans were no doubt the winning team from last weekend that was least talked about in all of the post-game analysis, and I think that if there is to be a road team upset this week, it will be Houston that pulls it off. Still, I'm calling a RAVENS win in this one.
Giants at Packers. The Giants could be a classic case of a team that gets hot at the right time and makes a deep run in the playoffs, and Eli Manning is having a great season, but Aaron Rogers has had an other-worldly season. The PACKERS win and avenge that NFC Championship loss to the Giants of three seasons ago.
There you go. As always, watch, but don't bet.
No comments:
Post a Comment