At the Stonebrook Village Men's Brunch yesterday I threw out the following question: what two teams will meet in the Super Bowl? Don't have to pick a winner, but commit to which two teams will be playing. My own choice was an "All-New" Super Bowl - New England vs. New Orleans. The other teams mentioned at the table were various combinations of Baltimore, New England, New Orleans, and Green Bay. When I posed the same question on Facebook last night, I received the same combination of teams (although the Facebookers haven't been exactly flooding the comment box with their predictions). Still plenty of time to respond.
So, it is time for The Grandstander's predictions for Wild Card weekend.
Bengals vs. Texans. Two rookie QB 's face each other in what will no doubt be the least anticipated game of the weekend, which doesn't necessarily mean it won't be a good game. A commitment at church tomorrow night means that I will miss most of this game, and, if you have to miss one, I'll take this one. The Texans beat the Steelers this year (albeit with Matt Schaub at QB) and the Bengals lost twice to the Steelers. And they are, after all, the Cincinnati Bengals, so I call for a Texans win.
Lions vs. New Orleans. The Lions have been the up and coming team this year, and have some good players to watch, so I am looking forward to this game. New Orleans has been a juggernaut, and, as you read above, I think they are going to the Super Bowl. Saints to win tomorrow night.
Falcons vs. Giants. Neither team excites me a lot, and the Giants had to go down to the wire to win a weak division and make the playoffs. When in doubt, take the team with the best QB, and in this game, that is Eli Manning, who has had a great year. Giants win.
Steelers vs. Broncos. Ah, yes, we have to wait until the last game if the weekend for the Big Game. On the face of it, this seems an easy pick, Steelers over Denver. BUT....we all know about the injuries that the Steelers have....Roethlisberger, Pouncy, Mendenhall, Clark....the list goes on. It was obvious watching the Browns game this past week that Ben is most certainly not 100%. Will that be good enough against a good Denver defense? Will Isaac Redman be the running back that all the talk show callers have been calling for all year? How will the injuries beyond Clark in the defensive backfield affect the performance of the team? Lots of questions, but I am thinking that a hobbled defense will still be able to stop Tim Tebow, and that a less than 100% Ben will be good enough to win this one. So, Steelers to win on Sunday.
As a historical point of reference, I went 6-5 in my post season NFL picks last year, which would allow you to barely stay above water, so, as always, watch, but don't bet!
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