The final week of the NFL regular season was unpredictable as expected, and once again my record was a mediocre 8-8, which means I fell short of my goal to keep the “wrong” side of the ledger out of triple digits. The final record was a respectable 152 right and 103 wrong. Here are the picks for this weekend’s Wild Card playoff games:
New York Jets at Indianapolis – traditionally, the Colts do better in the postseason when they struggle to get in than they do when they wrap up their spot early, but on a hunch I’m going to pick the Jets to pull an upset and avenge last year’s AFC Championship game loss to the Colts.
New Orleans at Seattle – the Seahawks became the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs with a losing record, winning the pathetic NFC West crown at 7-9. They should be defeated soundly by the defending Super Bowl champion Saints, but with nothing to lose and playing at home, will probably keep the game close. The Saints should pull out a win eventually though.
Baltimore at Kansas City – the Chiefs have home field advantage, but not much playoff experience, while the Ravens are playoff tested and have a track record of being playoff road warriors. I’ll go with Baltimore to win a close, low-scoring game.
Green Bay at Philadelphia – Mike Vick was the comeback player of the year this season, but teams began figuring out how to stop him late in the year – by pressuring him. Green Bay has the horses on defense, led by Clay Matthews, to force him into mistakes. I have a hunch that Aaron Rodgers is going to outplay him, and that the Packers will win a tough road game.