Tuesday Afternoon Linebacker

This week is when the rubber meets the road in the NFL playoffs. The top dogs have had a week off (or in some cases two), and the wild cards have had to scrap their way to this point. The safe money says pick the home teams. And statistically you’d be right. But I’m not so sure that’s the case in the NFC.

Brett Favre and Mike Holmgren together again in Green Bay. I wonder just what was going on with Green Bay when lowly Chicago put a might beating on them. Could they, along with half the playoff field, have been thinking more about January than December? Either way they bounced back to throttle the Lions to end the regular season. Meanwhile, the Seahawks have quietly risen into contention. Like the Bucs, they benefited from a weak division. And also like their expansion brothers, they wilted in the face of stiff competition during the regular season. But something happened between the shoot-out loss to Atlanta and the Wild Card round. In dispatching the league’s hottest team (with apologies to the Patriots) the ‘Hawks have made their case to be included in the discussion of the best teams in the NFC.

Packers verrrry close over Seahawks
Saturday 4:30 PM, Fox

The most intriguing match-up of the weekend is New England versus Jacksonville. In the wet dreams of sportscasters across this grand nation the Jags have what it takes to beat the Pats. Our friends from the First Coast claim to be built for cold-weather. They assert that they aren’t a typical southern team both in terms of their weather tolerance and their game play. That assertion has been born out quite successfully against the Men of Steel over the past month. And much as I’d like to see the Jaguars succeed, I don’t see it happening. The Patriots have everything working for them right now. They’ve assembled all the weapons on offense, and have a stout defense. Their home-field advantage is legendary. Hell, they even have Lady Luck on their side.

Patriots average over Jaguars
Saturday 8 PM ET, CBS

San Diego, the perennial underachieving team. After faltering in the playoffs the last two seasons they jettisoned Marty Schottenheimer in favor of Norv Turner. Really? Norv Turner is supposed to be an upgrade? Anyway, it didn’t show in the regular season. They basically fell backwards into the AFC West championship, and then had the grand fortune to draw the least deserving team to reach the NFL playoffs that I can remember in the first round. Now they run up against the machine that is the Indianapolis Colts. The only thing that has held the Colts back so far has been some random injuries to key players. All indications, though, are that the Colts are healthy. This could get ugly quickly.

Colts big over Chargers
Sunday 1 PM, CBS

Finally, we have the Giants and Cowboys. The key here comes down to one man, Eli Manning. If he plays the way he has the past two weekends, the Giants will be headed to Green Bay (or Seattle) and a chance at the Super Bowl. If the other version takes the field, oh boy. Across the field the Cowboys seem to have lost their way. It’s probably not good that they’ve drawn a team that is playing at a high level, while they themselves have been less than dominant over the last half of the season. It doesn’t look good for “America’s Team”.

Giants average over Cowboys
Sunday 4:30 PM, Fox

Super Bowl XLII
Patriots vs. Packers