Jan 03 2009
NFL Playoff Predictions
I hope I do better with my professional football forecasting than I’ve been doing with my college bowl predicting. I’m about .500 so far in college. That said, here I go:
NFC
Arizona over Atlanta
Minnesota over Philadelphia
Carolina over Minnesota
New York over Arizona
Carolina over New York
AFC
San Diego over Indianapolis
Baltimore over Miami
Pittsburgh over San Diego
Tennessee over Baltimore
Tennessee over Pittsburgh
Super Bowl XLIII
Tennessee over Carolina
I think the home teams will do better than says the conventional wisdom. In addition, I tend to favor the team that has the steadier quarterback. Flash won’t be needed as much in the playoffs as the ability to avoid mistakes. Tennessee and Carolina have been the steadiest teams this year. It helps that both teams have a quarterback who’s played in a Super Bowl. Kerry Collins and Jake Delhomme will make the difference.
I thought Pennington would outplay Flacco today. Flacco is the first guy of the last 12 to win his postseason debut.
San Diego is kryptonite to Indianapolis. Manning played well but the Colts need a running back badly.