’)I went 3 for 4 (who knew the Giants would roll over like that?) picking last week’s games, which I think should translate to an all-expenses paid trip to this year’s Lingerie Bowl, but I digress.
Patriots at Broncos
I want to pick the Broncos, but Shanahan just chokes too much and the Patriots are too good.
Pick: Patriots
Steelers at Colts
Peyton wins, goes on to meet the Patriots
Pick: Colts
Panthers at Bears
A close one, but I think its a big Urlacher day.
Pick: Bears
Redskins at Seahawks
Here we are. I like that the Skins are 9 point underdogs, that the Seahawks seem to already be looking ahead to the NFC Championship. Yes, how could the Redskins beat the mighty powerful MVP-having Seattle Seahawks? Okay.
I’ll repeat my axiom from last week — Rule #1 of the NFL playoffs: Don t bet against Joe Gibbs in the playoffs.
Pick: Redskins. Hail.
Oh, too bad.
You had such a good week last week. I hate to see you stumble like this.
Shanahan chokes in the playoffs? You are aware that he won two Super Bowls, right? His teams barely qualified for the final playoff slot the last two years and got destroyed by a far superior Colts team both times. That’s not choking. Mike Shanahan is not Marty Schottenheimer or Bill Cowher.
How many non-Elway Superbowls has Shanahan had?
How many non-Elway teams were any good? Choking means getting to the playoffs with a good team and blowing it against a lesser opponent. The only time Shanahan truly choked was in 1996/97 when the Broncos lost in the first round against Jacksonville. That was a truly disgraceful choke job. But in 2000 (against the Super Bowl champion Ravens) and in 2003 and 2004 the Broncos faced far superior teams.
Some coaches choke in the playoffs because they get too tense and run an overly conservative game plan. Coaches like Gibbs and Belichek are successful in the playoffs because they’re unpredictable and aggressive. Shanahan usually is too.
elrod – you have to understand that Oliver’s definition of choking is simply not winning a game. It does not take into account whether or not the team was at home or on the road, does not take into account who was favored, etc …
How many non-Shanahan Super Bowls did Elway win?
Broncos beat Patriots–tough game, but the Broncs are at home.
Colts beat Steelers–nice season for the Steelers, but the Colts can just put too many points on the board for the Steelers to keep up.
Bears beat Panters–contrary to my own bias, I’ll go with the tough defense on this one.
Seahawks beat ‘Skins–say goodnight, OW.
God bless you Oliver, I’ve lurked here for years, and couldn’t agree with you more on almost everything you’ve ever posted, but I finally had to signup for a login, because your Redskins are going down, my friend. The Seahawks will not be denied. If the game was in Maryland I might not be quite as confident, but the Redskins haven’t seen anything like Qwest Field this Sat.
Broncos — probably the league’s most underrated team — win a classic Plummer dogfight; afterwards, team and QB continue to get no respect as win is chalked up to superman-like Patriots having played last week.
Colts win a shoot-out, but only it’s indoors. (And also, I’m going to go ahead and pick Denver for next week. Fuck it, I can’t stand Peyton Manning.)
Part of my brain says I have to pick the Bears because it’s January in Chicago, but January in Chicago ain’t what it used to be. (For instance, January in Madison right now means sunny and mid-40’s.) Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton are both not good enough to be caretaker QB’s, and I think the Panthers have an offense than can effectively work around the Bears’ D if they don’t make unforced errors. Also, I seem to recall the #2 seed Bears folding in the 2001 playoffs, but I’m hazy on the details. So, Panthers.
Seahawks kill the Redskins. Come on. They’re the league’s second-most underrated team (primarily because they’re in the league’s worst media market, except maybe Jacksonville) and they’re going to win the Super Bowl. Finally, the fact that I liked them when I was six because I thought their logo was cool will be vindicated.
Okay, okay, so my dream of a Giant-Seahawks rematch was naive let alone the dream of a trip to the superbowl. We were to get past the streaking Redskins to win the division, I’ve got to say, the league is loaded with weak teams and anyone has a shot.
I’m going with you on Redskins beating Seattle.
As for your other picks, c’mon. Denver will beat the patriots and the steelers (who will beat the colts) and meet the Bears in the superbowl.
-G
I called every game correctly last week
, I told you the Giants would fall.
It’s hard to call the AFC, but these are my winners:
Broncos, Steelers, Bears, Redskins
BTW, here are my picks:
Patriots over Broncos – I’m going to keep picking them until they give me a reason not to.
Colts over Steelers – Just like a repeat of the last time these two teams met.
Panthers over Bears – Carolina continues it’s roll.
Seahawks over Redskins – Skins defense won’t be able to save the offense from it’s own ineptitude on this day.
BTW Oliver,
Here’s your proof that Taylor did indeed spit at Michael Pittman.
Me thinks OW is voting with his Heart not his Head – Holmgren wont let the ‘Hawks look past their first playoff game – that my good sir is ridiculous!
lol!
You’re a funny guy.
Brandon, he’s a gansta, what could you expect from trash like him?
My picks in our building pool were the home teams, even tho I want the Colts to lose. So far so good, with the Saturday games over. Of course writing this down will jinx my Sunday picks.