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Cyd Zeigler
My playoff predictions:
WILD CARD WEEKEND
Seattle
over St. Louis
Minnesota over Green Bay
San Diego over NY Jets
Indianapolis over Denver
DIVISIONAL ROUND
Minnesota
over Philadelphia
Atlanta over Seattle
San Diego over Pittsburgh
New England over Indianapolis
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
New England
over San Diego
Atlanta over Minnesota
SUPER BOWL
New England
over Atlanta
Almost
every week, I start my column talking about the New
England Patriots. To me, they have been the favorites to
win the Super Bowl from the first week. This week, I have to
say – I’m nervous. The Steelers’ win over the
Buffalo Bills was one of the most shocking scores of the
season. Drew Bledsoe had led the Bills to six
straight weeks of high-flying offense. The Steelers come in,
start Tommy Maddox, and they stop the Bills’ winning
streak. When your second-stringers are putting up points,
you know you’re good. Still, I’ve got a funny feeling that
the Steelers won’t be in the AFC Championship game to play
the Patriots.
Speaking of
the Bills, I love how the two teams people said no one
wanted to play – the Bills and the Carolina Panthers
– couldn’t win playoff-clinching home games in Week 17. So
many were obsessed with the Panthers - some in the pregame
shows were talking about John Fox, Carolina’s coach
(mind you, they were 7-8 before this game) should be coach
of the year. They were supposed to be the dangerous team
that could run the table in the playoffs. And they choked
before they got there.
You've also
got to take note of the Chargers' victory over the
Chiefs on Sunday. Like the Steelers, they had nothing to
play for - and, like the Steelers, they beat a decent team
without their starters. The Patriots caught a break when
Indianapolis beat the Chargers to lock up the three-seed a
couple weeks ago - the Chargers could do some serious damage
in the playoffs. They have everything, including a great
coach.
I wonder
what all of the prognosticators who were calling for San
Diego Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer’s head last
year are thinking about his coaching ability now. Playoffs
excluded, he may be the best coach in the NFL over the last
20 years. He has taken three different teams to the playoffs
– and each time it was a challenge. This year is probably
his masterpiece, taking a team that should have gone 4-12
and finishing with a 12-4 record. The Chargers will be
extremely dangerous in the playoffs.
In the AFC,
I can't point to a single playoff-bound coach who is what I
would call a "bad coach" - someone who just doesn't get the
most out of his team. In the NFC, after the Eagles' Andy
Reid and the Falcons' Jim Mora, the other four
bobos in the playoffs are blah at best and troubling at
worst. More reason the AFC Champ will win the Super Bowl.
When was
the last time you saw a team with seven players rushing for
positive yardage? The Patriots did it today, and I’m
wondering if it is, in fact, an NFL record.
Seattle coach Mike Holmgren
should be fired. All running back Shaun Alexander
needed to have the season rushing title was 82 rushing
yards. Instead of giving Alexander – their team leader – the
ball throughout the game, Holmgren kept the ball in the
hands of his darling quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck.
His defense almost quite nearly blew an eight-point lead
with a couple minutes left to Atlanta’s interim
quarterback, Matt Schaub. Their playoff game against
the St. Louis Rams will pit the to most overrated
coaches – Holmgren and Mike Martz – against one another. Too
bad one of them is going to get a win.
Now, what
to make of Eli Manning – and New York Giants
coach Tom Coughlin’s decision to stick with him this
season. While they choked away a playoff spot by benching
Kurt Warner halfway through the season, they now have a
“quarterback of the future” who has started half of a
season. And you know what? He’s gotten better. He wasn’t
spectacular in the Giants’ victory over the Dallas
Cowboys on Sunday, but he was pretty darned good,
throwing three touchdowns to three different receivers.
Top five
teams that will surprise us all in 2005:
1)
Washington Redskins – If coach Joe
Gibbs returns, this team has all the pieces to catch the
Eagles in the NFC East, if Patrick Ramsey can be a starting
quarterback.
2)
Arizona Cardinals – Denny Green is
a good coach. If they can figure out their quarterback
situation, the Cards will win the NFC West in 2005.
3)
Houston Texans – They’ve gotten
better every year of their three-year history. Don’t be
surprised if you see the Texans playing in the playoffs next
y ear.
4)
Cincinnati Bengals – They’ve got
the coach, the quarterback, the receivers – and the Steelers
will come back to Earth next year.
5)
New York Giants – Tom Coughlin is
a winner. They’ve got lots of talent – if Eli Manning is
half the QB his brother is, they’ll be very tough to stop
next year. |
Jim Buzinski
--Before
dealing with a weird Week 17, let’s get right into my
playoff picks:
AFC:
Wild card weekend: Colts over Broncos by 21; Chargers
over Jets by 10.
Divisional round: Patriots over Colts by 6; Steelers
over Chargers by 13.
AFC title game: Steelers over Patriots by 3. I think the
Patriots’ defensive injuries will catch up with them.
NFC:
Wild card weekend: Packers over Vikings by 3 on a last-play
field goal; Seahawks over
Rams by 7.
Divisional round: Packers over Falcons by 7; Eagles over
Seahawks by 17.
NFC title game: Eagles over Packers by 10.
Super
Bowl: Steelers 31, Eagles 13. I think whoever wins the
AFC will win the Super Bowl.
--The
Philadelphia Eagles lost their last two regular season
games—both meaningless—by a combined 58-17. The 1967 Green
Bay Packers are the only team to win the Super Bowl after
losing their final two regular season games.
--They may
not admit it, but Eagle fans have got to be a bit nervous.
The Birds have not played well the past month, including two
close wins in "meaningful" games against Washington (17-14)
in Week 14 and Dallas (12-7) in Week 15. That's six
touchdowns scored in four games.
--Sunday
was an odd day for games. Stars like Donovan
McNabb and Peyton Manning sat the entire game or
almost the entire game, while Tom Brady played for
three quarters for the Patriots; each of their teams had
nothing to play for. The Saints beat Carolina for their
fourth straight win but missed the playoffs when the Rams
beat the Jets. Meanwhile, the Vikings laid an egg in
Washington, but backed into the playoffs nonetheless.
--The
Vikings are a bunch of choking dogs who started the
season 5-1 but finished 3-7; last year they started 6-0 and
finished 3-7. Minnesota has also lost 20 of its past 21
games outdoors. But they catch a playoff break by drawing the
Packers, a division foe they know well. In the two times the
teams played this year, the Packers won both on the game’s
final play, each by a 34-31 score. A Viking wild card win
would not be out of the question and their only outdoors win
in recent years was at Green Bay in 2003.
--"We're
in, but this certainly didn't turn out the way we mapped it
out,'' said Vikings head coach Mike Tice. "This team
is going to drive me crazy to be honest with you.'' Uh,
Mike, I think the way you coach drives Vikings fans crazy
everywhere.
--I like
this quote from Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks, who
covered the Minnesota loss at Washington: “Question: What
exactly do you pour all over your head coach when you slide
into the playoffs with a loss and an 8-8 record? A litter
basket, in honor of backing in like a beeping garbage truck?
Or how about a dose of disinfectant, to help the stench of
such a putrid performance with so much on the line? The
traditional Gatorade bath somehow seems a little too regal
for this type of situation.”
--Randy
Moss, Ultimate Team Player: With one play left and his
teammates on the field playing for a spot in the playoffs,
the Vikings receiver simply walked off the field and into
the lockeroom." Hmmm, maybe he wanted to catch a "Pimp My
Ride" rerun. Moss is amazingly talented but also amazingly
selfish and self-absorbed; it's always been all about him.
--If I were
NFL Czar, I would prohibit any 8-8 or worse team from
being in the playoffs if a 9-7 team in another conference
has been eliminated. This year, we would kick out Minnesota
and St. Louis and replace them with two of these three from
the AFC—Buffalo, Jacksonville and Baltimore.
--Love the
new ad for the NFL Channel, which looks back at fans
making predictions four month ago. My favorite: “Ricky
Williams has only one thing on his mind and that’s winning
football games.”
--Most
impressive team this weekend was the Pittsburgh
Steelers, who went into Buffalo with nothing to play for
versus a hot team still the playoff chase. But the Steelers’
second-teamers spanked the Bills, knocking them out of the
playoffs and leaving Pittsburgh with a league-best 15-1
mark. Pittsburgh looks like the NFL’s elite team, having won
14 games in a row; they remind me a lot of last year’s
Patriots, who won their final 12 games heading into the
playoffs.
--''I'm a
little bit in shock,'' Bills quarterback Drew Bledsoe
said. ''The bottom line is if we can't beat them with their
backups on the field, then we probably don't deserve to be
in.'' Bledsoe had a lot to do with the Bills’ loss, fumbling
on a key third-and-6 in the fourth quarter that was returned
for a touchdown.
--Before
Week 17, many NFL experts said the Carolina Panthers and
Buffalo Bills were the teams “no one wanted to play.”
Sunday, both teams lost at home to blow spots in the
playoffs. That’s why they play the games and don’t listen to
the experts.
--I have
the NFL Sunday Ticket and can watch all the games.
But even I couldn’t stomach much of the Tennessee-Detroit or
Arizona-Tampa Bay games. For all I know, the players in
these games wore only jockstraps.
--The
Green Bay Packers were a pedestrian 4-4 at home this
season, and 6-2 on the road, their best road record since
they went 6-1 in 1972.
--How
much better is the AFC this season? The combined record
of the six AFC playoff teams is 73-23; the combined record
in the NFC is 59-37.
--The NFL
used to schedule playoff games with weather in mind, trying
to avoid late time slots for cold-weather sites. That
all changed in 2001, when the New England Patriots hosted a
January playoff game against Oakland at 8 p.m. local time in
a snowstorm and it became an overtime classic. Since then,
the league schedules games based solely on getting the
highest rating. This is why next week, Green Bay is playing
a home game Sunday at 3:30 local time, instead of noon; Fox
(Green Bay’s main network) is set for the late game next
weekend and wants the Packers-Vikings.
--My
2004 awards:
MVP:
Peyton Manning. He set the standard for all future
quarterbacks. Manning threw 49 touchdowns, but sat in the
final period in three straight games and played only one
series on Sunday; that’s seven quarters where Manning was on
the sidelines. Runnerup: Terrell Owens.
Without TO, the Eagles are just another playoff team.
Coach of
the Year: Marty Scottenheimer, San Diego. So much
for the Chargers being the league’s worst team. Runnerup:
Bill Cowher. No one’s calling for his head anymore.
Biggest
team surprises: San Diego, Atlanta.
Biggest
team busts: Kansas City, Tampa Bay.
Most
meaningful play of the year: Week 1, New England 27,
Indianapolis 24. If Edgerrin James doesn’t fumble at
the Patriots’ 1 late in the game, the Colts are the AFC’s
second seed and the playoffs would look awfully different.
Announcer of the year: Phil Simms, whose
almost-weekly
homoerotic remarks keep us watching blowouts.
--Look
ahead: Watch out for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2005.
Carson Palmer is the real thing at quarterback,
Marvin Lewis can coach and a few defensive pickups
should be enough to make the Bengals a playoff force.
Final
regular season Top 5:
1. Pittsburgh: The
Steelers have the look.
2 New England: Can Bill Belichick’s schemes cover up for
defensive injuries?
3. Indianapolis: Colts still need to prove they can win
in cold weather.
4. San Diego: A shame the Chargers aren’t in the NFC;
they’d be my pick.
5. Philadelphia: By the time they kickoff Jan. 15 or 16,
they will have gone a month without meaningful action.
Likely won’t matter in the lame NFC. |
