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Football

RDT’s 2016 NFL Divisional Round Predictions!

Well we went 2-2 last week. Cinnicinate destructed and it looks like I underestimated Green Bay (or overestimated Kirk Cousins). Still, all the road teams winning last week was a bit crazy.

Kansas City Chiefs (12-5) @ New England Patriots (12-4)

As good as the Chiefs have been I don’t see them winning this one.

If you want to talk yourself into Kansas City, you need to think the Patriots aren’t as good as they seemed (they faltered a bit down the stretch), Gronk’s injuries are serious (he was just in the hospital), the return of Julian Edelman won’t matter that much (hard to see) and Bill Belichick won’t outcoach Andy Reid (okay…). That’s a lot to hope for.

Is an offense with Alex Smith, Spencer Ware, Charcandrick West, Travis Kelce and an injured Jeremy Maclin really going to beat this Patriots team in New England? I’d be quite surprised.

Patriots 24, Chiefs 10

Green Bay Packers (11-6) @ Arizona Cardinals (13-3)

It’s easy to get back on the Green Bay Packer bandwagon after they finally clicked against Washington. The fact of the matter is the Arizona Cardinals are a lot better than the Packers. Aaron Rodgers feels like a one man show out there and let’s be clear, the Cardinals are great. Arizona scored 38 or more points six times this season. One of those was against Green Bay in Week 16 (38-8).

The Packers won’t be able to stop Arizona either. Carson Palmer, who is probably itching to win his first playoff game, had played great all season. David Johnson is great. I don’t think Randall Cobb or James Jones will be able to do much here. I expect a lot of points from Arizona here.

Cardinals 38, Packers 28

Seattle Seahawks (11-6) @ Carolina Panthers (15-1)

Toughest game of the weekend to pick for sure. Carolina beat Seattle in Week 6 in Seattle no less. I don’t think this is the same Seattle team though, and truthfully Carolina may be a little overrated.

Truth about the Panthers? They’ve only beaten four teams with winning records all season: Seattle, Green Bay, Washington and Houston. Their defense can be beaten and I think Seattle’s been the hottest team on offense recently. They really do have Beast Mode back this time around. I can’t help but think Carolina is in trouble.

Will Greg Olsen rip apart Seattle again? Maybe. Will Cam Newton pull a victory out of nowhere and show why he’s the MVP? Maybe. Am I overrating Seattle after they should have lost in Minnesota last week? Well I think the weather screwed with that. I think the two time defending NFC Champions are hitting their stride and the upset is happening. Sorry Cam.

Seahawks 24, Panthers 21 

Pittsburgh Steelers (11-6) @ Denver Broncos (12-4)

Ben Roethlisberger injured ligaments in his throwing arm. De’Angelo Williams isn’t playing. Antonio Brown is out. The Broncos have a great defense. Good luck with that Pittsburgh.

While we don’t know what Peyton Manning is going to give us, and if Pittsburgh can get some turnovers of Peyton maybe we might get one of those crazy games where the Steelers have 100 total yards but is somehow ahead 17-14. I don’t really see it. If Pittsburgh was healthy I’d actually be all for them in regards to an upset…but I don’t think so now.

Broncos 17, Steelers 9

 

Football

Super Bowl XLIX Prediction

super-bowl-xlix

We are now 9-1 for the playoffs (you know, the Steelers are my only loss here AND knocked me out of my Survivor pool earlier this season, shrug) with a chance for double digits! Personally, I dislike both teams for a multitude of reasons. New England because I’m a Jets fans and their two Giants Super Bowl wins made us Jets fans even feel worse. The Seahawks because of Pete Carroll, and their rumored P.E.D. use over the years. New England has had their big “cheating” scandal as well over the past two weeks with “Deflategate”. To be honest, it’s been overblown. Is it really shocking that the Patriots pushed the limits with the rules once again? The only thing that really made me wonder was the fumble data analysis. I’m not really here to write about the cheating scandals though…that can be for another entry. I don’t like either of these teams so all bias is out the window. Let’s get to win #10.

New England Patriots (14-4) vs. Seattle Seahawks (14-4)

My gut and betting lines seem to be favoring New England just a little bit. I assume this is because of their dominance over Indianapolis while Seattle had to pull off a comeback of epic proportions. If Packer coach Mike McCarthy knew what he was doing Green Bay would have won…and probably would have won easily. But he doesn’t and they didn’t. The thing is, we aren’t getting a horrible Russell Wilson game like that again. If anything, last week’s comeback was the kick in the ass Seattle needed.

Whether or not Seattle is as good as last year, I still think they are better than everyone else and it’s not as close as people think. Yes Green Bay took them to the limit, but think about it. Seattle turned the ball over five times and STILL managed to win the game. Russell Wilson had the worst three quarters of his career, and still Seattle found a way to win.

Interestingly, this Super Bowl is also a battle between teams with many eff-U edges. Marshawn Lynch is trying to prove that all the talk that Seattle may release him at the end of the season is ridiculous (he’s succeeded). Discussions after Week 4 centered around Tom Brady being benched for a 2nd rounder (Jimmy Garoppolo). New England has faced this “Deflategate” debacle. Richard Sherman always has a chip on his shoulder. I could go on and on here. Everyone has something to prove.

It comes down to this though. Seattle can stop 37 year old Tom Brady.

I don’t think New England can stop Marshawn Lynch.

Seahawks 29, Patriots 17