NFL Conference
Championship Weekend Preview
We’re down to the Final Four. Ironically, the theme for this weekend’s Championship Games is “The
Revenge of the Week 2 Match-ups
”.All four of these teams met back in Week 2 of this season, and the
teams who were the favorites to win in the match-ups won. Will the same happen this weekend? Ask yourself this:
Are
the Chargers focused in this game?
Or will their “mouths” be the death of their season?Can
the Pats continue to run the table with two more games left in the post
season in their quest for immortality?
Or has the clock struck twelve for Cinderella as an old foe comes
into town?With a
record nine straight road wins, can the Geeeeeee-Meeeeeeen come
into the confines of Lambeau Field
and put an end to the magical season of the Ole Mississippi
Gun Slinger?Can
the Mississippi Gun
Slinger make it to the promised
land one more time with his young posse and capture one more title before
he “possibly” rides off into the sunset?
There’s no need to really get down with the thick and thin
of these games. This is it, the final
road to Arizona. They know what they
have to do. The past 2 weeks have been
their “prep courses”. This weekend is
their “practice test”, and in two weeks, it will be the “finals” for whichever
team survives this weekend. Who’s going
to be those two teams?
With all that said, let’s pick’em.
AFC CONFERENCE
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
3pm, CBS
Game of the Week, Pt. 1
San Diego Chargers (11-5) vs. New England
Patriots (16-0)
Location: Gillette Stadium,
Foxboro, MA
The Chargers will lose. I don’t usually start off like this, but
they will lose. Why, because they have
too much mouth, and with too much mouth comes a team that is not focused. Teddy Roosevelt once quoted the West African
proverb,”Speak softly and carry
a big stick.” Apparently, the Chargers didn’t get that
memo. Dating back to last year’s loss
to the Pats in the AFC Divisional
Playoffs, the Chargers have been one of many teams who have a dislike
for the Pats.
With LaDainian Tomlinson’s defense for his teammate Shawne Merriman
after the Patriots’ players were doing Merriman’s “Light’s
Out Dance”
following their victory in last year’s playoff game, toTomlinson’s “If You’re Not Cheatin, You’re Not
Tryin” press conference during the spygate scandal, to the
Chargers’ newest member of the “Loud Mouth” club, Igor Olshansky’s latest comments about the Pats; the Chargers
seem to think that their “mouths” will alert the Pats for this weekend’s
game. Are you kidding me? Like seriously, give it up.
You’re a team with three key players (Tomlinson, QB Philip Rivers, and
TE Antonio Gates) hurt at the moment and you got into the playoffs because
you’re in weak division (AFC West) that allowed your team to win that division’s
title. And you can make the argument
that the Pats’ division (AFC East) is just as weak, but look at the
non-divisional teams they beat. Oh, by
the way, they’re undefeated.
The Chargers real claim to fame this year is that they beat
the Colts twice: once in the regular season and once in the post season. That’s it.
In terms of their turn around from how they started the season to how
they ended the season, not impressed.
If the Chargers were that good, they would have been knocking kats out
of the box from the start of the season.
They got their butts handed to them against the
Pats in Week 2 and the same will happen this Sunday as well. It doesn’t matter who’s on the field for the
Chargers, they are not focused and that will be the downfall of their
season. If the Chargers think they’re
going to beat the Pats this Sunday, they’re living a lie. And as Eric Hoffer once wrote,
“We
lie loudest when we lie to ourselves”.
Oh yeah, and for the Patriots, well what can I say. They’re undefeated. We move on.
My Pick: Patriots
NFC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
6:30 pm, FOX
Game of the Week, Pt. 2
Giants (10-6) vs. Green Bay Packers (13-3)
Location: Lambeau Field, Green Bay, WI
2°F. That’s the game time temperature for
tomorrow’s game. WHAT? That’s insane. But that’s why these men are known as the “Warriors of the
Gridiron
”. Real men play these games and tomorrow may be a game for theages. The Packers will throw
everything they have at the Giants and vice-versa. Once again, focus is the key to this match-up. This game will be
totally different from their Week 2 match-up.
There’s
no need to go into what Eli Manning has to do in this game to win,
because he’s been doing it. He’s played
the best football he’s ever played as a pro and will continue to do so this
weekend. The play calling for both
teams have been smart and precise and the players for both teams have rallied
around one another for the goal at hand, a trip to Arizona. I believe this will be the best game of the
day.
Both of
these teams have a solid offense. They
can run and throw the ball well. It
comes down to which team’s defense is the strongest. If the Packer’s defense gets in Eli’s head, then they have the
upper hand. If the Giants’ defense
knocks Brett Farve on his butt all day, then they have the upper
hand. This match-up is a lot more
evenly matched than what people think.
Honestly,
between you and me, I want the Giants to win.
After the playoff caliber performance of the Giants/Pats game and with
the Pats being the favorite for the Super Bowl and the Championship, I would
love to see the Giants faceoff against the Pats for the title in a rematch of
Week 17 in Arizona. But I have to think
with my head, not my heart. And my head
says, Packers.
The
Packers have the better numbers, and the Giants are just too banged up for this
weekend’s game. I will say this, if the
Giants do win, I will commend them for it.
They have played some of the best football in the last 3 weeks more than
any other team in the league, except the Pats.
So right now I’m calling it, Green Bay Packers vs. New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII; a
rematch of Super Bowl XXXI.
My Pick: Packers
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