NFL Wild Card Weekend 2016

Welcome back, everybody! It is Wildcard Weekend! The 2015 season is over, and the season that began with 32 teams seeking to play Super Bowl 50 has been reduced to a field of 12. Of course with the end of the season comes Black Monday. Chip Kelley was fired the week before the end of the season, Tom Coughlin stepped down in New York, Lovie Smith's firing in Tampa Bay surprised everyone, while no one was surprised when Mike Pettine was let go in Cleveland. An even bigger surprise was the Colts hanging on to Chuck Pagano and the Saints retaining Sean Payton. Of course, most of us know there are others still waiting to learn their fate.

As Wild Card weekend begins, let's take a fond look back at my picks from the beginning of the season.

NFC East-Dallas Cowboys, NFC West-Seattle Seahawks, NFC South-Carolina Panthers, NFC North-Green Bay Packers
AFC East-New England Patriots, AFC West-Kansas City Chiefs, AFC South-Indianapolis Colts, AFC North-Baltimore Ravens
Wildcards: NFC-Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints/AFC-Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers
NFC Champion-Green Bay Packers/AFC Champion-Kansas City Chiefs
Super Bowl 50 Champion-Kansas City

Okay, I really tanked choosing the Cowboys, Washington won the East, Arizona the West, Minnesota the North, and I was on the money with Carolina, but only two of my NFC picks did not make the playoffs, as Seattle and Green Bay are both playing wildcard weekend. Sorry, Saints and Cowboys. Not really, Cowboys.

On the AFC side, I correctly called the East (which really wasn't a stretch), but Denver won the West, Cincinnati the North, and Houston won the South. Like with the NFC, only two of my picks didn't make the playoffs, as both Indianapolis and Baltimore both lost their starting quarterbacks and their seasons. Better luck next year, guys.

I picked Green Bay and Kansas City Chiefs to play the Super Bowl with the Chiefs winning. Honestly, I was mostly hoping. Hope is still there, but as a pessimistic Chiefs fan, I watch every game with only one eye open. My Chiefs have lost sooooooooooooooooooooo many first round playoff games. I mean, I know you have heard that the Chiefs haven't won a playoff game since Joe Montana was quarterback. They have won 10 straight games. I'm not bragging. Just stating facts. Please, please, please...Sigh...


Last week, I wrapped my season with a 10-6 finish with my final tally at 144-97. Wild Card Weekend finds the Patriots and the Broncos with byes in the AFC, while the Panthers and the Cardinals are relaxing in the NFC. Let's see how well I perform this Wild Card Weekend.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans-No one expected either one of these teams to be here neither at the beginning of the year, nor the middle of the year. Both found a fire that has landed both in the playoffs. As much as I like J.J. Watt, I'm going to have to pick the Chiefs. I'm just going to leave it at that.


Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals-These two teams just flat out hate each other, and I expect it to be chippy early. Each team has won a game in the series this year, and although Cincinnati has been consistent all season (and I have a bit of crush on Marvin Lewis. Yes, I know it's weird), I think Pittsburgh is the hotter team. So, I have to go with Pittsburgh.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Seattle Seahawks at Minnesota Vikings-So, I picked the Seahawks to win the West, and I didn't even include Minnesota. The Seahawks have had to struggle to get to the playoffs, and the Vikings won the North on the last game of the season. Both teams are hot, but I'm going to have to go with the Seahawks after that smackdown they laid upon the Cards last week.

Green Bay Packers at Washington Redskins-While I am a huge fan of Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews, I have little to no faith in the Packers. Yes, I am aware that I picked them to go to the Super Bowl, but this team has been playing poorly the last few weeks, yet Washington has a hot hand with Kirk Cousins. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm going with Washington.

There they are ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy your games! Divisional Playoffs next week! Until then, "I put my life on the line to be right here with y'all. Y'all helped me get to this point. We're just going to keep going forward. To me it's nota  game. It's bigger than that."-Eric Berry #BerryStrong Go Chiefs!!

2013 NFL Predictions Sure to Bite the Dust...

It has been a long, long off season ladies and gents, but it is finally here--the 2013 NFL Season is upon us!!! It has been a long 213 days since they turned the lights off on the 2012 season in New Orleans as the Ravens raised their second Lombardi trophy. So, what have we learned since the curtain dropped in February?  RGIII is ready to play after knee surgery (put me in coach!!). The Jets are still, STILL, dysfunctional which apparently is enough to keep them in the news even though they are still not quite certain, although Geno Smith is starting the first game of the season, who their QB is going to be, and after kicking Tim Tebow to the curb, they've recruited former ESPN poster boy Brady Quinn as their 3rd, 2nd, 1st, who knows, and by this point who cares.

Wild Card Weekend 2013...

Welcome back!  The NFL Regular season came to an end last week, and we bid a fond farewell to playoff stalwarts the New York Giants (too little, too late), the Pittsburgh Steelers (couldn't overcome those weeks without Big Ben), the San Diego Chargers (Here's hoping Philip Rivers remembers he's Philip Rivers), the Chicago Bears (man, it will be tragic not seeing Jay Cutler pouting on the sidelines), the New Orleans Saints (Drew and Sean are getting the band back together next season), and the Dallas Cowboys (who Romo'd their way out of the playoffs).  See ya, next season boys!

Several coaches not only had to say goodbye to the playoffs, but had to say farewell to their jobs as well.  Black Monday saw 7 NFL Coaches cleaning out their offices:   Romeo Crennel (Kansas City), Chan Gailey (Buffalo), Andy Reid (Philadelphia), Pat Shurmur (Cleveland), Lovie Smith (Chicago), Norv Turner (San Diego), and Ken Whisenhunt (Arizona). Rumors are swirling that more may be getting the ax as early as today.  In addition to head coaches, GM's have been getting kicked to the curb as well including, Rod Graves (Arizona), Tom Heckert (Cleveland), Scott Pioli (Kansas City), A.J. Smith (San Diego), Mike Tannenbaum (New York Jets), and Gene Smith (Jacksonville).  Many of these were expected (in the case of Scott Pioli hoped, wished, and protested for), but I will admit I was surprised by the firing of Lovie Smith and Ken Whisenhunt.  

If you haven't heard, Andy Reid is about to be announced as the new head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.  Reid will be the twelfth head coach in Chiefs history, and the fourth since 2005.  Sigh, I don't know how I feel about this signing.  I'm not striking up the band just yet.  I think I'm just going to take a wait and see approach.  I mean, the Chiefs ended the season with a 2-14 record-the fourth losing season since 2005.  When your team is in the basement, there is no where to look but up, right?

Ray Lewis announced that he would be retiring at the end of the Ravens run in the playoffs.  I've always been a little ambivalent about Ray Lewis.  I'll admit that I've never really quite known how to feel about him.  I will say this about Ray Lewis.  He is a heck of a football player.  The man has been an out and out leader on the field-one of the most feared defenders even as his body was starting to turn on him.  He is one of the most intense players to ever take the field, and I've enjoyed watching him play and will miss watching him explode from the Ravens tunnel. 

At the start of the season, I made my picks for the year.  Let's see how they turned out, shall we?

AFC East-New England Patriots (Right on the money.  12-4 with a bye)
AFC South-Houston Texans (Correct.)
AFC North-Baltimore Ravens (Correct. 
AFC West-Kansas City Chiefs (Eliminated. Could not have been more wrong.  Y'all forgive me for this gaffe.  Denver took the AFC West without much of a fight for the rest of the division.  Heck, the Broncos were the only team with a winning record.  Who thought Peyton would be back with such a vengeance?  Yeah, everybody.)
Wild Cards-Pittsburgh (Eliminated), Denver (Won the division)  Cincinnati made the cut.  So in the AFC, I was 4 for 6.  Not bad...I picked Houston to win it all.  I don't think I'm going to stick with that pick.

NFC East-New York Giants (Wrong.  Didn't see Washington taking this division.  Not at all.)
NFC South-Atlanta Falcons  (Correct with a bye)
NFC North-Green Bay Packers (Correct)
NFC West-San Francisco 49ers (Correct)
Wild Cards-Chicago (Eliminated.  Adrian Peterson and the Vikings power ran their way into the playoffs.), New Orleans (Eliminated. Seattle and their Rookie QB made the grade instead)
I picked Atlanta for the NFC Champs.  I'm going to stand by this pick, but they have me terrified with the way they have played as of late. 

Even with some of those craptastic predictions, I ended the season with a 135-80 pick record.  Not too shabby...

So, here are my Wild Card picks.  I will say I was more comfortable with my Saturday picks than my Sunday picks.

Saturday, January 5
Cincinnati Bengals vs. Houston Texans:  Cincinnati (I've pretty much lost faith in Houston)
Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers:  Green Bay (I think Aaron and the boys get it together.)
Sunday, January 6
Indianapolis Colts vs. Baltimore Ravens:  Baltimore (Either of these teams are capable, and each team is playing with added inspiration)
Seattle Seahawks vs. Washington Redskins:   Washington (If this were in Seattle, I probably would have picked Seattle.  These teams are a close match up, and it really could go either way.

That's all I've got today.  Enjoy your Wild Card Weekend!  Until next week, "I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious."~Vince Lombardi