The opening round of playoffs for the 2009 season feature three matchups with teams who played each other last weekend, one game will be played at the same stadium as last Sunday. What an intriguing puzzle for fans picking favorites trying to look at last Sunday’s games and wondering to what extent some teams might have been sandbagging their effort saving their firepower for the wildcard round. Green Bay returns to Arizona. The New York Jets face Cincinnati and Philadelphia travels to Dallas.
New York Jets at Cincinnati (-3), 4:30 pm, NBC
The Jets appeared to handle the Bengals with ease in their house last weekend, and though they will be playing on the banks of the Ohio not the Hudson River for this contest, there are just two many variables that favor the Jets. From a purely subjective basis, the Bengals appear to be a team that peeked early and have been quite suspect. Their amazing season rests largely on their ability to beat their division rivals, Baltimore and Pittsburgh both at home and away this year. Had they split, they’d be 8-8 and out of it. Their performance had as much to do with problems the Ravens and Steelers were dealing with as excellence on their part. Nevertheless, the big change for Cincinnati this year is having Cedric Benson adding a strong running attack giving Carson Palmer all the options. New York’s tough chaotic defense should be able to neutralize their offense. The question is how well can rookie QB Mark Sanchez perform to get enough points on the board to win. Don’t be surprised if the determining score comes from the New York Jets defense forcing a turnover or interception leading to a scoring drive if not scoring outright.
Philadelphia at Dallas (-4), 8:00 pm, NBC
How badly we want Philadelphia to win but they just have not shown the consistency and Dallas surely knew what to do to defeat them in the one game of matchups that truly had something at stake last week. In Philadelphia’s stadium, Dallas won decisively. While Dallas has shown its old tendency to self-destruct, this year, they seem to be able to keep things under control as Tony Romo looks suddenly all-pro. We’d love to call the upset, but in the real world Dallas prevails.
Baltimore at New England (-3 ½), 1:00 pm, CBS
Wes Welker is banged up and out of action leading the list of hobbled Patriots while the Ravens aren’t exactly playing at 100%. While the odds makers favor New England, at 3 ½ points, they’re only giving the Patriots a ½ point advantage over the customary field goal given the home team. The Ravens secondary will determine the game. If they play adequate defense and stop big plays meaning not being so obsessed with Randy Moss the other guys sneak in and do the job, they will prevail. A strong running attack utilizing Ray Rice and Willis MaGahee to their maximum advantage with just enough passing attack to keep from being too predictable should finally give the Ravens their opportunity to prevail over New England.
Green Bay at Arizona (-1 ½), 4:30 pm, FOX
The Green Bay Packers are a team on the move and show all the fired-up intensity of a team ready to prevail in the post season. Meanwhile, Arizona shows they are a playoff quality team in the weaker NFC, but for starters Antoine Boldin is hurt. Green Bay should win by at least a touchdown and should be making everything look cheesy as the second half begins.
New York Jets at Cincinnati (-3), 4:30 pm, NBC
The Jets appeared to handle the Bengals with ease in their house last weekend, and though they will be playing on the banks of the Ohio not the Hudson River for this contest, there are just two many variables that favor the Jets. From a purely subjective basis, the Bengals appear to be a team that peeked early and have been quite suspect. Their amazing season rests largely on their ability to beat their division rivals, Baltimore and Pittsburgh both at home and away this year. Had they split, they’d be 8-8 and out of it. Their performance had as much to do with problems the Ravens and Steelers were dealing with as excellence on their part. Nevertheless, the big change for Cincinnati this year is having Cedric Benson adding a strong running attack giving Carson Palmer all the options. New York’s tough chaotic defense should be able to neutralize their offense. The question is how well can rookie QB Mark Sanchez perform to get enough points on the board to win. Don’t be surprised if the determining score comes from the New York Jets defense forcing a turnover or interception leading to a scoring drive if not scoring outright.
Philadelphia at Dallas (-4), 8:00 pm, NBC
How badly we want Philadelphia to win but they just have not shown the consistency and Dallas surely knew what to do to defeat them in the one game of matchups that truly had something at stake last week. In Philadelphia’s stadium, Dallas won decisively. While Dallas has shown its old tendency to self-destruct, this year, they seem to be able to keep things under control as Tony Romo looks suddenly all-pro. We’d love to call the upset, but in the real world Dallas prevails.
Baltimore at New England (-3 ½), 1:00 pm, CBS
Wes Welker is banged up and out of action leading the list of hobbled Patriots while the Ravens aren’t exactly playing at 100%. While the odds makers favor New England, at 3 ½ points, they’re only giving the Patriots a ½ point advantage over the customary field goal given the home team. The Ravens secondary will determine the game. If they play adequate defense and stop big plays meaning not being so obsessed with Randy Moss the other guys sneak in and do the job, they will prevail. A strong running attack utilizing Ray Rice and Willis MaGahee to their maximum advantage with just enough passing attack to keep from being too predictable should finally give the Ravens their opportunity to prevail over New England.
Green Bay at Arizona (-1 ½), 4:30 pm, FOX
The Green Bay Packers are a team on the move and show all the fired-up intensity of a team ready to prevail in the post season. Meanwhile, Arizona shows they are a playoff quality team in the weaker NFC, but for starters Antoine Boldin is hurt. Green Bay should win by at least a touchdown and should be making everything look cheesy as the second half begins.
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