NFL Thread - Conference Championship Round

[Mack Kilimaro]

Hey, we passed 400 posts and I wanted to give another shout-out to Trebla's joke from the last thread.

So...

Colts-Ravens

Chargers-Jets

Cowboys-Vikings

Saints-Cardinals

Who ya got?

[Caligula_K]

Ya, I'm a Packers fan and even I don't think that facemask thing was worth calling.

[Jaime L]

Let me just say from the start, I love the NFC divisional matchups. You got the rugged, physical teams meeting up in Minnesota with the Cowboys and the Vikings. Each has an incredible amount of talent, an unblockable pass rusher, mammoth O-lines, a highly questionable coach and a gunslinger type QB with a history of letdowns at the worst possible moment.

And then on the other hand you have the aerial spread-offense game, with two dominant offenses led by two veteran QBs who've successfully revived two historically awful franchises and made each among the most entertaining to watch in football. I just wanna see what the over-under is on that game. 65? 70? Superdome will be rocking.

Both have the potential to be awesome.

I also like Ravens-Colts. But Jets-Chargers looks like a blowout to me. I can't imagine a world where Mark Sanchez beats Phillip Rivers.

[Michael Jon Snow]

Yes, 3 nail-biters and a blow out is how I am seeing it too.

My money is on Ravens, Chargers, Cowboys, Cardinals

[BLU-RAY]

I think I might go out on a limb and take the Jets over the Chargers, though I'll make real picks later this week.

I really feel like the Jets' D and the fact that SD has zero running game should help them a bunch. Be interesting to see how V-Jax does out on Revis Island, though. If Sanchez doesn't self-destruct, I actually like the Jets' chances.

[Jaime L]

Yes, 3 nail-biters and a blow out is how I am seeing it too.

My money is on Ravens, Chargers, Cowboys, Cardinals

Yeah, at this point I got Vikings, Saints, Ravens and Chargers.

But Ravens-Colts to me is 50/50.

I think I might go out on a limb and take the Jets over the Chargers, though I'll make real picks later this week.

I really feel like the Jets' D and the fact that SD has zero running game should help them a bunch. Be interesting to see how V-Jax does out on Revis Island, though. If Sanchez doesn't self-destruct, I actually like the Jets' chances.

Huh, interesting.

I just feel like Rivers is too good. Revis very well may shut down V Jax, but who shuts down the rest of that 6'5" armada? Gates, Floyd, Naanee. I think if the Chargers score early, the Jets could start to press, and this isn't a team built for comebacks.

[BLU-RAY]

Yeah, I think Gates is the key player for the Chargers O in this game, and is a guy I would want to look at more before making an actual pick. You're right, though, this is a game that could get away from the Jets if they don't start strong. I just feel like they'll find a way defensively to keep the Chargers off balance, and I think they'll win the turnover battle.

[Analu]

I lost $500 by getting every single game wrong this weekend.

Took me all season playing 3 and 4-team parlays to slowly get my wad up to a dime, and I blow half of it all, and probably won't be allowed to bet anymore this postseason. Damn

[Trebla]

At the very least, The Jets/ Chargers game will be interesting just to hear Rex Ryan talk smack. I wanna see Rivers jeer him from the sideline.

I don't wanna speculate on the Cowboys/Vikes game yet. I'm still basking in the glow of 14 years of pain finally ending.

eta: Forgot a word.

[The_BlauerDragon]

Colts-Ravens

Chargers-Jets

Cowboys-Vikings

Saints-Cardinals

Who ya got?

Colts, Jets, Vikings, CARDINALS!!!

[LCOTNW]

Here's hoping the top seeds make next week boring with blowout victories over the lower seeds.

The Saints/Cards game is hard to pick. The Ravens/Colts game is hard to predict for different reasons. In both cases, it really depends which teams show up to play. I think the Chargers can take care of the Jets. I couldn't possibly pick against the Vikings, but I know that will be a tough one, even at home.

[Week]

Is that supposed to be a dig at me or something? I'm not a Steelers fan. I'm a Bears fan and I know they're not in the playoffs. Just like your Pats :P

Oh I'm sorry, I had you confused with an annoying fan of a less pathetic team. :)

[Spring Bass]

I'm tempted to pick the Saints, but they'd actually have to show up in force like they did against the Patriots. Other than that, my money is on the Colts, the Chargers, and the Cowboys.

[LCOTNW]

It's funny about that Rackers miss. Before the kick they were showing him warming up on the sidelines and I thought to myself, "No need to ice that guy, he looks nervous as hell."

He was all red-faced and sweaty, and he kept looking at the cameras...

[The_BlauerDragon]

It's funny about that Rackers miss. Before the kick they were showing him warming up on the sidelines and I thought to myself, "No need to ice that guy, he looks nervous as hell."

He was all red-faced and sweaty, and he kept looking at the cameras...

That's just Rackers for you. Gotta love him. Most dependable kicker in the league. He only misses when it matters. Give him a season where he's kicking at the end of every possession because we have no hope of even coming close to victory and he'll never miss... You could probably line him up in his own end zone and he'd nail it. Give him a make it or break it kick, and it'll go wide left like clockwork.

[ztemhead]

wow, what a good game today. And to think they won it after two critical plays went the other way- Rackers' miss and not getting the coin toss to start OT.

[The_BlauerDragon]

That's a large part of why I love the Cardinals... Win or lose, they're always going to make things interesting. Unless they just don't show up to play, in which case they get blown out so bad that it's just insanely boring to watch. Thankfully, that usually only happens 3-4 times a season.

[Maithanet]

It's really hard for me not to root for the Cardinals. They are so fun to watch. Their defense doesn't even try and force punts, it's just turnovers or touchdowns.

Plus, Larry Fitzgerald is a class act.

I'm not making my picks this week yet, I need to mull it over some. Otherwise I won't be able to recreate my success of picking 1 of the four winners correctly like this week.

Patriots? Man that was a bad choice.

Packers? Everything looked like they were playing well.

Bengals? How could I pick against such nice helmets?

Cowboys? Thank god my least favorite team won. Good weekend guys.

[davos]

Hard loss to swallow for the Packers. To come from so far back and then loose they way they did is just heartbreaking for GB fans. Neither defense could do crap. The cards exposed the same weakness in the d-backfield created by the loss of Al Harris from an injury that Pittsburgh did a few weeks back. And the offensive line, which had actually been playing decently the 2nd half of the season had a really bad game. loosing clifton late in the game was painful and may well have cost them the game given that the the player that blindsided Rogdergs and knocked the ball loose came around the left side of the o-line (Clifton plays left tackle). Have to give kudos to Arizona for pulling it out. Still as a GB fan I'm bumming this morning.

[Maithanet]

Hard loss to swallow for the Packers. To come from so far back and then loose they way they did is just heartbreaking for GB fans. Neither defense could do crap. The cards exposed the same weakness in the d-backfield created by the loss of Al Harris from an injury that Pittsburgh did a few weeks back. And the offensive line, which had actually been playing decently the 2nd half of the season had a really bad game. loosing clifton late in the game was painful and may well have cost them the game given that the the player that blindsided Rogdergs and knocked the ball loose came around the left side of the o-line (Clifton plays left tackle). Have to give kudos to Arizona for pulling it out. Still as a GB fan I'm bumming this morning.

I agree it was a tough loss for a Packers fan. Great game though, and I'm glad it ended on an exciting play, not just a boring chip shot field goal or something.

Mike and Mike were abuzz about the apparently HORRIBLE missed facemask call on Rodgers. I agree he hit his facemask, but it was only because he went right through the ball to do so. To expect defensive players to aim away from the ball is... preposterous. Even in this day and age of protecting qbs.

And on top of that, why are they discussing this like it was a blown call, and it tarnished an otherwise great game? I know I shouldn't expect much from them, but to me this was totally out of left field. Even on the replay the facemask didn't look that bad, and the ref should be watching the fumble/interception, rather than the qb to see if someone touched his head on the follow-through. If they had called the penalty and it resulted in a Packers first down, that would have been a worse result.