Round 2

So last week I batted .500 when predicting the first round of the playoffs. I knew I should stop listening to my heart and and start listening to my head instead because it was telling me to pick Philly. As for the Colts losing to the Chargers, well, I can't claim I saw that.

I did call the Gators over the Sooners, but I didn't preview that. Alright, yes, I'm trying to give myself credit somehow because I'm a fan from Texas. In other words, my favorite college team didn't make the title game like they should have and my favorite pro team is waiting to be a pro team for the new stadium or something. This is going to be a long off-season. At least college basketball is here to enjoy followed by a new season of baseball in which we can watch the Rangers go on a winning streak or two before stinking it up again.

All that pointless rambling has nothing to do with the purpose of this post. Let's break down round two of the NFL playoffs in chronological order.

Ravens and Titans. Both these teams have played a heck of a lot better then most people thought they would and it all starts under center. The Ravens offense is lead by rookie quarterback Joe Flacco out of Delaware. He's thrown for nearly 3,00 yards, 14 TD's and has a QB rating of 80.3. He's not about big numbers but has shown he has what it takes to win in this league. Ray Lewis has established himself as the leader of the defense, but you have to wonder if that position has been moved to Ed Reed. He's got 41 tackles and 9 interceptions. You literally have to game plan around this guy. He's often looked more like a WR against some QBs.

Tennessee has had a great, yet extremely unusual season. The starting quarterback was benched for a long time veteran and you'd figure, that hurt the team, but apparently, it had quite the opposite effect as they were the last team in the league to be handed a loss. Kerry Collins also isn't about the numbers either but knows how to minimize mistakes. That's something this team really needs while going in against guys like Reed and Lewis.

Alright, now to pick a winner, which team do I want to jinx this week? Well I'll go with my head on this one seeing as my heart's not talking, and pick the Ravens in the upset. I think their defense will just be too much for the Titans and their offense has just enough to win. BALTIMORE WINS.

Cardinals and Panthers. Man, what a year it's been for the Cards. Like the Titans, they have benched their young gunslinger for a veteran QB who has lead them this far. Kurt Warner was supposed to be "washed up" and not able to lead them to a playoff victory. Warner's 30 TD passes on the season doubles Jake Delhomme's 15. He's got a nice set of WRs who will give that Panther secondary some trouble.

Carolina has been quiet. You hear far more about the Giants and Titans and teams like that but that's probably the way the Panthers like it. They just keep winning game after game. They've got a two head monster running game with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart.

You literally have to game plan around those guys as well but don't spend too much time doing that because if you do, you may forget about a 5'9" receiver. Steve Smith missed a couple games earlier due to a suspension but now shows no signs of slowing down. The Panthers defense is good but the offense is great. It's going to be too much for the Cardinals to handle. CAROLINA WINS.

Eagles and Giants. I've never tried to hide the fact that I'm a Cowboys fan and I'm not going to now. I want both these teams to lose but don't think that's possible. I don't want to revisit week 17 when the Eagles hosted Dallas but they, well there's no strong enough word to describe what they did to them. The Giants just keep winning games. Early in the season I was quick to write them off and say they weren't going to be nearly as effective due to Michael Strahan retiring and Osi Umenyiora being injured. I was obviously dead wrong as I found out about mid way through the year.

Donovan McNabb has played an incredible pair of games (man, it hurts to admit that) the last couple weeks but he really does need to work on his clock management skills. This game is going to be brutal. It'll be the third meeting on the year between the two NFC East rivals but as far as I'm concerned, the G-Men are just too strong and have just enough experience. NEW YORK WINS.

Chargers and Steelers. This might just be the most intriguing match of the ween in my opinion. Who thought the 8-8 Chargers would be here after knocking of the 12-4 Colts who were on a 9 game winning streak? There are two MAJOR injuries we've heard a lot about coming into this game: Ben Roethlisberger and Ladanian Tomlinson.

LT is probably not going to play in this one and that will hurt the Bolts. They ran the ball extremely well against the Colts last week in his absence with Darren Sproles but this Steelers defense is a step above the Colts D. In order to break them, they're going to need him to play at least a little bit. In order to win, they're going to need him healthy and I just don't see that happening.

As far as the Steelers are concerned, rumor has it Big Ben will play but not necessarily be at 100%. I don't think this injury will keep take the Steelers out of the playoffs, at least not this week. PITTSBURGH WINS