NFC Conference Championship Pick'em

Welcome to the NFL Conference Championship round of the 2009 Bleeding Sports Playoff Pick’em. Last week, both G. Francis and the Pickmeister, J. Daniels, have a rough time with the Divisional games going 1-3. Now onto the picks for the early game in the NFC…

Home team in CAPS.

G. Francis – B.S. CEO

ARIZONA (+3.5) over Philadelphia

The spread for the NFC Championship game opened with Philly favored by 4.5. It looks like some of the gamblers out there are joining me on the Cardinals bandwagon and with good reason. The Cardinals are a completely different team at home and will feed off the home crowd. The Eagles have been able to win so far in the postseason despite being one dimensional. It is obvious at this point that RB Brian Westbrook doesn’t have anything left. He’s hurt much worse than anyone wants to admit. This means Donovan McNabb will be asked to win the game and the thing the Cards defense does best in come after opposing quarterbacks. Kurt Warner gets a healthy Anquan Boldin to complement Larry Fitzgerald this week and that should lead to the Cardinals offense scoring enough points to not only cover, but win this one on their home field. Who would have thought we would ever see the Cardinals in the Super Bowl!


J. Daniels - The Pickmeister

ARIZONA (+3.5) over Philadelphia

Very rarely is the away team favored in the playoffs, and when it does happen I don’t know how anyone can justify not taking the home team with the points. Arizona is going to have a distinct home field advantage in this game. The roof is going to be closed to cater to the Cards passing game and to create the deafening noise level that the defense will feed off of. And let’s be honest here Philly’s lucky to be in this game. They’re coming off a game where they had a whopping 276 total yards of offense. Their rushing game is anemic and Westbrook looks 50% at best, but will still be on the field every down because the genius Andy Reid would much rather use him as a decoy than give the ball to Buckhalter. Arizona’s defense has forced 9 turnovers already in the playoffs and this game won’t be any different. The Cards want revenge for that Thanksgiving blow out and they going to get it Sunday. Take Arizona with the points.