NFL Playoff Pick'em - Sunday

G. Francis – BS CEO

NEW YORK (-4) over Philadelphia

The Giants have been the best team in professional football all season. The so-called experts seem believe that the Eagles have been the best team in the league down the stretch. These division rivals split their two meeting this season with each winning on the other team’s home field. Something has to give. In my opinion, what gives in this rubber match is the Eagles run defense. In their first meeting this season, the Giants ran for over two hundred yard against the Eagles undersized defense. Even in their loss to Philly a few weeks back the G-Men ran the ball fairly effectively before Brandon Jacobs went down in the third quarter. The Giants also uncharacteristically gave up big plays on defense and left plays on the field on offense. If Dominick Hixon does not drop a wide open touchdown pass in the first half it is an entirely different game. The Giants were also dealing with the fallout of the Plaxico Burress shooting incident.

This time around, all things are equal. The Giants don’t have any distractions or excuses and Eagles are coming into the meadowlands with a load of confidence. In January, it comes down to which team can do a better job protecting the football, running the ball, and stopping the run. The Giants have done all three this season much better than the Eagles. In addition, the Giants are at home and coming off a bye while the Eagles played a physical game last week that left RT John Runyan and star RB Brian Westbrook unable to practice all week. The Giants take this one by at least at touchdown.


San Diego (+6.5) over PITTSBURGH

The one team that may be on a bigger roll than Philadelphia is the San Diego SUPER-Chargers. The key to the Chargers turnaround has been a defense that has completely transformed itself since the firing of defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell and promotion of Ron Rivera. Last week, the Chargers virtually shutdown the league MVP Peyton Manning and the Colts’ vaunted offense. This week, the Chargers have to play on the road, but Big Ben and the Steelers have struggled all year to score points. For that reason, 6.5 points seems like a lot even with the game being played at Heinz Field. Everyone remembers that the Chargers went to Pittsburgh earlier this season and lost that wild one point game. The Pittsburgh defense dominated that game and they will need to do the same today for the Steelers to cover. The Chargers have been playing much better since that first meeting with the Steelers and this game will be close. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Chargers even find a way to pull it out. I’ll take the Chargers getting the points.


J.Daniels - The Pickmeister

NEW YORK (-4) over Philadelphia

Same story, different year. The Giants are the number one seed with home field advantage throughout and yet all I’ve been hearing for the last week is how damn good Philly is. Does anyone remember that this same undeserved hype was given to the Eagles at the start of season only to see them begin 5-5-1. But now that they won 5 of their last 6 everyone is comparing them to G-MEN of last year. However, theres one big difference. The Giants got no respect on their road to the becoming Super Bowl champs. There were no Sports Illustrated covers calling them “DANGEROUS”, no special interviews on Fox before the game, and no credit. As we saw a year ago, nothing fuels this Giants team more than the lack of respect. Look for Man-Bear-Beast Jacobs to plow over the 35 year old Dawkins on the Giants way to domination. Take the G-MEN to cover the spread.


San Diego (+6.5) over PITTSBURGH

6.5? Is that the line of this game or the number of turnovers Ben Roethlisberger is going to have? Honestly, the Steelers aren’t going to beat anyone by six points. If the Chargers get as a little as a safety, there’s no way Pittsburgh is covering this spread. The Steelers offense is almost non-existent and the only thing Big Bum is good at is holding the ball for three hours and then getting sacked. The bolts are going to win this game outright. Take San Diego with the points.