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.

Kevin Gilbride needs to go... he is the Tim Lewis of offensive coordinators!

By GM Be Nasty
Special to Bleeding Sports

The main reason why the Giants have pre-maturely exited the 2008 playoffs is because of the pathetic play calling of Kevin Gilbride. Here is a man who has watched Eli Manning for years and still doesn't understand the man CANNOT throw the ball into the wind. Gilbride refuses to acknowledge this fact and instead of utilizing the run he goes to the passing game time and time again. Just look at the Sunday night game against the Redskins last year when Eli threw the ball 52 times and the Giants lost to a team that was quarterbacked by Todd Collins.

You would think Gilbride would learn after he was thoroughly lambasted for that game plan, but unfortunately for Giants fans he didn't learn his lesson. In that same year he wanted to throw the ball all over the field in the rain, wind, and snow at Buffalo until he was bailed out by two long runs by Jacobs and Bradshaw. And then this year against the Eagles not once but twice Gilbride tried to get cute with his play calling. In week 14 against the Eagles he pulls the Mario Manningham reverse out of his hat to stall a drive in plus territory and continuely called for long passes from his quarterback.

Now on to yesterday's debacle:

Eli's first pass should have showed his bone headed coach that he was not able to control the ball on long passes especially to the outside. But no, he refused to pay attention AGAIN. Backed up on their own 13 yard line up by 3 Gilbride calls a play action two person passing route that calls for his immobile quarterback to roll out and throw a deep out to Hixon in the teeth of the wind that resulted in an INT returned to the Giants two yard line. The game plan heading into this drive should have been to chew up as much time as possible so the Eagles would not have the benefit of the wind any longer.

Now we come to 1st and 5 at the Eagles 21 with 1:55 left in the first half. The Eagles are on their heels and the Giants have moved the ball down field by running up the middle, but Gilbride channeling his inner Mike Martz decides this is the time to get innovative and comes out with 3 straight passing plays out of the shotgun formation. All the Giants had to do was run the ball once to get the clock going and Philadelphia would not have seen the ball again until the second half. Because of his putrid play calling he gave the Eagles the chance to score points at the end of the half and the possibility of them doubling up because they got the ball first in the second half.

Finally lets move to the 4th quarter with the Giants down 9 points and needing to score twice to win the game. The Giants get the ball with 14:56 left and Gilbride calls for 5 straight running plays which ended with Eli Manning's girlie attempt at a QB sneak on 4th and inches. The defense then holds the Eagles to a punt and the Giants get the ball back at the 11 yard line with 10:22 left in the game and down by 9. At this point I can only hold my breath thinking about what the genius will come up with on this drive and Gilbride doesn't fail to impress. The passing guru has now become conservative and calls for runs on 6 out of the next 7 plays ending with Jacbos being stuffed on 4th and 2 which sealed the Giants postseason fate.

So to recap. On the two most pivotal drives of the game when the Giants needed to score and save clock Gilbride decides to ball play control. The only explanation for this disgusting coaching performance is that Gilbride must have looked up at the scoreboard and thought that the Giants were winning 23-11.

I am sick and tired of this man and his indefensible moves. He hinders the Giants ability to win every week and these factors are magnified without the abilities of Plaxico Burress to bail out FlutterLI Manning on his deep throws.

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.

2009 NFL Playoff Pick’em

2009 NFL Playoff Pick’em

Welcome to year three of the Bleeding Sports annual NFL playoff pick’em. This year the competition between the Pickmeister, J. Daniels, and the BS CEO, G. Francis, is a best of seven. The battle begins this week with the divisional round. To start it off, we’ll look at the Saturday games. Let the fight for NFL spread picking bragging rights begin!

Home team in CAPS.

G. Francis – BS CEO

TENNESSEE (–3) over Baltimore

It seems that the public has fallen asleep on the Titans, which is only natural since they haven’t had much to play for since taking out Pittsburgh in Week 16. The Ravens meanwhile have been rolling and have had some high profile wins that have garnered them some added attention. Looking at the game realistically, the Ravens defense is solid, but the Titans defense has been better this season. Offensively, the Ravens are still starting a rookie QB in Joe Flacco with a mediocre running game while the Titans feature a seasoned QB in Kerry Collins and a strong running with Chris Johnson and LenDale White. It is also worth mentioning that the game is in Tennessee. The Ravens run ends today and while the game will be close Tennessee wins by more than a field goal.


Arizona (+10) over CAROLINA

Every prognosticator in world loves the Panthers in this game and with good reason. The Cardinals are awful on the road and there is a good chance the star WR Anquan Boldin will miss the game with a hamstring injury. However, to me, Carolina is overrated especially defensively. The weather may be a factor, but the Cardinals should still be able to move the ball just like they did when playing in Carolina earlier this season. The first meeting between these two teams was a close game and this game will be closer than all those experts out there believe.


J. Daniels – The Pickmeister

TENNESEE (-3) over Baltimore

Three points doesn’t seem enough here for to go with Baltimore. When these two teams met earlier this year Tennessee edged out the Ravens by, you guessed it, 3 points. But Tennessee is home this time and this is the Playoff. Kerry Collins wants revenge for his abysmal performance in the 2000 Super Bowl, and Joe Flacco will likely play worse than he did in the Wildcard round. Take TENNESEE to cover the spread.


Arizona (+10) over CAROLINA

Carolina WILL win this games, but its hard to not to take a team who’s getting 10 points in the playoff. Yes, Arizona can’t play on the road but I don’t think the weather in Charlotte will make a difference in this game. On he down side, Anquan Boldin most likely will not be playing, but Fitzgerald and Breaston should be able to pick up the slack enough to keep them within 10 points. Take Arizona with the points.

NFL Divisional Playoff Preview – Saturday

It’s the most wonderful weekend of the New Year. Four divisional playoff games over two days with plenty of snow here in the northeast giving football fans the added incentive to stay home and watch. Network execs at CBS and FOX are jumping for joy right now.

Here's a look at Saturday's divisional match ups.

Baltimore at Tennessee – 4:30pm

What we learned last week:

The Baltimore defense continues to make plays and force the opposition into mistakes. Last week in Miami, the Ravens forced five turnovers against a Dolphin team that gave the ball away only thirteen times during the entire regular season. On offense, the Ravens are below average, however, rookie QB Joe Flacco poses the threat of making plays down the field with is well above average arm.

What to expect this week:

Tennessee has been the class of the AFC all season and defeated Baltimore earlier this season in a tight game 13-10. The Titans have relied on their strong running game featuring star rookie Chris Johnson and bruiser LenDale White. In this match up, however, it may come down to which team can make the most plays in the passing game. The experience of Titans QB Kerry Collins gives him a distinct advantage over the rookie Flacco and he also has the added incentive of trying to exact some revenge on Ray Lewis and a Ravens’ defense that was dominant in their Super Bowl XXXV victory over Collins when he was a member of the Giants.

Arizona at Carolina – 8pm

What we learned last week:

The Cardinals defense came to play last week and shutdown Atlanta’s All-Pro running back Michael Turner. Offensively, the Cards did what they have done all year at home and made big plays in the passing game. They also did something they hadn’t done all year and that was run the football with success.

What to expect this week:

The Carolina running game has been the talk of town during the second half of the season. Arizona will try to make a commitment defensively to stuff Carolina two-headed monster of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart while remaining leery of WR Steve Smith on the outside. If the Cardinals can force Carolina to be one-dimensional they have a chance to force QB Jake Delhomme into mistakes. The Cardinals have been dreadful traveling east this season, however, their one quality road performance on the right coast came in their 27-23 loss at Carolina in a game they could have easily won. The Cardinals mood the ball with ease on that day and will have the chance to do the same this time against a suspect Carolina defense. The potential loss of Anquan Boldin is a huge one for Arizona, but this game may be closer than the expert predict.

Boston College Socks North Carolina

The #1 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels have looked unbeatable on the hardwood this season. That was until this evening while in the midst of NFL playoff action the Powder Blues got beat down on their home court by Boston College. UNC had no answer for the Eagles backcourt of Tyrese Rice and Rakim Sanders who scored 25 and 22 points respectively. The Eagles led throughout and held on for an 85-78 victory. The BC shocker is easily the biggest upset of the college basketball season and comes in the same week as second ranked UConn's home loss to Georgetown. This means that when the new polls are released tomorrow Pittsburgh, who dominated Georgetown on Saturday, will likely become the top ranked team in the land.

Hats off to Boston College for pulling the upset on the road and showing the nation that the talent laden Tar Heels are indeed beatable...in the Dean Dome no less.

Story of the Year

The Major League Baseball postseason is now under way and there have already been some surprising. The Cub fans can tell people all about that. Barring a miracle by that North Side team, the best story in all of sports for this year has already been written. In 2007, The Tampa Bay Devil Rays finished with a 66-96 record making them the worst team in baseball. In 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays went 97-65 and won the toughest division in all of sports. In this day and age, the idea of a team other than the Yankees or Red Sox prevailing in the AL East seems almost unfathomable. Either New York or Boston had won every division title since 1997. It’s amazing what a little name change can do for a franchise. The Rays dropped the Devil and became baseball’s darlings. The prognosticators continued to doubt them waiting for manager Joe Madden’s young upstarts to fold. Only the Rays never did.

It had become almost a foregone conclusion that nobody in the AL East could compete the big market Yankees and Red Sox and their huge payrolls. The longest of long shots, the Rays had been a perennial piñata for the rest of league. What nobody noticed the last few years was that Tampa Bay was quietly rebuilding the franchise. It started three years ago with new ownership and management determined to change a losing climate. It continued with hiring Joe Madden as manager and spreading his play the game the right way approach throughout the organization. Most importantly, the Rays started to stock piling young talent. Baseball fans will be hearing the names Kazmir, Shields, Upton, Crawford, Garza, and Longoria for years to come.

If teams like the Marlins and Rockies haven’t already proved it, the days of spending big bucks on super star players in order to win are over. It just doesn’t work that way anymore. Teams must be able to build from within. Franchises from Pittsburgh to Kansas City to San Francisco have hope and more franchise will begin to follow the Tampa Bay blueprint. That blueprint involves speed, strong pitching, good defense, playing hard, and the concept of team. The Rays performance this season was no fluke and could very well end with a World Series championship this year. Baseball fans should be paying attention. The Rays’ division title was no small feat and it is only the start of things to come. Baseball’s next dynasty resides in Tampa Bay.