Best Divisional Match Up

[MileHigh64]

It looks like we're facing another strong playoff weekend next week, with multiple story lines.

New Orleans at Seattle
Can anyone go into Seattle and beat the Seahawks and their vaunted 12th man? Are the Seahawks over-confident? Will this resemble the earlier blowout game from earlier in the season? Maybe not a blowout, but I see a Seattle win.

Indianapolis at New England
A night game at Foxboro could bring cold, wind or snow. Can Andrew Luck and his dome team Colts come away with a victory. With 2 weeks to game plan and get healthy, are the Patriots poised to make another Super Bowl run? I think the veteran team exposes a mediocre defense and the Patriots advance to the AFCCG.

San Francisco at Carolina
Two of the league's young guns go at it again. Clad with a few less layers of Under Armor, can the 49er's continue their hot streak against a team that already beat them at home? Will Cam Newton take the next step in his maturation? I like the 49er's in a very close game.

San Diego at Denver
An AFC West re-match with two teams that have never met in the post-season. Do the Chargers own the "beat Manning" blueprint? Can Phillip Rivers continue to build on his 6-2 record at Denver? Do the Broncos come out tight, with memories of the Divisional Round loss last year in double overtime? These teams know each other well, but the better team survives a tough game. Broncos advance. Homer pick, but logical.

Yep....I see 3 of the 4 home teams winning. Odds aren't necessarily in my favor.

Which of these four games are you most looking forward to? Which ones have the chance to be a one-sided blowout and which games will be the closest?

 

[NEhomer]

Pretty good analysis milehigh. Wouldn't disagree with any of it.

..but like you say, you're always leary of picking the straight home field ticket.

 

[RoboticDreams]

Seattle - San Francisco
Denver - New England

San Francisco - Denver

San Francisco wins and ties Pittsburgh with 6 trophies.

 

[MrMoJoRisin63]

Pretty good analysis milehigh. Wouldn't disagree with any of it.

..but like you say, you're always leary of picking the straight home field ticket.

How did the Pats get healthy? Is Mayo, Kelly, Wilfork, Gronk, did Boyce come off IR? Not sure how we got healthier. But I agree anytime a dome team has to got to NE, Pitt, GB etc it can be a challenge.

 

[gowazzu02]

Should be a great weekend for football.

SF Carolina is going to be a slug fest.

SD has really started to run the ball well. It started with the denver win in what was that week 14/15? they pound the rock now.

I think Indys terrible D catchs up to them this week.

Sea and No, I will withhold judgement

 

[MileHigh64]

How did the Pats get healthy? Is Mayo, Kelly, Wilfork, Gronk, did Boyce come off IR? Not sure how we got healthier. But I agree anytime a dome team has to got to NE, Pitt, GB etc it can be a challenge.

I should have said rest and regain some health for those not on the IR. The bye week can be good for that, but it can also create rust. We'll see which is the case for the Seahawks, Panthers, Patriots and Broncos.

 

[bksballer89]

every home team will lose except Denver

 

[MrMoJoRisin63]

I should have said rest and regain some health for those not on the IR. The bye week can be good for that, but it can also create rust. We'll see which is the case for the Seahawks, Panthers, Patriots and Broncos.

Yeah that makes sense. I am just happy to have a stable of quality RBs we are gonna need them. IMO

 

[CaptainStubing]

It looks like we're facing another strong playoff weekend next week, with multiple story lines.

New Orleans at Seattle
Can anyone go into Seattle and beat the Seahawks and their vaunted 12th man? Are the Seahawks over-confident? Will this resemble the earlier blowout game from earlier in the season? Maybe not a blowout, but I see a Seattle win.

Indianapolis at New England
A night game at Foxboro could bring cold, wind or snow. Can Andrew Luck and his dome team Colts come away with a victory. With 2 weeks to game plan and get healthy, are the Patriots poised to make another Super Bowl run? I think the veteran team exposes a mediocre defense and the Patriots advance to the AFCCG.

San Francisco at Carolina
Two of the league's young guns go at it again. Clad with a few less layers of Under Armor, can the 49er's continue their hot streak against a team that already beat them at home? Will Cam Newton take the next step in his maturation? I like the 49er's in a very close game.

San Diego at Denver
An AFC West re-match with two teams that have never met in the post-season. Do the Chargers own the "beat Manning" blueprint? Can Phillip Rivers continue to build on his 6-2 record at Denver? Do the Broncos come out tight, with memories of the Divisional Round loss last year in double overtime? These teams know each other well, but the better team survives a tough game. Broncos advance. Homer pick, but logical.

Yep....I see 3 of the 4 home teams winning. Odds aren't necessarily in my favor.

Which of these four games are you most looking forward to? Which ones have the chance to be a one-sided blowout and which games will be the closest?

you have all 4 favorites winning. 2 of them winning is a more logical prediction.

 

[RoboticDreams]

you have all 4 favorites winning. 2 of them winning is a more logical prediction.

 

[TDs3nOut]

It looks like we're facing another strong playoff weekend next week, with multiple story lines.

New Orleans at Seattle
Can anyone go into Seattle and beat the Seahawks and their vaunted 12th man? Are the Seahawks over-confident? Will this resemble the earlier blowout game from earlier in the season? Maybe not a blowout, but I see a Seattle win.

Indianapolis at New England
A night game at Foxboro could bring cold, wind or snow. Can Andrew Luck and his dome team Colts come away with a victory. With 2 weeks to game plan and get healthy, are the Patriots poised to make another Super Bowl run? I think the veteran team exposes a mediocre defense and the Patriots advance to the AFCCG.

San Francisco at Carolina
Two of the league's young guns go at it again. Clad with a few less layers of Under Armor, can the 49er's continue their hot streak against a team that already beat them at home? Will Cam Newton take the next step in his maturation? I like the 49er's in a very close game.

San Diego at Denver
An AFC West re-match with two teams that have never met in the post-season. Do the Chargers own the "beat Manning" blueprint? Can Phillip Rivers continue to build on his 6-2 record at Denver? Do the Broncos come out tight, with memories of the Divisional Round loss last year in double overtime? These teams know each other well, but the better team survives a tough game. Broncos advance. Homer pick, but logical.

Yep....I see 3 of the 4 home teams winning. Odds aren't necessarily in my favor.

Which of these four games are you most looking forward to? Which ones have the chance to be a one-sided blowout and which games will be the closest?

Good post. Certainly does look like four more great games coming up this weekend.


New Orleans at Seattle
NO definitely faces a tough task here. Seattle having finally lost at home a few weeks ago, along with NO's big road win at Philly, suggest that NO has a better chance here than it might have seemed only a few weeks back. The NO run game and defense were impressive at Philly, so I'd have to say that those are the keys to there hopes here. Still, I have to pick Seattle.

Indianapolis at New England
Pretty much agree with everything you wrote. Extra time for NE to prepare and the weather imply an advantage for NE. Betting against Luck is dangerous, but I pick the Pats.
.
San Francisco at Carolina
Also agree with you here that SF is the most likely team to win on the road. Perhaps I am basing too much on yesterday's game, but I think that I trust Kaepernik more than Cam in this one. Should be a very physical defensive game.

San Diego at Denver
Tough matchup for Denver. Even in the game we won at SD the Chargers have had a good game plan against the Broncos. In both games SD was much better at both running the ball and defending the run that we were, which resulted in Denver possessing the ball for only about 20 minutes in each game and scoring two of its three lowest point totals. I think that Denver probably needs to fix this disparity. Perhaps its just my bias, but I think that we will do that. I am almost certain that we will not abandon the run like we did in the loss a few weeks ago.

 

[TDs3nOut]

you have all 4 favorites winning. 2 of them winning is a more logical prediction.

I disagree. The OP listed specific reasons for each of his picks. That seems far more logical to me than simply saying that underdog teams win about half the time.

 

[boltfan72]

Honestly I could see all 4 of these games going either way, with the possible exception of the Seattle-NO game. That's just a terrible matchup for NO and it showed when they were destroyed in Seattle on MNF. But when you have Brees you have a chance.

Tough to predict any of them. Should be a fantastic weekend of football, with my boys playing last. Can't wait!

 

[gowazzu02]

Honestly I could see all 4 of these games going either way, with the possible exception of the Seattle-NO game. That's just a terrible matchup for NO and it showed when they were destroyed in Seattle on MNF. But when you have Brees you have a chance.

Tough to predict any of them. Should be a fantastic weekend of football, with my boys playing last. Can't wait!

Going last is good, you'll get to enjoy the other games.

Me on the other hand wont watch a minute of the other 3 games if Seattle loses......my weekend will be ruined....

 

[cdumler7]

I would say my favorite other than the Broncos is the SF-Carolina game. 2 great defenses facing off against very similar style quarterbacks and both teams boasting pretty good running games. Should be a fun one.

 

[Wolvie]

every away team will lose except Denver

FIFY

 

[RoboticDreams]

FIFY

He had it right the first time. No need for correction.