The first game Saturday afternoon is the Cincinnati Bengals at the Houston Texans. This is a tough game to call. Both teams are on a bit of a downward trend having lost three of their last five games with some of those losses to bad teams. Statistically the Texans are better across the board and are playing at home so they should beat the Bengals, but I've been impressed by Andy Dalton and AJ Green. Houston's favored, but I think the Bengals may just pull this one out. I'm going with the Bengals on this one. I think they can pull off enough big plays to win the game.
The second game on Saturday is the Detroit Lions at the New Orleans Saints. This is probably the biggest mismatch on paper. I've been picking the Saints to make the Super Bowl so I've got to pick the Saints to win this game. The Lions will need a career day out fo Suh on defense and Calvin Johnson on offense to stay in the game, but the Saints are probably just going to be too good to beat this week. This game could be over by halftime.
The early game on Sunday is the Atlanta Falcons at the New York Giants. I'm giving the edge here to the Falcons. They can run the ball very well with Michael Turner. They have Tony Gonzalez at tight end and Julio Jones and Roddy White as wide receivers. The Giants just don't match up well against the Falcons. The Giants are the Las Vegas favorite in this game, but I don't buy it. I think Atlanta will handle them pretty easily. The Falcons can keep the Giant pass rush in check by mixing in screens, draws, and running plays. They can throw on running downs to take advantage of the Giants weak secondary. Julio Jones and Roddy White are tough guys to cover. If the Giants bring up their safeties to shut down Atlanta's run game then the Falcons can go deep against the Giants' corners. About the only thing going for the Giants right now is Victor Cruz. The Falcons should have seen enough film on him by now to know to keep him in check. I liked Manningham coming out of college, but he hasn't shown as much as expected in the pros and Hakeem Nicks seems to drop as many passes as he catches, so the Falcons should be able to focus a lot of attention on Cruz to shut him down and the Giants will be in trouble. I expect the Falcons to win this one.
The final game of the wildcard round will be Pittsburgh at Denver. When healthy the Steelers are the far better team here. The problem is the Steelers are far from healthy. Roethlisberger is really banged up. Their running backs are beat up with Mendenhall done for the playoffs and probably much of next season too with the torn ACL. I don't have a good feel for either team in this game. I think this is a game where momentum plays a huge role. If Tebow can get some success going early and build some confidence, then Denver might be able to pull this out, but getting success against that Steeler defense is never easy. If the Broncos have any offensive rabbits in their hat, then this is the week to pull them out. They're going to have to surprise that Steeler defense to win the game and I don't think they'll be up to it. I've got the Steelers winning this one.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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