2012 Wildcard Weekend Picks

Bengals at Texans: The Texans finished the 2012 season slumping, going 2-3 in their last 5 games, and losing the #1 seed. The Bengals finished hot, going 4-1 and playing themselves into the playoffs. The Texans won't be able to get much done through the air against the Bengals, but Arian Foster should be able to get it done on the ground. That and homefield should get the Texans past the Bengals, but I suspect their ride will end immediately after.

Viking at Packers: Adrian Peterson is a beast, no doubt, but I do not see the Vikings beating the Pack two weeks in a row, particularly not at Lambeau in January, and even if Greg Jennings would rather play inside. Packers.

Colts at Ravens: This week, Ray Lewis has announced that he's retiring after this season. He also announced that he'll be playing in the playoffs. And Joe Flacco hasn't exactly been lighting it up recently. And Andrew Luck has. But the Ravens still have Ray Rice, and the Colts have a rookie QB and a defense that is putrid against the run. And there is NO WAY the team lets a wildcard loss be Ray-Ray's last game. NO WAY. Ravens.

Seahawks at Redskins: This is a VERY INTERESTING matchup. Two dynamic rookie QBs. Two powerful running games. Two teams no one expected to see in the post-season this year. The Redskins are on fire going into the playoffs, winning their last seven games. The Seahawks are on fire going into the playoffs, winning their last five, including hanging 42 points on the #3 defense in the league. The NFL honchos chose wisely in putting this game on Sunday at 4:30. It should be excellent. The Seahawks should definitely go to the air against the Skins, who are almost dead last against the pass. But both of these teams have made their bones with their ground games. And if it's true that offense wins games and defense wins championships, I'm going to have to go with the Skins, who are better against the run than the Hawks.

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2011 Wildcard Weekend Recap

Texans over Bengals: The Bengals started strong, looked like they had it in the first half. But they had the proverbial uncapitalized opportunities, and by the second half, homefield advantage was kicking in in a big way. The Texans' fans were going nuts non-stop for 3 1/2 hours, and the Bengals eventually succumbed. Well, to the fans and to Arian Foster's 150+ yards on the ground. Realistically, neither of these teams was going to go far, but congratulations on your first playoff win, former Team of Destiny. Clearly, I should've kept the faith.

Saints over Lions: As expected. Did you notice the game was poorly officiated? Because it was SO poorly officiated, the NFL has officially admitted they blew the fumble/fumble recovery call towards the end of the first half. You can argue that, given the eventual score, that 7 points didn't really matter. Or did it? Momentum is a tricky thing. Not that I'm sad that the Saints won or anything, but you do really hope that the zebras will bring their BEST effort to the playoffs, not their worst.

Giants over Falcons: Also as expected. Eli was good Eli - which he's been more than not this season - and where in the hell did that run game come from? That may be the true miracle this season. I expected the Giants to win, but holding the Falcons to only a safety? Wow. The Falcons helped by making poor choices on going for it on 4th and short. Those were the sorriest excuses for QB sneaks I've ever seen, but they were representative of the fact that the Falcons O-line was getting NO push at all on the Giants D-line all day. Dear Mike Smith: wishing doesn't make it so.

Broncos over Steelers: I'm still stunned about this one. When did Tim Tebow turn into John Elway? I'm sure I saw Elway in a suit in one of the luxury suites. Then again, it was TV...Tebow's mechanics are still cringe-worthy (even for someone like me who's never played the game herself), but when did he start becoming a down the field passing threat? Ben's inability to move and the other injuries the Steelers were dealing with clearly hurt them big time, too. Is it real? Guess we'll know next week in Foxborough. So was I the only person who noticed that Ron Winter didn't seem to quite understand the new playoff game overtime rules? Because that long explanation he gave before the coin toss made NO sense. I guess it was a good thing it wasn't necessary to deploy them, because I'm not confident the officiating crew would've known what was what.

So all the home teams won this weekend. Will that hold next week? We'll see...

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2011 Wildcard Weekend Picks

Bengals at Texans: neither team comes in exactly lighting it up, but the Texans remind me of season 4 Buffy the Vampire Slayer. For those few fools who weren't fans (what's wrong with you, btw?), the basic plot was that an evil government entity was trying to put together a race of half human/half demon warriors, a la Dr. Frankenstein. One of the creatures begins running amuck, as these sorts of creatures often do, and plots to lure Buffy into the demon containment facility that's guarded by soldiers. His plan is to incite a riot while she's there and for her to kill enough demons (her destined calling) to even the human/demon body count (thus providing plenty of construction materials) until she's too weak to continue. That's pretty much where the Texans are at this point. Also, in their last matchup in week 14, the Texans won (their last win, for what it's worth). And it's hard to beat a team twice in a row. Bengals. Which they should savor, since it will be their last playoff win this year.

Steelers at Broncos: Of course, by that logic, I should pick the Broncos, because the Steelers are one beaten down mess at this point. But I just can't see the Broncos pulling this off. The Steelers are too smart - and too good on D. And Tim Tebow's 15 minutes seems almost up. Steelers.

Falcons at Giants: I'm really tempted to take the Falcons here, and they do have a marginally better record. But even with the other problems the Giants have these days, and they are many, Eli Manning has a hot hand going into the playoffs, and Victor Cruz can turn a 5 yard dump off pass into a 90+ yard TD at any moment, and to me, that says that the Falcons, even though they have a well-ranked D, are in trouble. Also, they are not so good on the road. Giants.

Lions at Saints: Oh Lions. Lions Lions Lions. I hate to say "I told you so" but I told you to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to hang onto the 5th seed. Did you listen to me? Noooooo. Will you regret it? Yeeeeeessss. About the time you realize that not only can't you hear each other in the huddle, but the Superdome is rocking so hard you can't even use hand signals. The Saints don't lose at home, baby. Saints.

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2010 Wildcard Weekend Recap

Eagles v. Packers, Sunday, January 9, 2011

In attendance: Shoegal, Ex-Navy Cheesehead, Chef Spouse and me

Menu:  cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese, plus shrimp and crudites for snackies from the gang and yummy desserts courtesy of Shoegal. And bourbon. LOTS of bourbon.

Stud of the week: Seriously? There isn't one. I can't think of a single player who didn't make at least one major mistake yesterday. 

So the 2010 season was bookended by losses to the Packers. Can I get an "F that!"? I think I can.

I was right about the 3 road teams pick - I just messed up WHICH road teams. Oy.

This was the game of almost - the Eagles almost had sacks and picks and field goals and big catches and tackles and 2 point conversions and almost broke big runs.

Almost.

But they didn't.

I really don't have it in me to recap the game, other than to point out that if David Akers made even one of the field goals he missed...if Brent Celek didn't inexplicably go out the back of the end zone, negating the 2 point conversion...that last pick never even happens, because Andy knows they can take the 3 and go to overtime.

At least the guys went down swinging. 

So here's the thing: back in August, I predicted the team would go 6-10 (or maybe 7-9) and be at the bottom of the NFC East. They way overperformed my expectations. Even getting to the playoffs was definitely icing on my cake, as was another NFC East championship.

Looking to the offseason, the Front Office needs to lock down our QB situation. My guess? Trade K2 for a high draft pick - there are plenty of teams with high first round picks who need quarterbacks, and no, I don't think that's an unreasonable ask - and sign Mike Vick to a deal that would've been a lot fatter had they signed it a month ago. The FO also needs to pick up another corner back to play opposite Asante Samuel. Because it sure as hell ain't Dimitri Patterson. I hear a guy named Nnamdi Asomugha might be available - maybe you've heard of him?  And if they're going to stick with Mike Vick at QB - and I think they are - they need to do something about the O-line, because he seriously will not make 16 games at this rate. Akers seems to think he won't be back in Philly, and his contract is up, but I don't see that happening. Good kickers are not so easy to come by, right Mike Vanderjagt?

But really, Andy Reid said it best: very few teams can completely retool the way the Eagles have in the past two years and still get to the playoffs both years. The future looks good. As long as we can stop this emerging trend of losing in the first round of the playoffs at 2.

In the rest of the matchups:

Seahawks over Saints: OK, as bummed as we all are over the Eagles loss, it's not shocking. Two 10-6 teams, evenly matched, popular vote, bloggers, and professional sports commentators pretty much splitting 50/50 on predicting the winner - it could've gone either way. But the defending Super Bowl champs losing to a 7-9 team in the wildcard round? WTF? I totally attribute this win to the Seahawks 12th man. And the Saints played like they'd all taken the Nyquil Drew Brees has been shilling for prior to the game. Anyway, I don't guess the Bears will take Nyquil before next weekend and the Seahawks don't get to bring ALL their fans to Soldier Field with them, so I'm guessing their freaky playoff run will end, but in the meantime, seriously, Saints, WTF? Best line? On Twitter: "Marshawn Lynch just stiff-armed Tracy Porter into Puget Sound." I hope they fished him out for the flight home.

Jets over Colts: Great game. Also, how weird is it to watch a team that's mostly about "run the ball and don't make the QB do anything too hard where he might screw up and blow the game for the team"? I wonder what that's like. Also, perhaps the Colts should pick up an ACTUAL head coach and an ACTUAL offensive coordinator? Peyton seems to be a smart guy, but asking him to be the QB, the OC and the HC all at once seems like too much, you know?

Ravens over Chiefs: This was the only game that really sucked. Not that it was unexpected, but still - Chiefs' fans? It's the FREAKIN' PLAYOFFS, which your team hasn't sniffed in years. SIT YOUR ASSES DOWN AND WATCH YOUR TEAM LOSE. That stadium was EMPTY mid-way through the 4th quarter, and that is just unacceptable. It's the PLAYOFFS, man!

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2010 Wildcard Weekend Picks

Saints at Seahawks: Unfortunately, the Saints are down to their last running back. Fortunately, it's Reggie Bush. Unfortunately, he hasn't exactly been having a brilliant season.  There's no time like the present to turn that around, Reg. Saints. Not least of which because then we can all put the shame of having a 7-9 team in the NFC playoffs behind us.

Jets at Colts: Rex Ryan's mouth may be writing checks his team can't cash, but I'm pretty sure he'll be able to swing a payday loan at least for this week with "17 Colts on IR" as collateral. Jets.

Ravens at Chiefs: Lots of sports commentator talk about how well the Chiefs match up with the Ravens and home field advantage and Todd Haley this and Matt Cassel that and what a great season Jamaal Charles has had and the Chiefs' great offensive line and rookie safety Eric Berry (who, you might remember, I wanted the Eagles to draft). Whatever. Ravens.

Packers at Eagles: I don't see the Birds going deep into the playoffs this year - not that I wouldn't love to be proved wrong - but (stop me if you've heard this one before), the Eagles are overly dependent on quarterbacking pizazz, and that's not exactly an on demand kind of thing. It's also a highly vulnerable asset. And, with a collective age (other than Akers and Vick) of about 12, they're prone to rookie mistakes. I do see them clearing the Packers at home, not least of which because the starters have had two weeks to prepare, but I think that might be as far as it goes this year. The team has the youth and the talent to remain a strong contender for several years. I'm pretty sure this just ain't our year, but it IS our week. Eagles

Wait - I've picked 3 road teams. Clearly I'm wrong about at least one of those picks. Then again, on the NFL Network earlier this week, Kurt Warner picked all 4 road teams. Which doesn't mean we're not both wrong, but at least I'm in good company.

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2010 Wildcard Weekend Schedule

We'll be watching football both days (well, actually, we'll miss at least part of the early game Saturday due to a wedding - I know, I know who schedules a wedding during the playoffs?), but we'll do our weekly party on Sunday, since that's when the Eagles play.

Here's the schedule:

Saturday, January 8

4:30 pm  - Saints at Seahawks
8 pm - Jets at Colts

Sunday, January 9

1 pm - Ravens at Chiefs
4:30 pm - Packers at Eagles

Chef Spouse is planning to revisit favorites during the playoffs. Up this week: cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

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Divisional Weekend Schedule: January 16-17, 2010

Divisional Weekend Schedule

Saturday, January 16
4:30 pm - Cardinals/Saints
8 pm - Ravens/Colts

Sunday, January 17
1 pm - Cowboys/Vikings
4:30 pm - Jets/Chargers

Menu: still to be determined. Chef Spouse may be organizing his annual Metrosexual Day on Sunday pre-game, which means there could be a BIG group here. If you have any requests, leave them in the comments :)

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2009 Wildcard Weekend Recap

Eagles at Cowboys, Saturday, January 9, 2010

In attendance: Shoegal, Chef Spouse, Prototypical Eagles Fan (feel better, Ex-Navy Cheesehead!) And Limin' ABD stopped by unexpectedly on Sunday!

Menu: Popeyes.

Stud of the week: no stud of the week this week. But I am going to nominate a Stud of the Year: Donovan McNabb. McNabb has not had an easy tenure in Philly. Just to refresh your memory: booed by idiots who wanted Ricky Williams on draft day, he was pressed into service as a starter mid-way through his rookie year.

In his first year as a full-time starter, 2000, he led us into the NFC Wildcard. 2001 resulted in our first of 4 back-to-back trips to the NFC Championship Game. In 2002, he famously threw for 4 TDs on a broken leg. He missed 6 games, but came back for the playoffs and another NFC Championship Game appearance.

In 2004, he finally got the #1 wideout he'd been begging for, and we went to the Super Bowl, where we lost to Belichick's Cheaters.

McNabb then went through some wilderness years, falling prey to a sports hernia in 2005 (in the infamous Year When Everyone Got Hurt and TO Reverted to Form) and a torn ACL in 2006. Everyone, including me, was sure the window had closed. Big5 came back in 2007, starting games at least 3 months before he even should have been back on the practice field. By 2008, he was back in playoff form, taking us, once again, to the NFC Championship Game. And this year, with the youngest roster not in the division, not in the NFC, but in the entire NFL, he led us back to the playoffs.

The whole time, he's had to put up with unremitting bullshit from a cadre of vocal and stupid Philly "fans" and the often disturbingly uninformed Philly sports media. And he's kept smiling, kept answering the same asinine questions over and over with patience and good humor, and, mostly, kept winning. All while being acknowledged as one of the classiest players in the NFL.

And, for those who are all "cut Don and start Vick and/or Kevin Kolb," I need to remind you that he has the 3rd highest winning percentage of all active QBs (behind only Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and I think our chances of trading for either of those guys are pretty slim - which is a good thing, because they'd never be able to withstand the Philly fan/media scrutiny). Don, I know it's not universal, but I love you and I appreciate all you've done for us.

I'm not planning to recap the game in any great detail. I think the Cowboys did a good job of identifying and taking advantage of our weaknesses: talented, inexperienced young skill players on offense (our "vets" - other than Westy, who I think might be done - are just-turned 23 DeSean Jackson and 24 year old Brent Celek), problems on the O line (losing our starting center so late in the regular season just killed us), not being able to come up with a satisfactory replacement for injured-during-the-preseason All-Pro MLB Stewart Bradley, no real safety to speak of, and rookie defensive coordinator Sean McDermott. Also, the Cowboys have the biggest O and D lines in football, and that creates problems for a team that's small and quick by design. And I think they're the only team in the playoffs with no key starters injured. At this time of year, that means a lot.

It's a shame that we had to end our season like this - two back-to-back losses to Dallas - and it's a shame that we handed them their first playoff win in 13 seasons while at the same time handing Big Red his first first round playoff loss ever. On the other hand, no team has EVER lost 7 consecutive playoff games. Not even the Lions.

And the future looks great. To refresh your memory, something like 19 players out of our 53 man roster didn't play in the NFC Championship Game with us last year. Of that 19, something like 9 of them are rookies, and something like 4-5 more are sophomores (feel free to correct me in the comments if my calculations are off). The ENTIRE team has turned over in the Reid/McNabb era other than McNabb (Akers came on in McNabb's sophomore year, and Trot started in 1998, but has been in and out). That window we all thought was closed? Feels WIDE open at this point - we have a bunch of really young, really talented offensive skill players who are only going to get better. We need to work on our O-line - which is fine, AR LOVES to draft linemen - and some of our defensive secondary guys are aging. We need a safety. But we have a veteran QB who can help teach them and lead them.

When Prototypical Eagles Fan showed up, I said that, while I was hoping we'd manage to pull off the upset, I didn't think this was our year. I think it's next year or possibly even 2011. I think Mike Vick will be gone - not because of anything he did or didn't do with the Eagles, but because he wants to start and there are plenty of teams for whom he'd be a major upgrade. I think Wolverine might be back. The Eagles weren't going to match $7 million for a single season, and for all those who are still crying about "The Eagles just let him walk away!" remember that he didn't even offer to let them try to keep him. But a lot of our guys, particularly on D, have gone elsewhere for a year or two to get paid and then come home over the years. I think Westy may be done, which is a shame because we got to see a few flashes of the old BWest last night, and I'd hate to think that he ended his career with that mess as his last game. But he's a 30 year old RB who sustained two serious concussions this year and is owed more than $7 million next. I think The Big Kid's done too.

So get ready for our typical offseason: few to no big free-agent moves and really smart draft picks. Unless the collective bargaining agreement goes to hell, taking the entire league with it. And the Donovan-watch. And the Westy-watch. And relax and enjoy rooting against the Cowboys, and, at least in my house, FOR the Saints (who, I think, are stick-a-fork-in-them done, so I'll be picking up another hopeless cause, which will at least feel familiar).

Saturday night, after watching a few eps of early season Roseanne (a show which has aged surprisingly well) for some laughs, Chef Spouse and I drank a toast with some of the FINE tequila Ex-Navy Cheesehead brought us a few weeks ago to a great year of football. To quote Chef Spouse: "If only we'd beat the Raiders...then we could've lost the NFC Championship Game, like we're supposed to."

Too Pollyanna for you? Check out Igglesblog for a bleaker view. Tommy calls it "rock bottom," which I think is a little extreme, but also implies "nowhere to go but up."

In the other matchups...I am really, really bad at picking games.

Jets over Bengals. Brought to you by the color green, the letter R and the number 2. Why 2? 2 turnovers, 2 missed field goals, and Marvin Lewis used up 2 challenges - both unsuccessfully - in the first quarter. All Mark Sanchez had to do was not lose the game, and that he did. Bummer for my boy OchoCinco, but the Jets will get their comeuppance in San Diego next week.

Ravens over Pats. I may never stop laughing. OK, 3 of the games were blowouts, but at least this one wasn't dull - watching the Pats get their asses handed to them is never boring. I think Joe Flacco completed like, 1 pass for about 3 yards, but it didn't matter - Ray Lewis and the D came to BALL. And in the end, that's all that mattered. Also it was fun to watch Tom Brady get hit, whine for penalties and be roundly ignored by the officiating crew that, according to the pre-game info, was tied for the lowest penalizing crew in the NFL. HA! Not so easy to win when the zebras don't call 15 yards on anybody who looks at you too long, there, is it, Rocks?

Cards over Packers. This game made up for the other 3 dogs. Well, other than the fact that one of them was us losing to the Cowboys, that is. Aaron Rodgers was 28/42 for 422 yards 4TDs and one pick, and he was hot, for sure. But Warner had 5 TD tosses and only 4 incompletions (and NO picks). Grandpa was on FIRE! That's how we do it in the P-H-X, Junior. You know, while we were watching the game, Chef Spouse was like: "Where were these Cardinals all season?" I have a theory - they know that, as long as they can win 8 games, they'll win their division, and they're pretty much guaranteed to win at least their 6 divisional games (although of course the 49ers swept them this year), so I think maybe they basically slack off all season and save it for the playoffs. Which is looking like it might be a good strategy. What do we have to do to get transferred to the NFC West?

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2009 Wildcard Weekend Picks

I think this is the first time in NFL history that the first weekend of the playoffs will feature 3 repeat matchups from the last weekend of the regular season. I'm not sure what that means, but there you have it.

Edited Friday, January 8 at 12:13 pm to add: Reader Mike Fearon shared the following link/information with me: http://www.bookofodds.com/Daily-Life-Activities/Sports/Articles/A0526-Wildcard-Rematch-es-What-are-the-odds. It's a fascinating article that actually gives the odds of this situation and compares it to the odds of other real-life occurrences to give some context. You should definitely check it out! Thanks, Mike!

Eagles/Cowboys - Well, there's been the usual Philly sports media tempest in a teapot about McNabb's recent comments. What did he say that was so horrible? Quoting Philly.com:

"On Sunday, McNabb was asked whether the Eagles showed their youth. He answered in part that he felt they did, "in situations where everyone began to look around to see who was going to make the play, rather than stepping up and making that play. That's something that comes with the territory, when you have a young group . . . all throughout the year, we've had guys step up and make big plays for us when their name's called, and today it just didn't happen."

The way I see it, the Eagles *did* look like a bunch of young guys who were playing in their first really big game last Sunday. Sure, Don needs to make a play, but somebody has to catch the damn ball, and the coaches need to call plays that put us in a position to be successful.

And, once again quoting Philly.com:

"It all starts with me," McNabb said yesterday.

"I have to raise my level of play," he said yesterday, but then he kept going with this:

"And everyone else has to, as well."

Followed by the editorial comment: "Ugh."

Really? Big5 saying that everyone needs to step it up Saturday if we hope to walk away with a win merits an "Ugh" from Sam Donnellon? I guess he thinks everyone else played great Sunday and Don was the only one doing anything wrong. I also guess he must've watched a different game than I watched.

Moral of the story? Don't read the Philly sports media.

I did promise blog fan Chris that I'd give some hope.

Here's hope point 1: it's damn near IMpossible (Freudian slip? I hope not!) to beat any team 3 times in the same season. Particularly a division opponent. Particularly two weeks in a row.

Here's hope point 2: Andy Reid has never lost his first game in the playoffs. Nor has Donovan McNabb.

Here's hope point 3: the Cowboys haven't won a playoff game since before I lived in DC. Wade Phillips and Tony Romo have never won a playoff game together.

Here's hope point 4: we don't have to worry that they've totally scoped our game plan because we didn't show them anything on Sunday.

Here's hope point 5: the entire NFL Total Access team called us to win. As I believe Marshall Faulk said, "The Eagles play best when their backs are against the wall. Which is why I picked them to lose last week, and why I'm picking them to win this week."

Here's hope point 6: after sneaking by us earlier and spanking us on Sunday, the Cowboys HAVE to be overconfident. Right?

OK, in all seriousness, I am very worried about this game. We were so flat last week it was scary. We can't play that badly two weeks in a row, right? Not with so much on the line, right? We can't be the team to end the Cowboys playoff drought, right?

I'm cautiously hopeful right now. And I think we'll know which way this is going to go within the first 10 minutes of the game. If it's not going our way, you might have to talk me down off the 14th Street bridge.

Packers/Cardinals: You know how it's hard to beat a team two weeks in a row? Not for the Packers. I don't think the Cards have the firepower on D to take down the Packers. Of course, I didn't buy the Cardinals hype last year, and look how that turned out. But I'm still calling the Packers.

Ravens/Patriots: The Pats are not looking so untouchable now that their defense is weak-ass and Tom Brady gets knocked down. At this time of the year, it tends to come down to guts, balls, and who's clutch. The Ravens win on two of those, and, I think, win this game.

Bengals/Jets: Have I mentioned how annoyed I am that the Jets got a gimme against the Colts in week 16, which is the only reason they were even in the running for the playoffs? Because I'm still really, really annoyed. I would love to see Ocho Cinco and the Bengals win a playoff game. They've only even *been* to the playoffs three times in the past 20 years. And they lost their first game one of those times. And it was the most recent visit (2005 season). I'm calling Bengals, but it's more hope than confidence. Also, picking all 4 wildcard teams seems nuts.

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Wildcard Weekend Schedule: January 9-10, 2010

Wildcard Weekend schedule:

Saturday, January 9
4:30 pm - Jets/Bengals
8 pm - Eagles/Cowboys

Sunday, January 10
1 pm - Ravens/Patriots
4:30 pm - Packers/Cardinals

Menu: Chef Spouse is feeling ambitious and planning to make big meals for both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday will be Popeye's fried chicken. Sunday, he's thinking about Chinese.

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So how'd I do?

It's time for my annual Post of Shame, aka, when I own up to picking REALLY REALLY badly.

AFC East

I picked: Dolphins
Actual winners: Patriots

And the Fins aren't even in the playoffs. Sigh.

AFC North

I picked: Steelers
Actual winners: Bengals

In my defense , NO ONE saw that coming. And the Steelers, also, aren't even in the playoffs.

AFC South

I picked: Texans
Actual winners: Colts

The Texans, also, are not in the playoffs. But they ALMOST made it in and finished over .500 for the first time! Team of Destiny!

AFC West

I picked: Chargers
Actual winners: Chargers

I got one! I got one!

AFC Wildcard

I picked: Colts and Ravens
Actual winners: Ravens and Jets

In my defense, I *did* point out that the Colts and the Ravens could easily win their divisions, leaving the Texans and Steelers going in as wildcards.

As usual, The Snark gets punked by the AFC.

NFC East

I picked: Eagles
Actual winner: Cowboys

Oh man, does that rankle.

NFC North

I picked: Lions
Actual winner: Vikings

I have no excuse for that pick. I must've been hitting the gin pretty hard that night.

NFC South

I picked: Falcons
Actual winner: Saints

Ah well, at least the Falcons put together their first ever back to back winning seasons. Which is poor comfort for me.

NFC West

I picked: Cardinals
Actual winner: Cardinals

Apparently, I can only pick correctly in the weakest divisions in the NFL. That's pretty discouraging.

NFC Wildcard

I picked: Cowboys and Saints
Actual winners: Eagles and Packers

OK, I got 4 teams in the top 6 right. Just mostly in the wrong order.

And you wonder why I'm not making a paying career out of this :)

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