Any picks for the Superbowl? Three games to go and a lot to be sorted out. I would have to say that San Diego is the best team right now. But I am rooting for the Bengals. I don’t think anyone from the NFC has what they need to win it all.
Saints
AFC Wild Card
CIN over NE
BAL over JAC
AFC Divisional
BAL over IND
SD over CIN
AFC Championship
SD over BAL
NFC Wild Card
PHI over SEA
DAL over ATL
NFC Divisional
CHI over PHI
NO over DAL
NFC Championship
CHI over NO
Super Bowl
SD over CHI
EDIT: I forgot that they will be playing the NFC title game in Chicago in January. No dome team is going to Soldier Field and beating that defense in January. So I changed my pick. However, SD will whip the hell out of anyone to come from the NFC. They are just too good this year.
[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
AFC Wild Card
CIN over NE
BAL over JAC
AFC Divisional
BAL over IND
SD over CIN
AFC Championship
SD over BAL
NFC Wild Card
PHI over SEA
DAL over ATL
NFC Divisional
CHI over PHI
NO over DAL
NFC Championship
NO over CHI*
Super Bowl
SD over NO
*: this is dependent on the health of the playmakers on NO’s offense. Any significant injuries and they lose. San Diego will beat either NO or CHI, so it doesn’t matter. They have too many weapons on offense, and their defense is too disruptive, especially with a rested Shawne Merriman. Marty will finally get his ring.[/quote]
I’d love for the Bengals to get another crack at SD. They blew that big lead last month. Pathetic. I just hope they get there. I am not optimistic.
[quote]DS 007 wrote:
I’d love for the Bengals to get another crack at SD. They blew that big lead last month. Pathetic. I just hope they get there. I am not optimistic.
[/quote]
That game was in Cincy, this one won’t be. Nobody’s beating SD at home this year.
Cowboys and Colts.
Chicago over SD
Also, Indy won’t make it.
[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
AFC Championship
SD over BAL
NFC Championship
CHI over NO
Super Bowl
SD over CHI
[/quote]
These are the correct picks. It would have been the Bears but Grossman and the offense can’t come together consistently. It is possible the way NO has been playing lately that they could knock off the Bears. Either way, SD crushes the NFC winner.
Patriots all the way. Just ask Rainjack.
Bears over Chargers, but I’m biased. Like another poster said, no possible way a dome team like the Saints can beat the Bears in Chicago in January. Impossible.
In the Superbowl, all the Bears need is for the offense to put up 2 touchdowns, then the defense and special teams will get 2 more.
The Bears defensive weakness is the run game. So LT will kill them. You have to expect him to get his three TD’s and try to stop their passing game, which they can do.
By no means do I think it’s a lock, but that’s the most likely scenario that I see.
Too bad the Superbowl is more about marketing than it is about a good game. It’s the only sport where the team with the best record does not get homefield advantage in the playoffs including the championship game. It really takes away from what the game is about. That’s why the playoffs are always the best games of the year, not the Superbowl. Unless your team is in it, the Superbowl is not very exciting.
[quote]Nothingface wrote:
Bears over Chargers, but I’m biased. Like another poster said, no possible way a dome team like the Saints can beat the Bears in Chicago in January. Impossible.
[/quote]
One thing you gotta remember. Drew Brees ain’t no Payton Manning who’s a pushover in the cold weather. Drew played at Perdue, where it gets cold, and he’s the most unreal professional you’ll ever see. We’re looking at a legendary QB, Favre-ish if you will.
Saints vs Chargers
[quote]BradTGIF wrote:
Nothingface wrote:
Bears over Chargers, but I’m biased. Like another poster said, no possible way a dome team like the Saints can beat the Bears in Chicago in January. Impossible.
One thing you gotta remember. Drew Brees ain’t no Payton Manning who’s a pushover in the cold weather. Drew played at Perdue, where it gets cold, and he’s the most unreal professional you’ll ever see. We’re looking at a legendary QB, Favre-ish if you will.
[/quote]
I’ll give you that with Brees. I’ve been a big fan of his since Purdue. I didn’t think San Diego should have gotten rid of him (although, Rivers looks like the real deal). Even worse was Miami passing up Brees last summer for Culpepper. They got what they deserved for that decision.
[quote]squatdude wrote:
Steel Nation wrote:
AFC Championship
SD over BAL
NFC Championship
CHI over NO
Super Bowl
SD over CHI
[/quote]
As much as I want the Ravens to win it all, these picks look correct to me. The only way I see San Diego not making it is if Rivers or LT goes down with an injury.
So no one even thinks the Bengals have a chance? For me to believe, rabid as I can be, I need to see them beat Indy on MNF.
My pick now would be SD over NO.
(I was going to say CHI. But if they lose Tank Johnson on top of their best CB I don’t see them making it.)
Steel:
Those are some real solid picks.
What’s cool about the NFL is that on any given day, a Team can be off and another can bring their “A” game.
Should be a fun next few weeks!
Mufasa
Chicago’s strength this year has been its ability to make the big play when they need it the most, mainly through defense and special teams. If they can get Grossman to stop slinging the ball around like a blind man, consequently putting their defense in bad positions, they will run through the NFC easily. Chicago hasn’t lost to an NFC team all year. Their only home loss (to Miami) happened because of 6 turnovers, 4 of those coming from Grossman. I think a heavier reliance on the running game, as well as more carries for Cedric Benson, is in order for the playoffs. Combine home field in the Windy City, pounding the ball all day with two quality backs, and the league’s second best (behind BAL, imho) defense, and you have what it takes to get to Miami.
The loss of Tommie Harris will hurt the Bears a lot. Alfonso Boone should be an adequate replacement, but he’s not going to swallow blockers like Harris. This will hurt Chicago against SD in XLI, but I still don’t think that’s enough of an edge for me to go with NO in the NFC Championship, because the Saints have struggled with their running game all year. NO is living and dying on the right arm of #9. Pass defense, namely creating pressure and turnovers, is the thing CHI does best. Brees, as good as he is, can be a little careless with the ball at times.
San Diego will have an easier time dealing with the Bears than they would the Saints. With Harris out, CHI will have to put 8 in the box to stop LT on the ground, something they haven’t done all year. This takes them away from their primary Cover 2, and will open up the deep outs and comebacks that Rivers is so adept at connecting with. Offensively, CHI does nothing that will pose any sort of challenge to an extremely talented group from SD. Shawne Merriman will be Rex Grossman’s worst nightmare.
If the Saints should defy my logic and make it to Miami, I think Brees and Co. will give the Charger secondary fits all day. I’m sure Merriman and Philips will get to him a few times, but Brees isn’t the kind of QB to stand there like a statue and take sacks. He’s too experienced at this point in his career to not hit his checkdowns consistently when he sees or feels pressure. He also has the toughness to stand in and take a lick when trying to attack the secondary vertically. Add to that NO’s impressive corps of young wideouts, plus Joe “Old Man River” Horn, and you have a very tough matchup for SD’s defense. Pass defense has always been a problem for the Chargers if they can’t get to the quarterback. Just look at how badly Carson Palmer carved them up in week 10. 440 yds, 3 TDs and 0 INTs. If it weren’t for a complete defensive collapse in the fourth quarter, Cincy would have easily won that game.
Of course, no matter who makes it from the NFC, SD’s offense is the most complete package in the league right now. They can beat you so many different ways. There really isn’t a defense in the league, except the Ravens unit on its best day, that can even think about shutting them down. You all know the names by now, so I’ll spare you any more discussion.
So, as far as matchups, I think the most entertaining Super Bowl would be SD and NO. That would most likely be a record setting, 900+ total yards of offense track meet where the last possession wins the game. Not to mention the added intrigue of Brees facing his former team and shooting it out against his successor, Philip Rivers. Unfortunately, like I said, I don’t think the Saints have enough lead in their pencil to go into Chicago in January and steal one. At least not this year.
But then, like they say, any given Sunday…
Have ya’ll noticed, not many Saints fans chiming in?
We don’t want to jinx our second playoff win ever…
Hahah good point about the us Saints fans… It’s been a hard few years!
Anyways, lets all remember that this years Chicago team is pretty much the same as last years, and they most certainly lost at Soldier field to a warm weather team(Carolina a NFC south team, much like NO). Don’t count out Seatle either, they still have more than enough talent to win it all if healthy(one has to wonder why the hell Alexander was given FORTY! carries his FIRST game back from a foot injury…). And the whole AFC being so much better than the NFC, lets take into the World Series(no one gave St.louis a chance because of how bad their league was) and the NBA (the east is horrible and has been for many years, but look at how well Detriot and Miami did)
Anyways
Cincy over Ravens
SD over NE
Cincy over SD
Bears over Dallas
NO over Seahawks
NO over bears
SAINTS!!! over Cincy.