Playoffs

A crazy day where Bill Polian was proven right when Wes Welker went down for the season, though Belichick decided to bring Brady back in the game. The Giants declined to show up for their second straight game. The Bengals essentially let the Jets win so they'd be able to play them next week instead of the more explosive Texans (who already beat Cincy this year). The Broncos folded in a spectacular manner. Dallas, Green Bay, and San Diego continued to be the hottest teams in the league.

Looking ahead:

• In the NFC, Philly plays at Dallas on Saturday night and Green Bay plays at Arizona in the late afternoon game on Sunday. I see no reason why Philly should be able to beat Dallas this time after not really being in either game this season, so I expect the Cowboys to win and move on to face Minnesota. I'll predict the line is Dallas -4.5. Green Bay's playing great, but Arizona turned it on last year. I'll predict the line at Green Bay -1 and take Arizona. I can't discount their run from last year and how bad they looked as the playoffs started. In my scenario, New Orleans beats Arizona and the Cowboys beat the Vikings, setting up a rematch of the game a few weeks ago. I'll take New Orleans to get to the Super Bowl.
• In the AFC, the Jets play at Cincy on Saturday afternoon and the Ravens visit New England in the early game on Sunday. I don't believe in the Jets at all because of their inability to move the ball through the air. I'm looking at Cincy -2 because of how the game turned out tonight. For the Patriots, Wes Welker is out and Tom Brady has three broken ribs and a broken ring finger on his throwing hand. Even though the Ravens have underachieved all year, they're just annoying enough to turn it on now. The Pats' offense is just not as frightening without Welker. I'll predict the line at New England -7 and take the Ravens to win. The Ravens just can't beat the Colts and Cincy gets smoked by San Diego. Nobody looks better than the Chargers and I think they'll get to the Super Bowl.
• In the end, I'll go with a surprise. I'm taking New Orleans to win it all. I think every team has its weaknesses, but no one unit is as tough as the Saints' offense. I also find it hard to pick Norv Turner and the Chargers to take it all down.

UPDATE: The initial lines are out and I was right on two and wrong on two. The right ones: Dallas -4 and Cincy -2.5. The wrong ones: Arizona -2.5 and New England -3.5. The Baltimore-New England one is pretty shocking, considering how poorly the Ravens have played against good teams and how the Pats won by 6 earlier this year.