Hey!! How's it going!! Raise your hand if your division has 3 teams in the divisional round!! That's right!! The NFC BEAST is back and will have at least one team in the Championship game. Best division in football by a mile. Here are the lines for next weeend. I'm seriously considering 3 underdogs...only the Chiefs look like a sure thing, and I'm sorry, Dawk but -7.5 is too much against these Giants, even for your Eagles. The lines as of tuesday morning: Jaguars at Chiefs (-8.5) Giants at Eagles (-7.5) Bengals at Bills (-5) Cowboys at 49ers (-4) At least one team wins every year in this round. I think the Giants can cover, but win outright? It will be a fun week. I'm monitoring the lines, as soon as the Cowboys hit +6, I'm picking them...
My rooting interests this weekend: Jaguars at Chiefs - The ex-Eagles HC battle. Definitely rooting for Dougie P and the Jags. Giants at Eagles - Losing to the Giants would be extremely painful since I live in Giants Country. Giants fans in my office building have already started the smack talk. Giants almost always keep the game close in Philly even though they have lost 9 in a row there. NFC East clash in the playoffs. This is going to be fun. Bengals at Bills - Neither team was all that impressive last week. I don't really care who wins as much as I hope it's a good game. Cowboys at 49ers - No matter who wins, I hope they lose next week. Assuming the Eagles get past the Giants it will be fun for me in the NFC Championship game as my brother is a 49ers fan.
Cowboys line didn't increase...it actually went to +3.5 and I already took it to cover for a potential game-losing field gol miss by Maher. The rest still in review...
No more changes are expected so here are my picks: CHIEFS -8.5 over Jaguars Believe it or not this is the one I struggled with the most. 20+ years of Andy Reid playoff games and I don't remember a single one where his teams blew out the competition. It's always close with him for some reason...AND YET I just love Patrick Mahomes. He's like nothing I've ever seen in 30 years watching the NFL. It feels like he can just flick a switch and do whatever he wants. I'm just concerned about the Jaguars late push and garbage time TD that will make them cover, but I don't think that's very likely...I hope. EAGLES -7.5 over Giants The Eagles are too good and feels like the Giants are in some sort of "just happy to make it here" mode. If there's a blow out this weekend, I expect it to be this one. No, this is not a reverse jinx. I want the tie-breaker against Philly. Bengals +5 over BILLS There's something about Joey B...the way he handles himself, the confidence he shows...This will be a very close game, decided by no more than 3 points. The Bills might win, but I expect the Bengals to cover. Cowboys +3.5 over 49ERS Homer pick, yes...but at some point Brock Purdy will have to win the game by himself and I don't know if it's too much to ask for a rookie...be it a 1st or 7th rounder. I expect the Cowboys defense to rattle him all game long, I just hope we can stop their running game, and as long as Dak doesn't screw up and Maher regains his mojo, we should win this one. It won't be easy, though, but for the first time this year I'm pretty excited about this Cowboys team. Playoff record: 3-3 Enjoy the games, everyone...
What a relief it was to finally see the Eagles look dominant again. Both lines were fantastic. Over 260 yards rushing. I love when we run the ball like that. Hurts didn't look 100% but way healthier than week 18. Hopefully he'll be even stronger next Sunday. The pass rush only registered 5 sacks but they were all over Jones all night long. While neither opponent would be an easy victory by any means, I am very confident they will beat either the 49ers or Cowboys. I hope it's the Cowboys. It would be like a dream to win it all going through Giants, Cowboys and then Andy Reid. I am so pumped!! I hope Mahomes' ankle is close to 100% next week.
I feel horrible for Pollard. To not only have a broken leg but for it to happen when he's about to hit free agency. This really could have a huge impact on how much money he makes going forward.
He'll probably be franchise tagged anyway. A fun offseason is about to start. Zeke can finally, mercyfully be cut, and he probably will because I don't see him accepting a pay cut. Pollard, Schultz, Donovan Wilson and Vander Esch are the FAs I want to bring back. The rest I don't care. Dak's deal is up after next season, I think. We should really start thinking about it.
One of these years, I just won't come back. Last year after losing the wildcard game I said I was done with it, only to change my mind a couple months later. This time I'm not saying I'm done, but it just feels...I don't know. The older I get, the more pointless this all feels... Can't wait for baseball season...which is slowly taking over as my favorite game...
