Wild Card We(a)kend pt. 1

Despite everyone’s best attempt to reel you in and make you believe in this weekend, the Wild Card weekend is usually the weak link in the NFL playoff format. The NFL is better for having 2 extra playoff teams but let’s be real here, the Divisional Round has always been the best weekend of playoff football.

That is, until this past decade. We’ve heard everyone’s take on the decade of sports that just happened, but in football in general, I would summarize it by saying it was the decade in which the pomp of the big game was met by the actual game. The last two Super Bowls were won in the final minute. The decade opened with the Patriots pulling off a huge upset over the Rams and then two years later, winning on another late kick by Adam Viniatieri.

What does that have to do with Wild Card weekend? All but two Super Bowls had a representative from this past weekend. So while Division weekend is the most entertaining, and the Super Bowl is living up to the hype, you can’t deny Wild Card weekend’s importance.

Without further adieu my picks:

Jets (+)2 over Bengals- This is not a hometown pick and yes, I’m basing it on last weeks performance. But let’s understand one basic premise that people are forgetting. While the gameplan was vanilla for the Bengals who had nothing to play for, the reality of it was that the Bengals had no response for Brad Smith or Rex Ryan’s exotic blitzes. Nothing I’ve seen has convinced me that those concerns will be met by the Bengals. The only major concern for the Jets is how they handle a backfield of Cedric Benson and a huge ex factor in Larry Johnson, who if reasonably motivated and healthy can offer two bruising runners that the Jet D has to handle. I don’t consider the Mark Sanchez throwing the ball a major concern because the Jets were committed to running the ball and deviating from that plan would be foolish and asking for problems. Crap, I just jinxed them didn’t I?

Cowboys (-4) over Eagles- If I had to pick between these teams, I’d have to say that the ‘Boys are a more dangerous team than the Iggles. They boast, in my opinion, the best 3 headed running attack in the NFL and they are USING it, which for Jason Garrett (the over_hyped O-coord) is major progress. This dramatically reduces the pressure off Tony Romo and its shown in this past December’s games when he faced a schedule that surely should have had him cave under. Its a tribute to the Cowboys finally keeping things simple.