Well, when the Patriots scored in under 2:00, I was pretty sure that that pick was going to be really, really wrong. I did get all four games right in that I picked the winner, heads up. The Ravens inexplicable ability to do block anyone allowed the Texans to cover by .5 points, which limited me to 2-2 on the weekend.
Overall, the weekend went about as well as any weekend I've had picking games since the 2009 Divisional (Colts win big, best two NFC teams get through, and correctly calling the Jets knocking off the Chargers). The Pats won, but I expected it. The Ravens played great defense. The 49ers played great defense for 56 minutes. The Giants probably had the best performance of any team in a divisional round in years. Not only did they beat the #1 seed (which, especially in the NFC, is becoming no big thing), they drummed them. And this wasn't any #1 seed. It was a 15-1 team, a team with the best offense in the NFL, and a team that had trailed for just over three minutes all year at home with Aaron Rodgers playing. In the end, it was a stunner, but the Giants are really strange. They are 9-7, but healthy, they are what I thought they were. Actually, other than some notable mistakes (the Chargers winning the Super Bowl, for example, and the 49ers being bad) I did a pretty good job with preseason predictions.
Here's the rundown:
1.) Correctly picked 8 of the 12 playoff teams (Saints, Packers, Giants, Lions, Patriots, Ravens, Steelers, Texans); and my four misses weren't all chalk teams (Eagles - yeah, I guess they were chalk; Raiders - could have made it if they didn't gag that Lions game; Cardinals - Skelton mania started too late; Chargers - again, fuck the Broncos).
2.) All 8 playoff teams I picked right I picked in their correct spot (Saints, Packers, Giants, Patriots, Ravens and Texans winning division, Steelers and Lions winning wild cards).
3.) As far as the playoffs - I correctly predicted 6 of the 8 divisional round teams (Packers, Saints, Giants, Patriots, Ravens and Texans).
4.) And what may be my greatest moment ever predicting things months in advance, I correctly predicted a Giants upset of the Packers in Lambeau and a Ravens win over the Texans in the divisional round. I had the seeds wrong, but I called those two games. I even had the Ravens winning by 7 (24-17), but did have the Giants winning close (28-24).
Anyway, enough with fellating myself, let's get to the weekend. Especially since that brilliance is about to go away, since I picked both the Giants and Ravens to lose in the title games (to the Saints and Chargers).
Player of the Week - Vernon Davis, TE, 49ers
With Michael Crabtree doing a great Darrius Heyward-Bey impression by dropping everything in sight (guess who had more yards in 2011 between those two, btw), Vernon Davis stepped up to another level.Sure, two other tight ends had big games, and one receiver caught a 66-yard TD and a Hail Mary, and a QB threw for 6 tds, but Vernon Davis basically won the game. If Rob Gronkowski caught zero TDs, the Pats still win. If Tom Brady throws for half the TDs, the Pats still win. If Vernon Davis doesn't catch one of his two TDs, they lose. Think about this. The 49ers were down by 3 with 45 seconds to go 70 yards from the end zone. They picked up 63 of those successive yards through Davis. Vernon Davis was the highest drafted TE ever, mainly because he had a sub-4.4 40, and the fact that he played fucking TE, but he wasn't anything special for the first three years. Then, he exploded and this was the end result. He basically beat the Saints. He was the best offensive player on the field in a game that featured the offense that put up more yards than any team in history.
Goat of the Week - The Packers Offense
No one player had a truly awful week. Tim Tebow came the closest, but I never expected too much better from him. The Packers offense though was just awful. Yes, the Giants defense was great, and they didn't give up much. But when they did, the Packers couldn't take advantage. So many drops. So many fumbles. So many miscommunications. Some of it is on Rodgers, who played for from great, but the amount of drops by his receivers was just laughable. The ball security by everyone was bad. Five fumbles. One came after the runner was down. One was stupidly not given (had the game been closer, Bill Leavy definitely wins Goat of the Week). But Kuhn, Grant and Rodgers showed real inability to control the ball. It was just a bad performance by one of the best offenses I've ever seen. They didn't go down swinging like the Saints. They went down cold, much like the field they call home.
Surprise of the Week - The Patriots Pass Rush
The Pass Rush was good the first time against Denver, but a lot of that had to do with Tebow keeping the ball. This time it was great. The Denver line did such a good job against the Steelers so this was shocking. If they can repeat that, they will be tough to beat. Personally, I don't think they can. They had a great read on Denver, but haven't shown close to that type of pass rush against non-Denver teams. Credit is due where it is though. They made huge plays. They kept the Broncos offense from making this close to a game. Well done, Pats. Well done.
Disappointment of the Week - Aaron Rodgers
This gets a different category than the Packers offense in general, because that was more about their drops and fumbles issues. Rodgers gets this because it was so unexpected. The Giants rush really only came on in the second half. Until then, Rodgers had time, and he did a great job of running for 1st downs when nothing was there, but Rodgers had no ability to hit his guys. That offense worked like clockwork all year long, and the receivers did their job in getting open. When they weren't dropping the ball, Rodgers was doing it figuratively. Rodgers missed Jennings for a TD on theri first drive. Rodgers missed Finley for a huge first down when trailing 20-13. Rodgers had his second worst day of the year in his biggest game. The last time Rodgers lost a playoff game he did everything but win it. He three for 400 yards and 4 TDs and brought his team back from 31-10 on the road. This time it was 26/46, for barely 10 yards per completion, and two TDs, both on drives that should have ended if not for bad calls. Rodgers just didn't have it. He's human though. After how well he played for much of the year, that is good to know.
Team Unit Performance of the Week - Texans & Giants Defense
Yes, only one of these teams won, but they were both excellent. The Texans played inspired defense. They went to the Cathedral of Defense (Heinz is the Basilica, in my mind), and outplayed the Ravens on that side of the ball. That pass rush is furious. And to think they did that without Mario Williams. That is a scary team going forward. I really think they were Super Bowl bound if Schaub didn't go down. Yates made mistakes. That defense didn't. The Giants actually won, but their performance was no better. They got lucky that the Packers dropped so many balls and missed so many chances. But fuck luck, they dominated everything else. When the pass rush wasn't landing in the 1st half, the coverage downfield was impeccable. When the pass rush landed in the 2nd half, it was over. That is all they needed. The Giants have now taken down the two highest scoring offenses of all time in the playoffs in the last 4 years. They held the highest scoring offense to 14, and with better luck by refs, they could have held this offense to 13 or even 6. Just an incredible performance. The offense is there. The defense is getting there as well.
Team Lay Down of the Week - The Broncos
Holy Shit. Holy Balls. That was completely embarrassing. They couldn't stop the offense. The Bills at least stopped them for a quarter. The Dolphins stopped them for a half. The Broncos couldn't stop them for a second. On offense, it was even worse. Tebow was deplorable. The o-line gave him no time. Demaryius Thomas and McGahee did okay, but that wasn't going to do it. To think, the Steelers , or the Raiders and Chargers would have had to make the Pats do something. It could have been a really nice late night game. Instead, it just gave me the opportunity to cut short an hour and a half early and run off two episodes of the Wire. So, to the Broncos, fuck you for not showing up, but thanks for letting me know it soon enough to get away.
Story That Will Be Beaten Into the Ground This Week - It is 2007 Again!!
The Pats are going to steamroll their way to the Super Bowl!! The Giants are going to beat another 13-3+ team on the road!!! The Giants are road warriors!! The Patriots are the greatest thing ever put on a football field. This is such an overplayed storyline, but there is a good chance it becomes true, The Giants are nothing like their 2007 team other than the pass rush (which was better in 2007, at least in the Dallas game, and that incredible performance in Super Bowl XLII). That Giants team had a great rushing game. That Giants team had veteran receivers and a QB who was praised for making it through three games for making two dozen throws and not throwing a pick. This team has a bad running game, but a great passing game that can slash teams. The biggest difference though is that this Giants team is just dominating teams. That Giants team barely beat the Cowboys and although outplayed the Packers, needed some fortunate bounces to go their way (like recovering their own muffed punt with two minutes to go tied 20-20). This Giants team basically shut-out the Falcons. This Giants team smacked the Packers around. That might have been the most impressive performance I have ever seen in a divisional round. This is not the 2007 Giants. Also, that is not the 2007 Patriots. But more on that later.
More coming up soon.
Overall, the weekend went about as well as any weekend I've had picking games since the 2009 Divisional (Colts win big, best two NFC teams get through, and correctly calling the Jets knocking off the Chargers). The Pats won, but I expected it. The Ravens played great defense. The 49ers played great defense for 56 minutes. The Giants probably had the best performance of any team in a divisional round in years. Not only did they beat the #1 seed (which, especially in the NFC, is becoming no big thing), they drummed them. And this wasn't any #1 seed. It was a 15-1 team, a team with the best offense in the NFL, and a team that had trailed for just over three minutes all year at home with Aaron Rodgers playing. In the end, it was a stunner, but the Giants are really strange. They are 9-7, but healthy, they are what I thought they were. Actually, other than some notable mistakes (the Chargers winning the Super Bowl, for example, and the 49ers being bad) I did a pretty good job with preseason predictions.
Here's the rundown:
1.) Correctly picked 8 of the 12 playoff teams (Saints, Packers, Giants, Lions, Patriots, Ravens, Steelers, Texans); and my four misses weren't all chalk teams (Eagles - yeah, I guess they were chalk; Raiders - could have made it if they didn't gag that Lions game; Cardinals - Skelton mania started too late; Chargers - again, fuck the Broncos).
2.) All 8 playoff teams I picked right I picked in their correct spot (Saints, Packers, Giants, Patriots, Ravens and Texans winning division, Steelers and Lions winning wild cards).
3.) As far as the playoffs - I correctly predicted 6 of the 8 divisional round teams (Packers, Saints, Giants, Patriots, Ravens and Texans).
4.) And what may be my greatest moment ever predicting things months in advance, I correctly predicted a Giants upset of the Packers in Lambeau and a Ravens win over the Texans in the divisional round. I had the seeds wrong, but I called those two games. I even had the Ravens winning by 7 (24-17), but did have the Giants winning close (28-24).
Anyway, enough with fellating myself, let's get to the weekend. Especially since that brilliance is about to go away, since I picked both the Giants and Ravens to lose in the title games (to the Saints and Chargers).
Player of the Week - Vernon Davis, TE, 49ers
With Michael Crabtree doing a great Darrius Heyward-Bey impression by dropping everything in sight (guess who had more yards in 2011 between those two, btw), Vernon Davis stepped up to another level.Sure, two other tight ends had big games, and one receiver caught a 66-yard TD and a Hail Mary, and a QB threw for 6 tds, but Vernon Davis basically won the game. If Rob Gronkowski caught zero TDs, the Pats still win. If Tom Brady throws for half the TDs, the Pats still win. If Vernon Davis doesn't catch one of his two TDs, they lose. Think about this. The 49ers were down by 3 with 45 seconds to go 70 yards from the end zone. They picked up 63 of those successive yards through Davis. Vernon Davis was the highest drafted TE ever, mainly because he had a sub-4.4 40, and the fact that he played fucking TE, but he wasn't anything special for the first three years. Then, he exploded and this was the end result. He basically beat the Saints. He was the best offensive player on the field in a game that featured the offense that put up more yards than any team in history.
Goat of the Week - The Packers Offense
No one player had a truly awful week. Tim Tebow came the closest, but I never expected too much better from him. The Packers offense though was just awful. Yes, the Giants defense was great, and they didn't give up much. But when they did, the Packers couldn't take advantage. So many drops. So many fumbles. So many miscommunications. Some of it is on Rodgers, who played for from great, but the amount of drops by his receivers was just laughable. The ball security by everyone was bad. Five fumbles. One came after the runner was down. One was stupidly not given (had the game been closer, Bill Leavy definitely wins Goat of the Week). But Kuhn, Grant and Rodgers showed real inability to control the ball. It was just a bad performance by one of the best offenses I've ever seen. They didn't go down swinging like the Saints. They went down cold, much like the field they call home.
Surprise of the Week - The Patriots Pass Rush
The Pass Rush was good the first time against Denver, but a lot of that had to do with Tebow keeping the ball. This time it was great. The Denver line did such a good job against the Steelers so this was shocking. If they can repeat that, they will be tough to beat. Personally, I don't think they can. They had a great read on Denver, but haven't shown close to that type of pass rush against non-Denver teams. Credit is due where it is though. They made huge plays. They kept the Broncos offense from making this close to a game. Well done, Pats. Well done.
Disappointment of the Week - Aaron Rodgers
This gets a different category than the Packers offense in general, because that was more about their drops and fumbles issues. Rodgers gets this because it was so unexpected. The Giants rush really only came on in the second half. Until then, Rodgers had time, and he did a great job of running for 1st downs when nothing was there, but Rodgers had no ability to hit his guys. That offense worked like clockwork all year long, and the receivers did their job in getting open. When they weren't dropping the ball, Rodgers was doing it figuratively. Rodgers missed Jennings for a TD on theri first drive. Rodgers missed Finley for a huge first down when trailing 20-13. Rodgers had his second worst day of the year in his biggest game. The last time Rodgers lost a playoff game he did everything but win it. He three for 400 yards and 4 TDs and brought his team back from 31-10 on the road. This time it was 26/46, for barely 10 yards per completion, and two TDs, both on drives that should have ended if not for bad calls. Rodgers just didn't have it. He's human though. After how well he played for much of the year, that is good to know.
Team Unit Performance of the Week - Texans & Giants Defense
Yes, only one of these teams won, but they were both excellent. The Texans played inspired defense. They went to the Cathedral of Defense (Heinz is the Basilica, in my mind), and outplayed the Ravens on that side of the ball. That pass rush is furious. And to think they did that without Mario Williams. That is a scary team going forward. I really think they were Super Bowl bound if Schaub didn't go down. Yates made mistakes. That defense didn't. The Giants actually won, but their performance was no better. They got lucky that the Packers dropped so many balls and missed so many chances. But fuck luck, they dominated everything else. When the pass rush wasn't landing in the 1st half, the coverage downfield was impeccable. When the pass rush landed in the 2nd half, it was over. That is all they needed. The Giants have now taken down the two highest scoring offenses of all time in the playoffs in the last 4 years. They held the highest scoring offense to 14, and with better luck by refs, they could have held this offense to 13 or even 6. Just an incredible performance. The offense is there. The defense is getting there as well.
Team Lay Down of the Week - The Broncos
Holy Shit. Holy Balls. That was completely embarrassing. They couldn't stop the offense. The Bills at least stopped them for a quarter. The Dolphins stopped them for a half. The Broncos couldn't stop them for a second. On offense, it was even worse. Tebow was deplorable. The o-line gave him no time. Demaryius Thomas and McGahee did okay, but that wasn't going to do it. To think, the Steelers , or the Raiders and Chargers would have had to make the Pats do something. It could have been a really nice late night game. Instead, it just gave me the opportunity to cut short an hour and a half early and run off two episodes of the Wire. So, to the Broncos, fuck you for not showing up, but thanks for letting me know it soon enough to get away.
Story That Will Be Beaten Into the Ground This Week - It is 2007 Again!!
The Pats are going to steamroll their way to the Super Bowl!! The Giants are going to beat another 13-3+ team on the road!!! The Giants are road warriors!! The Patriots are the greatest thing ever put on a football field. This is such an overplayed storyline, but there is a good chance it becomes true, The Giants are nothing like their 2007 team other than the pass rush (which was better in 2007, at least in the Dallas game, and that incredible performance in Super Bowl XLII). That Giants team had a great rushing game. That Giants team had veteran receivers and a QB who was praised for making it through three games for making two dozen throws and not throwing a pick. This team has a bad running game, but a great passing game that can slash teams. The biggest difference though is that this Giants team is just dominating teams. That Giants team barely beat the Cowboys and although outplayed the Packers, needed some fortunate bounces to go their way (like recovering their own muffed punt with two minutes to go tied 20-20). This Giants team basically shut-out the Falcons. This Giants team smacked the Packers around. That might have been the most impressive performance I have ever seen in a divisional round. This is not the 2007 Giants. Also, that is not the 2007 Patriots. But more on that later.
More coming up soon.
