Wild Card Picks

Not a moment too soon, it's my wild card picks for the first round of the NFL Playoffs!

Redskins at Seahawks, Saturday 3:30pm (CST) NBC

First of all, I'm not including the spread, because gambling is illegal. Right? NBC has a good slate of games today. The Redskins are coming in off an improbable four game win streak just one week after the death of Sean Taylor. There was that tough loss to the Bills the week of his death, in which Joe Gibbs used a timeout he didn't have and took responsibility for losing the game. After that, they have been playing inspired D and Todd Collins has took over at quarterback (no way that's the same Todd Collins I remember from 10 years ago).

The Seahawks are everyone's NFC sleeper, saying they've quietly earned their way near the top of the NFC. Matt Hasselbeck has picked up the slack of the running game, and it's never easy to win in Seattle with their 12th man factor, a factor so strong the Seahawks actually retired the number 12.

As a Packer fan, I don't want to play either of these teams, not the team of destiny Redskins, or the team with all the Packer-ties in the Seahawks. I want to pick Seattle, I think they are the better team, but I remember the last time Mike Holmgren coached a team in a wild card game in a season in which he was rumored to be on the way out (the Rice Fumble?, T.O. game).

Redskins 27, Seahawks 19

Jaguars at Steelers, Saturday 7pm NBC

The Jags are a popular pick to do what no team has ever done before, which is beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh twice in the same year. The Jags really have assembled a nice little offense with the few errors created by David Garrard, and the running attack of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. I didn't believe in those two backs at the beginning of the season, when in a fantasy league I traded them both for Julius Jones and DeAngelo Williams. Oops. The Steelers are of course without Willie Parker, and in this case I do feel the Jaguars are the better team. But I don't see them knocking off the Steelers in Pittsburgh again. Actually, because everyone is picking Jacksonville, I am going to pick Pittsburgh. That's the real reason.

Steelers score more points than the Jaguars.

Giants at Buccaneers, Sunday 12pm FOX

I'm glad the Giants decided to make last week against New England a game, and they played extremely well. They are a shaky team, but can play with anyone when they are playing right, and they proved that. But they can play lousy just as easy as they can great. I don't think last week's game with help or hurt the team against Tampa Bay though. One thing that bothered me about the Giants was how happy they were with that loss. From reports, the attitude in the locker room was as if they had won the game. You can't be happy in the NFL with a loss.

On the other hand, the Buccaneers have to go way back to draw any sort of momentum. They've been in cruise control for the last few weeks after wrapping up the terrible NFC South in early December. This is a tough game to pick, and I envision it being a boring NFC battle, either a blowout or a terrible offensive outing. Let's go with the latter.

Giants 9, Buccaneers 7

Titans at Chargers, Sunday 3:15pm CBS

Just a few weeks ago these two teams matched up, and the Chargers were able to pull out a come from behind victory over the Titans. The Titans thought their playoff hopes might have been dashed, unless the Colts gave them a free pass last week. Well, now the Chargers are on fire and the Titans are unsure of who will be taking the snaps for them. I love VY as much as the next guy, but I think you have to ride the Kerry Collins in the Frank Reich role bandwagon. Maybe alternate series, even put them both in during the same play and get a little tricky. Look for LDT to get his first playoff win.

Chargers 34, Titans 16

Enjoy the games, which as of this posting are just two hours away! The playoffs are much more exciting when your team is in them, thats for sure. In the meantime, I'm going to continue being a homer, and watch Mr. 3000 on FX just because the Brewers are in it.