"Hello everybody? I should say that?"

"HELLO EVERYBODY!!!"
Did you miss me? Don't lie...it's OK if you didn't. I've only been gone for about 4 months. I was just a little busy with work...and football...and the holidays...and other crap that I don't want to get into. Anyway, the NFL playoffs are upon us and I had a request to revamp my predictions from the beginning of the year (thanks, Jim). I was a much better predictor of the NFC than I was of the AFC before the season started. I correctly picked 5 out 6 playoff teams in the NFC as opposed to 3 out of 6 for the AFC. Oh well...just goes to show how hard the NFL is to predict.

So here's how the first round looks:

Saturday, January 6th, 2007:

Kansas City Chiefs at Indianapolis Colts - The Colts have lost 4 of their last 6 games and have been unable to stop the rush all year long. They still have a healthy Peyton Manning, who is arguably the best QB in the league. He'll be throwing the ball all over the place to Pro Bowl WR's Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. The Chiefs barely snuck into the playoffs and rely heavily on their running game with the league's #2 RB, Larry Johnson (1789 yards rushing in the regular season). The Colts can expect to see a lot of Johnson coming at them. Can the Colts get back to their winning ways? Is the Chiefs running game enough to compete with the Colts high-powered offense? This could quickly become a high-scoring game, but the Colts just have too many weapons as well as "home-field advantage". Final Score: Colts 34 Chiefs 27

Dallas Cowboys at Seattle Seahawks - Both of these teams have had up and down seasons. Seattle's year has been marred by injuries to key players. Even going into this game, they have question marks at WR with both Darrell Jackson and D.J. Hackett listed as gametime decisions. This may be a game where stud RB, Shaun Alexander, has to run the ball 30-40 times. The Cowboys have also had an up and down season that was turnmed around when they switched quarterbacks from veteran Drew Bledsoe to youngster Tony Romo. Romo started out well, going 6-2 as a starter before the Cowboys lost their last 2 games. Romo is going to be a good QB for a long time, but he has no playoff exeperience and I don't see him going into Seattle and pulling off the upset. Final Score: Seahawks 28 Cowboys 20

Sunday, August 7th, 2007:

New York Jets at New England Patriots - If you had told me at the beginning of the season that the Jets would go 10-6 and make it to the playoffs, I would have asked you what you had just been smoking and could I have some? I still can't figure out how it happened. Strength of schedule maybe? The Jets have just an average team all around. QB Chad Pennington is the comeback player of the year and he's 10th in the league in passing with a couple of talented WR's Laveranues Coles & Jerricho Cotchery. The Jets don't have much of a running game, though, so the Pats defense will be putting the pressure on Pennington. The Patriots are once again AFC East Champions, led by QB Tom Brady and the dual rushing attack of Corey Dillon and rookie Laurence Maroney. There is a lot of playoff exeperience on this team with a coach who knows how to win big games. Bill Belichick is a coaching mastermind, and he will have his team ready for whatever the Jets bring at him. The big question is, will he shake the hand of the opposing coach, Eric Mangini (Belichick's longtime protege), after the game? I guess we'll see. Final Score: Patriots 24 Jets 10

New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles – This could be the best game of the weekend between two bitter rivals from the NFC East. It’s no secret that these teams don’t like each other. I’ve seen firsthand how much the fans hate the other team, and this season has been no different. The two teams split victories by winning at each others home stadium. After starting the season 6-2 and taking a commanding lead in the division, the Giants fell apart and watched as the Eagles went on a 5-game winning streak at the end of the season to take the NFC East title. The Eagles have been without their leader, QB Donovan McNabb, but backup QB Jeff Garcia has stepped up and played admirably in leading the Eagles to the division crown. He has plenty of weapons around him in RB Brian Westbrook, WR Reggie Brown and TE L.J. Smith. The Giants are without defensive captain Michael Strahan for the rest of the year and hope the younger players can step up and make some plays. Emotions are high as RB Tiki Barber has said he will retire after this season. So the Giants want to keep winning and hopefully get Tiki a title. To do so, the star players need to step up their game. QB Eli Manning, WR Plaxico Burress and TE Jeremy Shockey need to start making things happen. Unfortunately for them, they are facing a team that is on a roll and playing at home. Final Score: Eagles 28 Giants 27