2011 - 2012 Playoff Preview

Seems the only topic that brings me back to my blog is sports. (Politics will begins shortly, but it's just too far away for me right now.) So, time for me to review how my preseason predictions panned out. In this post I'll also be cursing at least four teams by predicting that they will do well in the playoffs!

You can find my preseason preview in the previous post (I haven't posted since September!). Here's how I did:

AFC
East
Prediction: Patriots
Actual: Patriots
And they are the #1 seed! One for one!

West
Prediction: Chargers
Actual: Broncos
It is a QB driven league, and somehow Tebow came out on top! (I have three friends who have agreed that if Denver wins it all, it confirms a higher power and they will come to church with me :D)

North
Prediction: Steelers
Actual: Ravens
I'm giving myself 3/4 of a point on this one because the Steelers grabbed a wild card spot I picked the Ravens as a wild card team. So I had both teams going to the playoffs, and both teams made it.

South
Prediction: Colts
Actual: Texans
No fair! Peyton had surgery on his neck the day after I made my predictions! I'm giving myself 3/4 of a point here as well because I accurately predicted that if Peyton wasn't effective that Houston would take the division.

Wild Card
Prediction: Jets & Ravens
Actual: Bengals & Steelers
Wow. Two teams from the AFC North. While the NFC East has done this in the past, this is no easy feat.

NFC
East
Prediction: Eagles
Actual: Giants
I drank the kool-aid. I believed the hype. I was wrong. Can I get some props for accurately predicting that the Eagles season will be a failure? (Of course, I thought they'd make it into the playoffs before collapsing.)

West
Prediction: Cardinals
Actual: 49ers
I picked the 49ers last year, does that count for anything? No. Ok.

North
Prediction: Packers
Actual: Packers
Hey, look! I got the gimme!

South
Prediction: Falcons
Actual: Saints
Another 3/4 of a point for getting both teams (Saints and Falcons) in the playoffs, just missing who'd take the division and who the wild card. Last year I picked the Saints and the Falcons took it. This year it was vise versa. So next year I'll pick the Saints because I want to see the Falcons take the division.

Wild Card
Prediction: Cowboys & Saints
Actual: Falcons & Lions

I predicted 6 of the 12 Playoff Teams. Three from each Conference. One better than last year! I guess I'm getting better. Only half of my predicted Super Bowl remains. Go Pats. :)

Playoff Predictions
Alright, so based on how I did this year we can expect 5.5 of my Playoff predictions to be accurate.

Alright, get ready to call Vegas and place your bets! Here we go:

AFC
Wild Card Round:
Steelers at Broncos
I'm most confident about this game. Broncos rely on the run, Steelers stop the run. If the game is on Tebow's shoulders he'll carry it all the way to the golf course. Give Reothlisberger the extra week of rest, play Batch. It will still be a blow out.
Winner: Steelers

Bengals at Texans
This is the hardest of the 1st round games to pick. I want the Bengals to win so that they go to New England. Both teams have been a surprise this year; The Bengals with how well they've done and the Texans with how well they've done considering their injuries. Unfortunately, I don't think the Bengals will be able to overcome Houston.
Winner: Texans

Divisional Round:
Steelers at Patriots
(If the Bengals could beat Houston, their post season ends here) The Patriots have been giving up huge leads, making amazing adjustments, and scoring tons of unanswered points. You don't win that way in the Playoffs and you don't win that way against the Steelers. I would have said that the Patriots would benefit from home field advantage if A) they hadn't given up a giant lead to the Bills last week, B) they hadn't been unable to overcome the Giants lead at home earlier this year, or C) they weren't facing another cold weather team in the Steelers. The deck is stacked against the Patriots in this match-up.
Winner: Steelers

Texans at Ravens
Houston was lucky to draw the Bengals in the Wild Card round. But Baltimore is too good for the wounded Texans. The only thing that makes this a close game is the fact that the Ravens play down to their opponents.
Winner: Ravens

Championship Round:
Steelers at Ravens
It's been said "You don't beat the same team three times in one year." The Ravens will. The just have the Steelers' number this year. This will be a great game and will go right down to the wire but Flaco will emerge victorious.
Winner: Ravens

NFC
Wild Card Round:
Falcons at Giants
Like the Steelers, the Falcons have a better record than the team they have to travel to face. And like the Steelers, it won't make a huge difference. It really didn't matter who won the Sunday night game week 17 because both the Giants and the Cowboys were losing to the Falcons this round.
Winner: Falcons

Lions at Saints
Another great match-up. This will be a very entertaining game to watch for those without a "horse in the race." It will be a great battle but in the end it will be very frustrating for Lions fans who will watch their team self destruct with penalties.
Winner: Saints

Divisional Round:
Saints at 49ers
The 49ers surprised a lot of people with the amount of success they had this year. Hosting a playoff game would normally be a big thrill for them. Unless they are facing the Saints. A record setting year for Brees and the Saints continues as they send San Francisco packing.
Winner: Saints

Falcons at Packers
Yet another great game! The first true test of the Packers since they nearly lost to the Giants. Some of you may be asking, what about the Chiefs? Shouldn't have been a test. Just goes to prove how difficult it is to go undefeated in a 16 game season. This is a tough game to call based on how potent Rodgers and the Packers offense has looked. But the Falcons may surprise a lot of people. It'll be very close.
Winner: Packers

Championship Round:
Saints at Packers
The last NFC game will be a rematch of the first game of the season. And what a rematch it will be. Brees' performance has been overshadowed by the Packers' nearly perfect season. Green Bay's loss may bump Brees to the front runner in the MVP race. Green Bay also faced weaker teams this year than the Saints did. Both Championship Games will rival the Super Bowl in excitement and intensity. Brees and the Saints will end the Packer's pursuit as repeat Champions.
Winner: Saints

Super Bowl
Saints vs Ravens
While not the game the network is hoping for, what a game to watch! The red hot offense of the Saints versus the Stifling defense of the Ravens! They say that defense wins Championships but the top teams this year have been doing it with offense. In the end, the pundits will start discussing the possibility of a dynasty as Brees brings the Lombardi Trophy back to New Orleans for the second time in 3 years.
Winner: Saints

There you have it. So now it's likely that the Giants will shock the world again and beat Tebow in the Super Bowl. (My ideal is Bengals over Houston, New England over Cincinnati, and New England over the Ravens. Then New England facing Green Bay. But this is all fairly unlikely.) Feel free to provide your predictions. What a great time of year!