Super Bowl XLVI. What can be said that hasn’t already been funneled into the hype machine, chewed up, and spit out all over Lucas Oil Field? A team from Boston will face off against a team from New York (like we need any more of that). Beyond that, what use is forecasting? So instead, I’ll show you pictures of a breakfast burrito bar, in a room adorned with cave paintings of West Coast pass plays and the Lombardi Power Sweep.
Not that all of the pre-game buzz isn’t fun to take part in. I’ve gotten sucked in to my share of NFL Live pow-wows and countless ESPN.com features (if there’s a line of demarcation, it would be somewhere north of ESPN’s First Down. Watching Skip Bayless is at a level on which I hope never to find myself). I guess I’m just trying to temper my own investment in football, after two conference championship games that ultimately made me hate myself for caring as much as I do about the outcome. During Super Bowl XLII in 2008, with the Patriots down 10-7 in the fourth quarter, I rallied my buddies around the premise that New England was losing because, for some stupid reason, I had made the executive decision to watch the game on a different television than usual (my roommate had a flatscreen, so we decided to set it up in the living room in lieu of my old 20″ Panasonic. Never mind that the ploy actually worked (after we plugged the old TV back in, the Pats drove for a TD to take the lead). In the end, the Giants won and I ended up feeling like a moron.
The Lombardi Power Sweep, as drawn by the author. I'm sure my co-workers noted the double guard pull.
I have to travel for business during Super Bowl weekend for the second straight year, and sad as it may be, the truth is that it really throws my life out of whack. It shouldn’t bother me like it does. I wish I cared a little (lot) less sometimes. But I know that in the end I’ll find a way to watch the game, and whatever the final score, my life will only feel changed for a day or two until I get back to real life. For that little while I’ll probably seem weird to the people around me, like today, when I drew diagrams of football plays no one in my office understands and hung them above a tray of scrambled eggs because it’s Super Bowl week and it’s football and I suppose that’s reason enough sometimes.
NEW ENGLAND (-2.5) over NY Giants
As the NFL season nears a close, I can’t help but still be excited for what will be a fantastic final three games. The Ravens, Patriots, 49ers, and Giants present intriguing matchups any way you pair them.
The NFL Playoffs’ Divisional Round is consistently the best weekend of the season. Two days, four great games. And as last week’s Wild Card games proved, there’s almost always an upset hiding in the mix. It’s just a matter of figuring out which one.
This one is disappointing, in that I’d love to believe in the Broncos as much straight-up as I do getting thirteen and a half points. What does that say about my support of Tebow, and what are the larger implications (head v. heart, emotion v. reason, etc.) that it represents?
It’s in the Ravens’ hands. If they play their game, they will not lose, save for T.J. Yates stealing the collective skills of Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and John Elway in some glowing football like the aliens in Space Jam.
We’re keeping it simple this week, with just a few points Wild Card related. In the future, we’ll cover the divisional round–a.k.a., the greatest weekend of the NFL season–in more depth. For now, here are your Week 18 picks:
HOUSTON (-3) over Cincinnati
Detroit (+10.5) over NEW ORLEANS
NY GIANTS (-3) over Atlanta
1. Put Roethlisberger on the ground.
As it should, it all comes down to Week 17. Cowboys/Giants–one team goes to the playoffs, the other goes home. It’s the old Texas Deathmatch: loser leaves town. As for Denver–beat the Chiefs and you’re in. Oakland needs a win and a Broncos loss. And don’t think Kyle Orton wouldn’t love to spoil the whole thing for Denver.
The invites are out for the NFL’s big January soiree, and some guests are a lock. As in Drew Brees, who’s only 305 yards from breaking Dan Marino’s 27-year-old record for most passing yards in a season (5,084). He fell just short in 2008, becoming only the second player to eclipse the 5,000 yard mark, and he’ll certainly have his shot with two games to go.
The Miami Dolphins have been solid gold this past month, and look for another big week against the Eagles. The Ravens, as we know, play to the level of their competition. The Bears will struggle to score points against the Denver defense, so Tebow doesn’t have to be magic in this contest–just good enough to control the game. And the Saints are a little less saintly on the road. That’s all you need to know about Week 14. On to the picks:
Is it manifest destiny? Cash? A longer contract that brings Albert Pujols to California? Or did he just get a look at the new Marlins uniforms and change his mind about Miami? Can this possibly make the Angels (who also added starter C.J. Wilson) serious contenders in an AL West division that features the two-time American League champions?
With the Indianapolis Colts traveling to Foxborough Sunday night, 0-12 looks like a distinct possibility. The Rams and Dolphins have somewhat pulled things together as of late, and so, with the Ravens, Titans, Texans, and Jaguars sill to play in the next month, the Colts look like a shoo-in for the draft’s number one pick.