I got nothing

This space was reserved for my comments on Sunday's Giants debacle. But since I can't even talk about the loss with my mom at dinner for 2 minutes, I can't imagine trying to type about it for the next 15 minutes. Screw that.

I'll say this. The game was ugly, but not an indication of the season. Once I get over the heartbreak of that loss, sometime around June 7th, I'll look back and realize in the grand scheme of things this season was a success. I mean, damn, the Giants went 11-5 and won the NFC East, one of the top 2 or 3 competitive divisions in the NFL year after year. I was hoping for 8-8 in January, and if you'd have said I could go 11-5, win the division, but would have to get manhandled in the first round of the playoffs in order for that to happen, you know what? I'd have taken it. So really, it's not that bad.

As for the rest of the playoffs, God I hope they're better than the first round was. That was one of the worst rounds of playoffs in the history of me. And that's a long history. This is my 24th playoff season. That means this was around the 90th weekend of playoff football in my life (don't remember exactly what year the NFL playoffs expanded to 6 teams, I think it was either 87 or 90). The worst of 90? THat'd a bold statement! I'm sticking to it. Not one of the games was exciting. Sure, the Bucs-Redskins game was close, but it was too ugly for enjoyment. THe Steelers-Bengals first half wsa the closest thing to exciting we saw, but did you catch the 2nd half? Not exciting.

SO here I give you my opinions on the playoffs from here on out. Most major publications will tell you why all 8 remaining teams can win the Super Bowl. Boring. I'll tell you why all 8 teams can lose this weekend.

In alphabetical order. Alphabetical according to the 3rd to last letter of each teams home.

Chicago: Did you see Carolina play last weekend? THat was a team on a mission. Their defense is (don't scream at me chicagoans) every bit as good as the Bears D when it wants to be. And their O? Much much better. If Carolina wants this game, they could turn this into another 20-0 bloodbath.

New England: The magic has to end eventually. This has been the worst Patriots season of the last 5 years, including the 9-7 season they missed the playoffs. And did you see the Patriots Saturday night? That was not the same team we watched over the last 4 Super Bowls. They did not play good at all. Going into a hostile stadium in January against a very good ground game could be what it takes to finally end the dynasty, and in turn shut up millions of annoying Boston sports fans.

Carolina: The 2005 Carolina Panthers. Great one week, not so great the next. This is a team that has been so inconsistant that I can't even think of a good analogy to end this sentence with. If last week's team shows up on Sunday, they will win. But if the other Panthers show up, Chicago will have no problem disposing of them. Remember, Steve Smith ran wild against the Bears last time (180+ yards or something crazy) and the Panthers still could only score 6 points. They need DeShaun to be where he was last week, which won't happen because the Bears linebackers are slightly better than the Giants JV squad.

Indianapolis: The last month has been insane for this team. Doesn't the talk of an undefeated season seem like forever ago? It's been way too long since this team played a meaningful game. Counter that with Peyton Manning not exactly being Tom Brady in the playoffs, and the Pittsburgh Steelers clicking like no other team in the league is right now, and we could very easily have an upset brewing here.

Pittsburgh: Crowd noise. Last time these two teams played, Ben Roethlisberger cried like a little girl that the Colts cheated and pumped in crowd noise. Obviously that wasn't the case, but if he thought the fans were loud for that mid-season Monday night game, how do you think they're going to treat him on Sunday? This is still a young QB who has been more than shaky in 2 of his 3 postseason starts. If the fans can rattle him early on Sunday, and Peyton can get his team out to quick 10 point lead, this game will get real ugly real fast.

Washington: Simply because Seattle is a much better team. I've been saying all season this Redskins team isn't very good. YOu may argue that I'm wrong because they made a playoff game & then won that game, but did you actually see the game against the Bucs on Saturday? 130 yards of offense for the Redskins? THat won't work against the Seahawks & Mike Holmgren in Seattle. Prediction, Shaun Alexander will have more yards this week than the Redskins had last week.

Seattle: When was the last time a Seahawks team won a playoff game? Not in my lifetime, I don't think. This team is no better than the teams in either of the last two seasons that lost its firstround playoff game. Only difference b/w those teams & this team was this teams schedule was weaker, so it was able to cakewalk to homefield advantage. Still, until this team proves anyone wrong, I can't take it seriously in the playoffs.

Denver: Last two playoff games? Gave up 87 combined points, scored 17. Career playoff record since John Elway retired: 0-fer. Zero wins. They've had some good teams since he retired, but none that could win in the playoffs. Is Mike Shanahan that great of a coach, or were John Elway & Terrell Davis that good of players? I don't know. But they're running into a rejuvanated, "disrespected," highly motivated bill belicheck-coached, tom brady-led two time defending superbowl champions team on Saturday night. And unless they bring their top game, like they did last time these two teams met, history will always prevail. and Belicheck & Brady are historic.

Enjoy the games!