With NFL football betting times just a short time away, Cappers Picks NFL handicappers have been hard at work putting out the team by team NFL Season Predictions & Previews for those of us who can’t wait. Bet on the first Monday Night Football game of the year.
NFC Championship Game – Vikings vs. Saints
All right, it’s time to pick some nits and make the case against the Minnesota Vikings going to the Super Bowl in a few weeks. And it’s has nothing to do with any deal with the devil that the old-man quarterback might have made. It goes like this:
The Colts are the teacher who in the first few months of school lets the students do whatever they want. The kids then take complete control of the class, and in November when the teacher realizes (s)he needs to put the hammer down, it’s damn near impossible.
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF – Cardinals vs. Saints
The freeze that enveloped the country this winter has made a stop in Louisiana, where the fandom has had a few weeks to come to grips with the fact that while the Saints aren’t certainly as bad as the outfit that limped home with three straight losses, they might not be the machine that nailed 13 in a row to start the season, either.
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF – Cowboys vs. Vikings
You have questions? The Cowboys have the answers. Momentum? Dallas has four straight wins coming into Sunday’s playoff game against the Vikings.
Stopping Adrian Peterson? Dallas is the No. 4-ranked team against the rush this season.
To paraphrase George W. Bush, have we been misunderestimating the Jets?
We all looked at New York’s won-loss record in games in which the opponent was actually trying and saw a ho-hum 7-7 team with a blowhard coach and a rookie quarterback, a team that would certainly get its comeuppance once live ammo was in the guns and bullets started flying for real.
The big concern in Indianapolis all week – for the last three weeks, really – is how the Colts will perform after basically treating the final two games of the season as pre-season scrimmages. Is the momentum gone for good, or will the rest that Peyton Manning & Co. received in the final two games of the regular season be the key ingredient Saturday night?
If numbers get you off, chew for a minute on these stats:
The New York Jets were the best team in the league at running the football. The New York Jets were No. 2 in the league in overall defense. Twenty-seven quarterbacks in the league had a higher rating than Mark Sanchez.
Any questions about where the Jets have to step up their game if they plan to be playing beyond next weekend?
Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead.
That was the approach of Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy in Arizona last weekend, and we’ll find out in a few days whether or not playing the regulars most of the way in the meaningless regular-season game will pay dividends when the teams meet Sunday in a game that really counts.
Wade Phillips needs one more win to keep his job as HC of the DC, and no one is rooting for him more than owner Jerry Jones.
It’s an uncomplicated relationship between Phillips and Jones.
Let’s see now.
The best receiver just tore up every ligament in his left knee. The starting running back has a tendency to fumble the ball every time he touches it inside the opposing 5 yard line. The deep-threat receiver pouts when things don’t go exactly the way he wants them.
We all understand about playing the no-respect card. The Patriots used the tactic to motivate themselves to three Super Bowls.
The Ravens have employed a slightly different tack, complaining that the referees are always out to get them.
In a mega-game that everyone feels will be dominated by playmakers for both teams on both sides of the ball, will the outcome of the NFC East be determined by a substitute center?
Maybe.
Philadelphia’s offensive line has teetered between work in progress and absolute mess since the start of training camp, and now the Eagles will be forced to finish out with season without the one stabilizing force on the front five – center Jamaal Jackson, who suffered torn knee ligaments in the victory over Denver last Sunday.
Maybe Eric mangini isn’t happy unless he is being hated.
Mangini ticked off Bill Belichick by abruptly leaving the Patriots coaching staff a few years back, reportedly breaking an agreement the two had when Belichick made Mangini the defensive coordinator.
For the second time in three years the cranky old 1974 Dolphins are sweating bullets. Mercury Morris and his boys had part of their legacy chipped away when the 2007 Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season (before faltering in the Super Bowl). Now, less than two years later, the Colts are taking dead aim.
With the possible exception of Bernie Madoff, has there been a fall from grace more dramatic than that suffered by the Denver Broncos? From that blistering 6-0 start that included victories over the Bengals, Patriots, Cowboys and Chargers (who are now a combined 38-18), Denver enters Week 16 without a playoff spot yet locked down.
