Well, I feel a little sheepish.
I had predicted (on this blog) the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints were going to play in the Super Bowl this year. The Saints were stunned by the 7-9 Seahawks in the first round, and the Patriots were upset big-time by the Jets, a team they manhandled five weeks ago.
But now we've got two excellent conference championship matchups, with the New York Jets facing the Pittsburgh Steelers (in Pittsburgh) and the Green Bay Packers visiting their old rivals, the Chicago Bears.
I don't know what to think. I almost feel like it's not worth picking. The Jets have seemed like a team of destiny since last year, when they beat the division-winning Cincinnati Bengals two weeks in a row, stunned the high-powered San Diego Chargers at home in week 2, and took an early lead over the Colts in the AFC Championship game before wearing down (and before Peyton did his Peyton thing). Now they've beaten Peyton and beaten the Patriots twice in one season.
The Steelers won the 2005 Super Bowl over the Seattle Seahawks (remember them?), then they squeaked by the Arizona Cardinals in the classic 2008 Super Bowl on the famous HE-GOT-BOTH-TOES-DOWN...AMAZING catch in the corner of the end zone by Santonio Holmes (who now plays for the Jets). The Steelers have been made a three-point favorite, and I find it hard to pick against them, especially considering the strong defense (Woodley, Harrison, Polamalu, anyone?) and the playmaking ability of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
Meanwhile, in the NFC Championship Game, I have too hard a time rooting against the Green Bay Packers to do it, so I won't. They beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Philly decisively, then they emasculated the Falcons on their own turf. And, as good as Jay Cutler is, he's not Aaron Rodgers, and Rodgers has played some of his best career football in the playoffs. He's also proven adept at keeping plays alive under pressure, which he'll probably have to do with Julius Peppers and Brian Urlacher coming for him. The Bears lost the 2006 Super Bowl to the Indianapolis Colts, even after Devin Hester ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown; that year, they played dream-crushers over the comeback kid New Orleans Saints in the conference title game. The Packers lost the '07 NFC Championship to the then-undefeated New England Patriots (in the last game of Brett Favre's Packers' career, it turned out).
Well, the playoffs have been freakin' amazing so far, and they're not over. I won't be able to watch either conference championship because of my work schedule, but they should be amazing games, and, any way it shakes out, the Super Bowl is going to be a great matchup.
No comments:
Post a Comment