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Divisional Round Preview: NY Jets @ Patriots
Jets @ Patriots
Sunday, 4:30PM
Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA
This game could be the only blowout of the weekend. The Jets surprisingly split the season series with their AFC East rival, but they just aren’t very good. They beat the Colts in Indianapolis last weekend to advance to this point, but the Patriots are just a better offensive team. Tom Brady has been mistake free for a while now and it is clearly tough to force mistakes out of him. For the Jets to have a chance they must get pressure on Brady and force him to be uncomfortable, if not this one could be over quickly.
Final Score: Patriots 34, Jets 20.
For more news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.
Divisional Round: A Preview Of Saturday’s Games
Ravens @ Steelers
Saturday, 4:30PM
Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, PA
The Ravens and Steelers will meet for the third time this season. The Ravens are coming off a big 30-7 win over the Chiefs in the wild card round. Joe Flacco has been pretty successful in his short time in the NFL playoffs, but Ben Roethlisberger has been even better. This will be the third match-up this season between these two AFC North rivals and they split the season series. Both teams will lean on solid defense, a good running attack and smart quarterback play. I expect this one to be a close game, but the Steelers have the better defense and they will shut down Flacco and the Ravens in the critical parts of the game.
Final Score: Steelers 17, Ravens 13
Packers @ Falcons
Saturday, 8:00PM
Georgia Dome, Atlanta, GA
These two teams met back in week 12 and the Falcons escaped with a victory. This time around the Falcons don’t look so good and they lost to the Saints in week 16 at home. The Packers on the other hand put a whooping on the Giants in week 16 and beat the Bears to get into the playoffs. The Packers beat Michael Vick and the Eagles last Sunday to get the chance to head to the Georgia Dome. Aaron Rodgers is playing pretty well, but the key to the Packers success has to do with the running game and James Starks exploded last week. Look for this game to be close. Falcons QB Matt Ryan has been very good at home, but the Packers are the dangerous team that no one wants to face right now. However I think the Packers will fall short in this one because the Falcons are just so good at home and they will have the crowd in the game.
Final Score: Falcons 27, Packers 20
*Today should be a great day of football. Check back tomorrow for my previews of Sunday’s games.
For more news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.
Wild Card Sunday Recap
The Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens came away with the wins yesterday on the Sunday of wild card weekend.
The Packers beat the Eagles in Philadelphia 21-16. The Packers will now travel to Atlanta to face the Falcons next Saturday at 8 PM ET. The Packers lost to the Falcons in Atlanta back in week 12 of the regular season 20-17.
The Packers-Falcons rematch is likely the best match-up of the NFC divisional round next weekend.
The Packers are playing well and will be tough to beat, but the Falcons are well rested and will have their crowd in the game. Should be a good NFC game.
The other game yesterday was the Ravens against the Chiefs. The Chiefs got blown out by the Ravens, they turned the ball over 5 times and lost the game 30-7. The Chiefs just weren’t that good.
The Ravens will travel to Pittsburgh next weekend to take on the Steelers. This will be the third match up for the AFC North rivals. This will be the best AFC match up next weekend, low scoring, hard running and good quarterbacking will be in this game.
The other AFC divisional game next weekend will be the Jets against the Patriots. This will be the third meeting between the Jets and Pats.
This is the first time in the history of the NFL, that the AFC has seen two actual divisional match ups in the divisional round.
The Patriots will be large favorites, but the Jets have been playing well as of late. Look for this game to be closer than people think.
The other match-up in the NFC is going to be fourth seeded Seahawks, who finished the season 7-9 and upset the Saints on Saturday against the two seeded Bears.
The Bears lost 23-20 back in week 6 to the Seahawks, but the Bears offensive line was in limbo, they gave up six sacks to the Seahawks and they only attempted to run the ball 14 times against the 39 pass attempts. Mike Martz has improved his game plans as of late, I don’t expect anything like that one back in week 6. Look for Matt Forte to be a play-maker running and catching passes out of the backfield on Sunday.
Saturday, Jan 15.
Ravens-Steelers- 4:30 ET
Packers-Falcons-8:00 ET
Sunday, Jan 16.
Seahawks-Bears- 1:00 ET
Jets-Patriots-4:30 ET
For Bears news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.
Wild Card Weekend: A Preview Of Saturday’s Games
Wild card weekend showcases four games. Two games Saturday and two games Sunday. Lets get into the games that will take place today.
Game 1:
At 4:30 PM ET, the New Orleans Saints will travel to Seattle to face the NFC West champion Seahawks.
The Seahawks finished the season 7-9 and are the first team to win their division with a below .500 record. The Saints on the other hand finished the season11-5, they beat the Falcons and Bucs in the final two games.
The Saints are the favorite on the road, but the Seahawks will have QB Matt Hasselbeck will be back in the lineup. The Saints will be without RB’s Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory.
The Seahawks stadium is probably toughest place to play, but their just not that good of a team. The Seahawks have to come out fast if they want to have a chance.
I see the Saints winning, they will pull away in the second half.
Final Score: Saints 28, Seahawks 17.
Game 2:
At 8:00 ET, the New York Jets will travel to Lucas Oil Stadium to take on the AFC South champion Colts. This isn’t the same Colts team that we’ve seen in the past. Dallas Clark is injured, Austin Collie is injured and the running game is non-existent. But they still have QB Peyton Manning and that is still a recipe for success.
The Jets have seen Mark Sanchez struggle a bit, but their defense is still pretty good and they have some good players on their team.
If they Jets can contain Peyton Manning the outcome will be good for them. If they can run the ball and control the time of possession, I think they will win.
The Colts against the Jets should be a good matchup, but the Jets are the better team, they have more healthy players and that is very important in the playoffs.
Look for the Jets to pull of the upset in this one. If the Colts pull a win out, they won’t make it past the next round, I promise you that.
Final Score: NY Jets 24, Colts 18
Contest For All You Gamers: EA Mobile Madden Mondays
EA Mobile’s Madden Mondays is a campaign where each week a Madden NFL 11 mobile user wins an engraved iPod Shuffle.
To be eligible, players of Madden NFL 11 on iPod touch, iPhone & iPad simply need to play out the Monday Night match-up on their device, screenshot the final score and email it to Monday@ea.com. The entry that’s closest to actual score gets the iPod.
Here’s a link to the official rules and regs: http://www.eamobile.com/maddenmondays/rules
Check it out if your a big gamer because this is a solid contest, so get going.
Madden 11 Cover Goes To Super Bowl XLIV MVP Drew Brees
Madden 11 is supposed to be the best Madden game ever and today it was announced that Super Bowl XLIV MVP Drew Brees will be on the cover.
Drew Brees beat out Jared Allen and Reggie Wayne, the other two candidates for the cover spot.
The Madden Curse has played a role it almost every person who has been on the cover. Some people believe in that curse, but most people think its just a fluke.
Madden 2001 the first ever Madden game to feature an NFL player on it before that John Madden was on all the covers. Eddie George was the player who appeared on the cover in 2001 and he suffered an injury. Next year (2002), Daunte Culpepper, he got hurt and basically has never recovered. In 2003, Marshall Faulk was injured, 2004, everyone remembers Michael Vick breaking his leg in the preseason. In 2005, Ray Lewis appeared on the cover, he made it all the way until week 15 without an injury. In 2006, Donovan McNabb suffered a season ending ACL injury, 2007, RB Shaun Alexander appeared on the cover and suffered a foot injury forcing him to miss six games. 2008 was Vince Young’s year to be on the cover and he suffered a knee injury which forced him to miss many games. In 2009, the New York Jets QB Brett Favre appeared on the cover, he didn’t miss any games, but he admitted he played the later part of the season with a torn bicep. Last years game, 2010, was the first ever game to have two players appear on the cover. With WR Larry Fitzgerald and S Troy Polamalu both players appeared in Super Bowl 43 between the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers. Fitzgerald avoided the curse and didn’t miss any playing time, but Polamalu was injured week one against Tennessee and missed four more games until he was injured and placed on the IR.
Drew Brees will be affected by the Madden curse in someway.
What do you think?
