The Fan's Perspective

So much for the most exciting weekend in football.

The Warnerless Cards get blown out of the dome by the Saints (who looked so rejuvenated that it might be time to ask Jose Canseco if he slipped  Sean Payton the number of his steriod guy) and the Ravens crippled themselves with mental errors (fumbles, dropped balls, etc.) and dumb penalties (any time a yellow flag came flying in I was 98% sure that it was on the Ravens) en route to an inevitable playoff demolition.

That Ravens-Colts game was really hard to watch at times. Even if they did something right, they nullified it by commiting some inane error. The reaction of my buddy Flo, a die-hard Ravens fan, after the Ed Reed interception-fumble-sequence, probabyl sums it up best:

“God hates me.”

In all fairness though, not only God hates you, Ravens fans, but also the refs. That helmet to helmet call was some major BS. Collie didn’t drop the ball. (By the way the announcers of course were quick to reside on the referee’s side and even tried to convince us that it was a good call. Dear CBS annoncers grow some ball, will ya!? Roger Goodell is not David Stern for Christ’s sake.) He had it knocked loose by Lewis. What’s a defender supposed to do? Stand there and watch the receiver catch a TD pass!?

(Shaking my head in disgust)

In addition to those aforementioned mental errors and silly penalties, the Ravens’ man with the headset, John Harbaugh, also had some major brainfarts. He keept rushing with only three guys in the red zone, giving Manning enough time to sling it into even the tightest coverage. Also Harbaugh got rid of TOs so quickly I couldn’t even keep up anymore. When they took the second timeout in the third quarter, thus eliminating any possibilty for a fourth quarter comeback, I texted my buddy Flo and asked him:” Do the Ravens have more timeouts than I am aware of or why are they tossing one after the other out of the window like it’s a fire sale!?”

Anyway, the point is that this Round 2 hasn’t provided nearly the excitment I and everybody else was hoping for. But maybe, just maybe the Sunday games can make up for it.

Dallas Cowboys at Minnesota Vikings

This is your driver speaking, hop on the Dallas bandwagon as long as there is still room.

I love the Cowboys so much in this matchup (and as matter of fact to win the whole thing) that it’s scary. Every time I have this strong of a feeling about a particular team or game it usal goes the other way (see Saints, New Orleans).

But not this time. I know this team is good. I watched tem obliterate a pretty good Eagles team.

They have no conceivable weakness. They can run the ball with Barber (the downhill runner), Jones (the change of pace guy) and Choice (the third down back). Romo and Austin are one of the better quarterback-receiver combos in football. Their defense is fast as hell. Their defensive backfield might be one of the best in the biz even though they can’t catch the ball to safe their life. Their linebacker corp is intimitading to say the least and their D-line isn’t a stash of fluff either.

Now they do have kicker issues, but hey who needs kickers if you can blow opponents out of the water. (Of course now that I said that I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they’ll lose on a shanked field goal.)

As far as Minny is concerned…they are pretty much the exact opposite. Adrian Peterson has severe fumbling issues, all day long. (See what I did there!? Clever, huh!? After all I am not one of the best, non-paid, casual sportsblogger for nothing.) Their defense is not the vaunted unit it used to be. Their second best receiver  is frequently hindered by migraines. And their quarterback…well you know my stance on him.

This will be the game Favre shows his real face to every Vikes fan out there. (Be read for a gut wrenching loss here, Minny. I care about you guys, that’s why I am warning you.) My prophecy will come true. Just watch and wait.

(One more thing: The over/under for death stares Favre will give Childress when the latter blows a challenge or screws up otherwise is set at 4.5. I am taking the over.)

Gut pick: Cowboys

New York Jets at San Diego Chargers

I have been thinking about this matchup all week long. It’s so tough to figure out.

On the one hand the Jets couldn’t have wished for a better Round 2 opponent (Fortuna might just be a Jets fan.) The Jets can run the ball. The Chargers can’t stop the run. The Jets don’t throw much. The Chargers have a sound pass defense. The Jets defend the pass well. The Chargers chuck it about as much as anybody. The Jets can be run on. The Chargers can’t run effectively. You probably couldn’t create a better opponent for this Jets team on Madden.

On the other hand what are the odds a rookie quarterback performs the way Sanchez did last week in consecutive road playoff games?

150:1?

300:1?

500:1?

Higher?

I mean seriously, unless this guy is the second coming of Johnny Unitas I can’t see him playing a good game, no less a mistake free one like he did against Cincy.

He’ll be the X-factor in this game. If Mark Sanchez can defy the odds and not cost his team the game, the Jets might pull an upset.

Here is saying he won’t.

Gut pick: Chargers

Superbowl pick that will probably blow up in my face today: Cowboys over Chargers

Gut pick record: 3-3

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 17th, 2010 at 5:22 pm and is filed under NFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.