2011 Texans Watch- Texans Getting Dissed And Pissed

This ESPN Sportsnation graphic says it all about what the rest of the country thinks about the Houston Texans chances to beat the Baltimore Ravens in our NFL Divisional playoff round matchup tomorrow.at M&T Bank Stadium

They are 0-5 all time against the Ravens, are playing their first road playoff game in franchise history and lost to them during the regular season 29-14.  

And oh yeah, the Ravens are 8-0 at home this season.

But as Herman Edwards famously said, that's why you play the games.

The Texans are getting pissed about the lack of national respect.   If I were the Ravens, I'd be very afraid about a talented team with a chip on its collective shoulders showing up at my place with something to prove.

NFL Picks-Championship Sunday

Well, did a little better during the divisional round than I did during the wildcard round of the NFL playoffs in picking winners.   Went 2-2 this weekend to get the overall record up to 3-5.

While I picked Chicago and Pittsburgh correctly, didn't count on both number one seeeds in the NFC and the AFC going down to defeat.

It's Championship Sunday, and it's time for Moni to pick the winners of the AFC and NFC title games and see if I get it right as to which teams end up in the Jerrydome on February 6 to play in Super Bowl XLV.

AFC Championship
New York Jets at Pittsburgh

The Steelers knocked off their bitter rivals the Baltimore Ravens 31-24 in the Divisional round to earn their 15th trip to the AFC title game and their first since 2008..   

The Jets made it to their second consecutive AFC Championship game and 4th overall by beating the Indianapolis Colts and the Number one seeded New England Patriots on the road in consecutive weekends in the playoffs.  It's a feat only the 2002 Tennessee Traitors have managed to pull off in NFL history.  They also beat the Steelers 22-17 at Heinz Field on December 19.

But don't get happy Jets fans, Troy Polamalu didn't play in that game.  With 2:08 remaining, Ben Roethlisberger drove the Steelers 82 yards to the Jets' 10 yard line only to throw two incomplete end zone passes as time expired.   

The Jets are also winless in AFC Championship game appearances with an 0-3 record while the Steelers are 7-7.   Their last win was in 2008 enroute to their seventh NFL championship.

In this rematch,  while the Jets come in on a roll, so are the Steelers.  I see Pittsburgh hoisting the Lamar Hunt trophy at the end of the game.


NFC Championship
Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears.

It's only the second time in NFL history these longtime NFL rivals have met in the playoffs, with the last meeting being a 33-14 Chicago victory at Wrigley Field in 1941. 

Da Bears stunned Seattle with some early offensive fireworks to take a 21-0 halftime lead in their Divisional round playoff game and held on to beat the Seahawks 35-24 and earn their 5th NFC title game appearance.  

It's the Green Bay Packers 5th NFC championship game appearance as well.   They knocked off the Philadelphia Eagles in the wildcard round 21-16 and beat down the number one seeded Atlanta Falcons 48-21 

They split the season series with the Bears.    Chicago beat them 20-17 at Soldier Field back on September 27.   Green Bay returned the favor with a 10-3 win over the Bears at Lambeau Field on January 7 that clinched the Packers playoff spot. 

While Green Bay is the hottest team in the NFC and probably the playoffs right now, Chicago's defense is also playing well.   They will also have the incentive of playing for an NFC championship trophy named for their legendary NFL Hall of Fame owner as well.  

Both teams have identical 2-2 records in their previous NFC title game tilts.  Green Bay's last win was in 1997 and the Bears win was in 2006. 

Chicago will be picking up the George Halas Trophy at the end of the evening.

NFL Picks-Divisional Round Weekend

Ouch did I have a rough weekend picking the NFL wild card weekend games.   A 1-3 record and the only one I got right was Baltimore's 30-7 beatdown of Kansas City.  

Let's get real for a minute.   If you'd been in my pumps, you would have picked the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints over the Seattle Seahawks too and Indianapolis at home over the New York Jets as well.   I went back and forth between Green Bay and Philly too.

Now that my whining is done, lets get to Moni's picks of this weekend's NFL Divisional Round playoff games.

All of them are rematches of regular season clashes, and in the AFC games they are matchups between division rivals who split their season series.

Saturday January 15

Pittsburgh over Baltimore    
Only because it's at Heinz Field and the Steelers have the better QB. . It also depends on how healthy Troy Palomalu is and how long he plays in this game.  The teams are so close that one big play will decides who goes to the AFC title game

Atlanta over Green Bay.
The Falcons beat Green Bay 20-17 in November, are at home and have been the best team in the NFC all season.   Green Bay is the hottest team right now.  Somethings gotta give in the Georgia Dome today.

Sunday January 16

Chicago over Seattle 
Da Bears are at home and haven't forgotten Seattle beat them 23-20 in Chicago back in October.   It also depends on which Jay Cutler shows up and which team runs the ball better.

New England over New York Jets 

The Patriots are rested and had an extra week to game plan against the Jets.   However it won't matter if the Jets can run the ball and keep Brady on the bench like they did Peyton Manning last week


If you feel you can do better, the comment thread below is open.

 

NFL Picks-Wild Card Weekend

One of the new things I'm going to do on the blog for this year will come starting in September, but I'm going to get ready for it this weekend.    I used to like to pick the winners of NFL games, and when the 2011 NFL season kicks off I will do so again.

So as a warmup, I'll pick the winners of this weekend's NFL Wild Card games

AFC Wild Card Games

Indianapolis over NY Jets
Baltimore over Kansas City

NFC Wild Card Games

New Orleans over Seattle
Philadelphia over Green Bay

We'll see how well I did after the last game is played on Sunday