TDL’s Sports, Wrestling, & Otherwise

If there is anything that I will concede to the NFL it’s that they have the most exciting playoffs. In the NBA and the NHL, more than half the teams (16 of 30 each) make the playoffs. If you have a good team in the NBA, they’re probably going to be good next year. If you have a mediocre team in the NBA, they’re probably going to make the playoffs next year. Every now and again, a team pulls off a Super Trade (like the Celtics this season) or a superstar leaves a team (like Shaq leaving LA) and the boat gets rocked, but usually the status quo is maintained. The good teams stay good, the bad teams (because of the stupid lottery system) usually stay bad.

In the NFL, it’s different. Because of the hard cap, teams go through huge upheavals every season. Good, established veterans are replaced with draft picks who may or may not work out. Huge investments are made on unproven rookie quarterbacks — usually to the detriment of the team. Only 12 of the NFL’s 32 teams make the playoffs. When your team makes it, it’s huge… primarily because the fan has no idea when that huge injury is going to ruin your season. You have no idea when your franchise player is just going to suddenly get old and lose it. You have no idea when a random injury to a left tackle is going to cause your quarterback to fear for his life.

So, when you get into the NFC Championship game… off a season where everyone “in the know” told you your team was going to go 7-9 if they were lucky… your shoulder develops a bit of a chip. The chip gets a little bigger when your 38-35 loss to the undisputed best team in the league gets written off as “they still choked down the stretch.” It gets a little bigger when the team is considered an underdog to a 40-year old quarterback’s team who went 9-7 in a crappy division. It grows a whole lot bigger when you knock off the #1 seed at home and the their coach said “the better team lost.” It grows way more when the entirity of the other NFC Championship Team’s fanbase, and most of the national media, says your team doesn’t have a chance because “it’s gonna be cold.”

When your reporting skills come down to a weather report, and you completely ignore the rest of it… might it be time to find a new line of work?

It’s gonna be cold and that’s going to affect the Giants more than the Packers? Really? I suppose all the grizzled, wily veterans on the Green Bay staff are much more used to playing in sub-zero temperatures? You know, all those vaunted rookies and young studs on the Green Bay offense who’ve played a ton of January games on the Frozen Tundra. The game they played last weekend was a joke. Seattle wanted no part of that snow. This week, they are facing a hungry Giant team with a good running game who aren’t going to back down because of the weather. Not only that, save for Brett Favre… NO ONE ON THE FIELD HAS PLAYED IN THOSE CONDITIONS BEFORE.

And, lest we forget, we are still talking about Brett Favre who, as good as he is, has a terrible tendency to throw horrible passes off his back foot into triple coverage when he’s trying to force plays.

The Giants are being written off in this game… and I’m sure that suits them just fine. No one believed in them last week either.

San Diego +14 at New England 46pts: This game could go very, very badly for New England. Assuming LDT plays, the old troopers in the New England linebacker core have to be getting tired. In week 2, they held LDT to 43 yards in a 38-14 blowout. Now, their linebackers are banged up and playing their 18th game. Not that I’m looking for a reason to pick the Chargers. The problem with the Chargers is that they just can’t keep their fool mouths shut. Last season, after an embarrassing loss at home, the whole team had a lot to say… including LDT’s comments about the Patriots being a team of classless players for mocking Pillar of Fair Play Shawn Merriman’s celebratory dance. But, much the same as I said last week, the Patriots don’t really blow teams out in the playoffs. They play close to the vest and don’t make mistakes. If Rivers doesn’t throw a ton of interceptions and LDT manages to hold on to the ball, the Patriots take this game by 7 or 10. This spread is 14 points because it can be… no other reason. San Diego + 14, Over 46.5, 27-20.

New York +8 at Green Bay 40.5pts: See above. The weather is not going to affect the Giants any more or less than it’s going to affect the Packers. The only guy whose played a bitter cold game at Lambeau Field is Brett Favre. The rest of them played a cold snow game last week… 31F and snowy is not remotely the same as bitter, -20F Wind Chill. The Giants, right now, have a better platoon of running backs than the Packers. That’s huge in a game like this. The Giants pass rush, if it gets to Favre, is going to throw him off his rhythm. When he’s off his rhythm, he makes desperate plays. The Giants can win this. Giants outright. Under 40.5. 20-17.