Wild Card Weekend Playoff Games

Welcome to the first round of the tournament, which presents several interesting challenges as anything can happen and probably will…

New Orleans -10 At Seattle 44

The Saints travel to Qwest to face the 7-9 Seahawks and the inhospitable 12th Man. Last week, the ‘Hawks dinked and dunked their way to a win over St. Louis, who were unable to make adjustments to their defense and allowed Seattle to win the division in underwhelming fashion. The Saints should win, but the line appears to be far too generous to the guests, notwithstanding whatever deficiencies lie with Seattle. The Saints are heavily banged up on both sides of the ball and their leading rusher was placed on IR. No one around here is suggesting an upset, but with a reasonably healthy Matt Hasselbeck, the ‘Hawks ought to have some measure of success moving the ball against the Saints.

Projected Final Score: New Orleans 24, Seattle 13

At Indianapolis -2.5 NY Jets 44.5

In Saturday night’s finale, the Jets travel to Indy, where Peyton Manning and his high-powered offense (minus Collie and Clark) will be looking to bowl over Coach Loudmouth and his brash band. Indianapolis and his team simply have the horses to defeat the Jets and have historically had the Big Mouth’s number.

Projected Final Score: Indianapolis 24, NY Jets 20

Baltimore -3 At Kansas City 40.5

The Chiefs have been a remarkable story this year, but they’ll turn into pumpkins on Sunday after the Ravens’ defense manhandles and dismantles the Chiefs’ offense. The Ravens aren’t a flashy team but they’re more than capable of getting the job done on the road against a team that really hasn’t played well against a quality opponent all year.

Projected Final Score: Ravens 23, Kansas City 16

At Philadelphia -2.5 Green Bay 46.5

In our upset special for the week, we’re picking the Packers to prevail in a hard fought game over Vick and the Eagles. Green Bay’s defense is solid, balanced and will be able to handle whatever Vick brings. The Eagles’ defense is banged up and Rodgers will be able to take advantage of their deficiencies. The Packers previous issues running the ball may have been addressed with the emergence of Koch, so they’re balanced offensively. If Green Bay plays as well as they have in recent weeks, Philadelphia is going to have a tiger by the tail.

Projected Final Score: Green Bay 24, Philadelphia 21