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Wow.. I am surprised at all the love the Colts are getting. I've watched every Colts game this year and I can tell you this is not a very good team at all. They've benefited from being in a horrible division. I know it's the Bengals but still there is a good chance the Colts will lose this game.
In a lot of ways, this matchup reminds me of the 2005 season when the Colts beat the tar out of the Steelers in the regular season here in Indy. A few weeks later, the Steelers came in here as a wild card team and returned the favor knocking one of the best Colts teams of the Manning era out of the playoffs. The game was never close even with some questionable home cooking calls.
This Colts team is not even half as good as that 2005 team, there is no running game, too many turnovers by Luck and a very average coach. The key will be whether AJ Green plays for the Bengals or not.... If he plays, there is a very good chance that the Colts will lose. Even without him, if their running game is effective and if Dalton takes care of the ball, the Bengals have a good chance.
Lions - I think Suh will win the appeal. Lions are the better team, however I would not bet a dime on the game due to how inconsistent Stafford is. Not to mention, too much emphasis is put on Calvin Johnson when Golden Tate is a more consistent player.
Cardinals - Feel free to say the Panthers are coming around... the Cardinals are the Cardinals with or without Carson Palmer. I give them a first round win against a terrible Panthers team.
Colts - Have to go with the Colts on this one, even if I'm not fully sold.
Ravens - I'm predicting Ravens, simply because I hate everything about the Steelers (and I don't like Joe Flacco at all)
I'll take the 4 home teams: Panthers, Cowboys, Colts & Steelers.
Bengals will get crushed like they usually do in the playoffs. They lost in Indy earlier this year 31-0, we'll see if they do any better.
I picked Detroit in the other thread by the pizza doctor, but that's before I realized Stafford still has a goose egg in the win column on the road against winning teams. Normally I would NEVER take Romo & Garrett in a playoff game but Stafford & Caldwell seem like an even worse choice.
Picking the Steelers as a Ravens fan seems wrong but the home team wins almost every game in this rivalry. In 2012, the Ravens super bowl season the Ravens won in Pittsburgh and the Steelers won in Baltimore, and in 2011 Torrey Smith won the game for the Ravens with a TD with about 10 seconds left in the game to win @ Pittsburgh, but aside from those 3 instances I can't remember the last time a road team won in this series. Also, the last time they played in Pitt, Roethlisburger threw for 6 TDs on a secondary that back then in November was bad and today in January, is still bad. There's no way Flacco can outduel Ben in a shootout.
Wow.. I am surprised at all the love the Colts are getting. I've watched every Colts game this year and I can tell you this is not a very good team at all. They've benefited from being in a horrible division. I know it's the Bengals but still there is a good chance the Colts will lose this game.
In a lot of ways, this matchup reminds me of the 2005 season when the Colts beat the tar out of the Steelers in the regular season here in Indy. A few weeks later, the Steelers came in here as a wild card team and returned the favor knocking one of the best Colts teams of the Manning era out of the playoffs. The game was never close even with some questionable home cooking calls.
This Colts team is not even half as good as that 2005 team, there is no running game, too many turnovers by Luck and a very average coach. The key will be whether AJ Green plays for the Bengals or not.... If he plays, there is a very good chance that the Colts will lose. Even without him, if their running game is effective and if Dalton takes care of the ball, the Bengals have a good chance.
Their not, but the Bengals are the NFL's paper tiger in the playoffs. One sign of adversity and Dalton & Lewis completely crumble. That's why I was really hoping the Bengals would've found a way to beat the Steelers because not only do the Ravens match up better with the Bengals than the Steelers....I think they easily would've beaten the Bengals too. For one, the Bengals swept the season series and it's always difficult to beat a team 3 times in 1 season, especially when the 2 regular season games were 1 touchdown games.
The first week in Baltimore, Flacco made 2 really stupid decisions that lead to a Ravens loss: At the end of the first half with the Ravens driving getting shut out deep in Bengals territory and well in range of a Tucker field goal and with no timeouts at their disposal and 8 seconds on the clock, Flacco attempted a scramble but got tackled in bounds which ran the clock out on the first half without the Ravens getting any points, and later with a minute left in the 4th the Bengals sacked Flacco deep in Ravens territory on both 3rd and 4th down to escape the Charm City with a 7 point win. And before you say, "wait, even with the field goal, they still would've lost by 4 anyways" wait a minute, because it completely changed the complexion of the 4th quarter and what both teams did. The Ravens, after going into halftime down 15-0 actually scored the first 16 points of the second half to take a 1 point lead, went for 2 and failed to go up 1. Had they taken the 3 points in the first half, I doubt they go for 2 there and take the extra point. Whether it's 19-20-or 21 a Bengals touchdown beats you anyways, while a Bengals field goal still has you up no matter which direction they choose to go, so Harbaugh likely takes the 1 point. The we go onto the Bengals last possession of the game (not including the 2 kneel downs after the turnover on downs ) which was AJ green's game-winning 77 yard touchdown catch, here's where things get interesting. We'll lay out 3 scenario's all of which go back to the end of game 3rd & 4th down sack (and all assuming Tucker has the first half field goal):
Ravens go for 2 on second TD and miss: That leaves the Ravens at 19. The Bengals just kick the extra point on AJ Green's 77 yard game-winning touchdown because they'll be up 3. Ravens can now tie on final drive instead of needing a touchdown.
Ravens kick extra point on second TD: That leaves the Ravens at 20. Bengals still go for 2 on Green's TD since they'll be up 1 after the TD. Field goal on final drive can once again either tie score (if 2 pointer successful) or outright win the game (if 2 pointer is missed).
Ravens go for 2 after second 2 and succeed: That leaves the Ravens at 21. Bengals will obviously kick the extra point to go up 1 as a converted 2 point conversion can still get defeated on a Ravens field goal and a missed 2 pointer would just leave the game tied. In this scenario, the Ravens would outright win on a field goal. So, to go back to the Ravens 4th quarter TD; no matter what decision Harbaugh went with the worst that could've happened was Tucker kicking a game-tying field goal it Flacco throws the ball away at the end of the first half and gets the 3 points. At the end none of this matters as the Steelers still would've won the division on tiebreaker anyways but the Ravens would get a tad more favorable matchup in the Colts than the Steelers.
6 weeks later in Cincinnati, the Bengals won by 7 when the Ravens game-tying touchdown by Steve Smith, now a senior, got negated by a very questionable offensive pass interference call
Bengals will get crushed like they usually do in the playoffs. They lost in Indy earlier this year 31-0, we'll see if they do any better.
Picking the Steelers as a Ravens fan seems wrong but the home team wins almost every game in this rivalry. In 2012, the Ravens super bowl season the Ravens won in Pittsburgh and the Steelers won in Baltimore, and in 2011 Torrey Smith won the game for the Ravens with a TD with about 10 seconds left in the game to win @ Pittsburgh, but aside from those 3 instances I can't remember the last time a road team won in this series. Also, the last time they played in Pitt, Roethlisburger threw for 6 TDs on a secondary that back then in November was bad and today in January, is still bad. There's no way Flacco can outduel Ben in a shootout.
That game was very strange because it looked like the Ravens were going to blow out the Steelers again in the first quarter, and their D line sacked Ben 3 plays in a row. Then all of a sudden they couldn't get to Ben, it was Flacco who was getting sacked, and Ben threw 6 TDs. I really have no idea what happened. Nevertheless, should be a close game. The Ravens' secondary is somewhat improved now and their front 7 is fantastic. While Flacco is inconsistent in the regular season, come playoff time, he may be the most clutch QB in the NFL. We saw a sample of this this past Sunday. They didn't do much the first 3 quarters (they actually had 2 nice drives, but Harbaugh went for it for some stupid reason, and they only got 3 points on those 2 drives). Then when they needed the win in the 4th quarter, Flacco was just about perfect.
Not that the Steelers can't win. They're a really good team. But I wouldn't count either team out. Especially with Bell either out or less than 100% and 1 bad hit away from being out.
Bengals only lost 27-0. Maybe they'll lose 31-0 this time.
I would be inclined to take the home teams, but experience shows that someone somewhere flubs up and gets to stay home and watch the rest from their TV, while some team (like the Steelers that one time) win on the road and go on a roll. While I wish the road winner would be the Lions, and the home loser the Cowboys, I don't see that happening this time. Either way, I can guarantee that in that game, a team wearing blue and silver will win.
CARDINALS @ Panthers I think the Pesky Red Birds have had enough scare and will win. The Panthers, yes, everyone on TV is saying how they are the hottest team in the NFL now, but let's face it, they still have a losing record. If the Pesky Red Birds can manage to score more points, they will win.
Lions @ COWBOYS As I said, the team wearing blue and silver will win. Probably the home one.
Bengals @ COLTS Conventional wisdom suggests a Colts win, but then again, if the Bengals score more points than the Colts, then, like the Cardinals game, the visiting team will win.
Ravens @ STEELERS Again, the issue all season has been WHICH Steeler team shows up,,,,the one that wins or the one that loses ? That will be the determining factor here as well.
I predict that the Colts will beat the Bengals in Indy again because the bengals only averaged a total of 14 pts a game against teams with winning records on the road
I predict the steelers will beat the ravens because not only do they have a good offense and defense, the Ravens struggled against all their division rivals this year on the road and had to squeak out a 2 pt win in Cleveland.
I predict the Panthers will beat the Cardinals because due to losing their starting QB they lost their last 4 road games of the season and only averaged 11 pts a game
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