Saturday, January 12, 2008

Dan's Divisional Picks

What a great day. The sun is shining for about the first time in January, Maverick's is going off just over the hill, and the divisional round will kick off at Lambeau Field in just a few hours.

A side note - why are they charging $25 a head to watch Maverick's on the big screen at AT&T Park when they are desperately trying to discourage people from showing up - for free, mind you - at the beach and kicking the whole cliff into the ocean?

I'm taking it all in from home wearing my Packers shirt and looking at the ridiculous "G Force: How Many False Starts Will You Be Responsible for Today?" handkerchief that they gave us at Lambeau on December 9. Was that specially prepared for Sims and Gallery?

1985 Dan would never forgive 2008 Dan for saying that I really don't mind the Seahawks anymore. (Remember the "Raider Busters?") As a Packer fan, Hasselbeck's coin-flip comment didn't bother me. The bottom line on this one is that Lambeau with a bit of snow is a great home field, and the Seahawks are dreadful on the road. I think we'll see today that the Packers are very good and the Seahawks aren't. Packers, 31-17.

I would not want to be setting the line for the Patriots-Jaguars game. 13 1/2 is probably reasonable. The Patriots could blow this one out. They are a really good team. They will have a chip on their shoulder, they'll be focused, yadda yadda yadda. I don't like the Patriots. They are a dynasty built on fraud with a phony squeaky-clean reputation. There is a lot of film out there showing how to slow them down (Philly, Baltimore, NYG), and the Jaguars are much better than those teams. Do they match up well? Maybe not, but what the hell. I'm picking Jacksonville to end New England's run 34-30. It will take the game of their lives, but like I said, it's a great day, so why not.

Indianapolis is indeed going to blow out the Chargers. Tomorrow I'm sure I'll have that catchy/annoying "San Diego Superchargers" song in my head all day. But for whatever reason people have forgotten how good Indy is. San Diego has made a nice comeback with Norv, but it will come to a crushing end with Gates on the sideline. As much as I'd like to see LT (he's an MVP, he can call himself whatever he wants) mocking some Patriot's signature move at Gillette Stadium next week, Indy will win 35-20.

The Giants-Cowboys game will be fun to watch, but I think it will be a little sloppy. Dallas has looked awful in recent weeks and it may take some time to remember how to play. I think Romo needed that Mexico trip to reset. The Giants are another team like Seattle. Sometimes you think they are really good, but they just aren't. So it will be a TO-led comeback that puts Dallas over the top, 24-21. Say what you will about TO, he was a stud with that broken ankle in the Super Bowl so a sprain should be worth 150 yds, 2 TDs or so.

2 comments:

john said...

Pretty awesome day today. I think the Packers are team to beat in the NFC now. And I really, really want to see that defense match up with the Pats, especially Woodson vs. Moss. Those Maverick's videos are scary and amazing. Charley don't surf, and neither does Johnny, unless the water's warm and waves are little...

Dan Hauenstein said...

I enjoyed the Packers game so much that the Patriots barely even bothered me. I think Rodney Harrison had as many personal fouls as the Patriots had defensive stops today. Too bad the Jaguars never stopped Brady.