NFL Playoffs

Phytotron · Post by **Phytotron** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 4:51 am

I'm not sure many people around here are all that interested in this, possibly just myself and KamP, but if anyone wants to, post your playoff bracket here. Either place what you'd like to see happen, how you think it will actually play out, or both. Whatever, just for fun.

You can either look at the bracket below and just describe your picks, or if you want to be fancier you can download it and do some stuff in your image editor as I'll do in my next post.

Oh, and I stole this bracket from CBS SportsLine.

Phytotron · Post by **Phytotron** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 5:09 am

Alright, my own. Now, I had originally liked the idea of a Bengals-Bears Super Bowl. And I still think both have the ability to actually get there. The Bears certainly, especially with Grossman back; and I think the Bengals have what it takes to knock off the "prohibitively favored" Colts. (But then again, for that matter, I think any of the AFC teams have that ability, with exception to the Jaguars since they're sans Leftwich. The Colts are very good this season, but not invincible.)

(Edit: Er, looks like the Jags will be playing Leftwich after all, though he'll still be a bit hobbled and rusty. They nearly beat the Colts early in the season with a healthy Leftwich, so who knows. And after thinking about it, I'm not sure the Pats will necessarily beat the Jags either. Eh. The AFC side is tough for me to call.)

But then I realised that this likely could be Jerome Bettis's last season, and I says, sheeit, it sure would be good if The Bus could get a Super Bowl on his way out.

So in my bracket here, the AFC side is how I would like to see it play out, not necessarily how I think it will. The NFC side, on the other hand, is how I think it will actually play out. I didn't choose a Super Bowl winner because I like them both and would be happy either way.

Phytotron · Post by **Phytotron** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 4:58 am

Well, I appear to be talking to myself in this topic, but that's ok. I'm 2-0 today with both the Redskins and Patriots winning. Actually, the latter game isn't even over—in terms of the game clock not having reached zero—but it's as good as over. It's 28 to 3 with about 6:00 left. So, yeah, disregard the edit in the previous post.

Tomorrow's games should be good to watch.

(In other news, UofL beat Providence, our first Big East basketball win.

)

Phytotron · Post by **Phytotron** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:19 am

Um, so I'm an idiot. Why?

"The NFL playoffs are not based on a pure bracket system. In the divisional playoffs, the No. 1 seed is assured of playing the lowest-seeded Wild Card survivor. There are no restrictions on intra-division games and the higher seed of any matchup will have home-field advantage."

That means that if the Steelers win tomorrow then they'll play the Colts in the Divisional Playoffs, and the Patriots will play the Broncos. But if the Bengals win tomorrow, then the Patriots will play the Colts and the Bengals will play the Broncos (unless I'm even more of an idiot and that's wrong too). That would likely lead to Cincy playing Indy for the Conference Champeenship. Woohoo.

On the NFC side, the Seahawks will play the Redskins no matter what happens tomorrow, and not much changes as far as my picks.

So, rather than redoing my visual—which would end up being confusing-looking—I'll just type out the scenarios. My Wild Card picks remain unchanged, of course.

AFC ("dream scenario")
Wild Card
Steelers (W) vs. Bengals (L)
Patriots (W) vs. Jaguars (L)

Divisional Playoffs
Steelers (W) vs. Colts (L)
Broncos (W) vs. Patriots (L)

Conference Championship
Steelers (W) vs. Broncos (L)

NFC (actual predictions)
Wild Card
Redskins (W) vs. Buccaneers (L)
Panthers (W) vs. Giants (L)

Divisional Playoffs
Seahawks (W) vs. Redskins (L)
Bears (W) vs. Panthers (L)

Conference Championship
Bears (W) vs. Seahawks (L)

Super Bowl
Bears vs. Steelers

joda.bot · Post by **joda.bot** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 3:02 pm

cool, I did not understand leftwich and I don't get the playoffs rules yet...

But I'd like to watch that ... not sure if it's broadcasted on germany tv though.

I'll have a look

EDIT: just on german pay tv

Phytotron · Post by **Phytotron** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:35 am

Byron Leftwich is the starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Hey, you have NFL Europe over there in—wait for it—Europe. The rules are a little different, the teams fewer, and the season shorter. I would think you might already know this, but the NFL Europe teams are: Berlin, Amsterdam, Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Rhein. And University of Louisville product Dave Ragone is the QB for Berlin.

Meanwhile back in the NFL, I'm 4-0 in Wild Card games.

I would have preferred seeing what would have happened had Carson Palmer not been injured and taken out of the game, but that's the way it goes.

KamP · Post by **KamP** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:56 am

Not a doubt in my mind that the Bengals would have won that game
but the Bengals without Palmer... that's something else entirely.
oh well, too bad
Now to root for the steelers

they were my second choice. They can take the colts, though being smart, i'd put my money on them
Guess youw ere right about the giants though. Man they went out like punks

Phytotron · Post by **Phytotron** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:23 am

I was watching ESPN2's Cold Pizza, and they pointed out this little tidbit. Of the remaining teams in the playoffs, here is how they rate in their strength of schedule this season:

1 & 2, T) Redskins & Broncos
3) Patriots
4) Steelers
5) Bears
6) Colts
7) Panthers
8) Seahawks

Out of all teams, they rated as follows:

10 & 11, T) Broncos & Redskins
14) Patriots
24) Steelers
29) Bears
30) Colts
31) Panthers
32) Seahawks

Here is how the Wild Card games went (rating in parentheses):

Patriots (14) over Jaguars (27)
Steelers (24) over Bengals (20)
Redskins (11/10) over Bucs (28)
Panthers (31) over Giants (13)

What does all this mean? I dunno.

KamP · Post by **KamP** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 10:07 pm

well
it doesn't mean much, except you'd think the redskins and the broncos are better prepared for a high profile and hard game
but they probably aren't
if anyone's prepared for that, it'd be the pats

Go Steelers!

Oh yea, and Florida's #2, and broke the school consecutive win record! 15-0!

Phytotron · Post by **Phytotron** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 6:57 am

Right on. Seahawks and Broncos both won. Tomorrow's games will be a lot iffier (more iffy?).

goferman · Post by **goferman** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 11:16 pm

I am most depressed the pats didn't come through at all. 5 turnovers. The steelers will win as long as they don't get a handful of turnovers.

KamP · Post by **KamP** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 1:34 am

Lookin like christmas to you
Steelers Bears for the super bowl it looks like
talk about the pats sucking
this bears game is really good, i think chitown'll pull through though
1st and goal after the tdown got overturned
and NOW it' a touchdown!
woo 23-20!!!

Phytotron · Post by **Phytotron** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 7:43 am

OMG! WTF!! LAG!!! I couldn't fookin' believe Da Bears got beat. I was next to certain they were going to the Super Bowl. They played very uncharacteristically on defense, giving up at least twice as much on their season average of everything. Damn. Next year? So now I need to decide whether Seattle or Carolina will win. Tough call. Foster's out. I haven't had the opportunity to actually watch the Seahawks all season, including against the Redskins. I'll come back to this later.

Now the big news. The Terrible Towel walloped Peyton & Co. Woohoo! The final score is deceptive. There were a couple of calls that clearly should have gone in the Steelers' favor (the flagrant pass interference no-call, and the overturned interception), for one. As well, the Colts only got that close because the Steelers inexplicably called off the blitz.

Then that final minute. The Bus, who hasn't lost a fumble since 2003, has it knocked out. The QB tackles a wife-beating cornerback. The most accurate career kicker misses wide right. Dang, son.

Can the Steelers beat the Broncos at home? We'll see.

(On a more disappointing note, another team from Pittsburgh escaped with a win today

)

Phytotron · Post by **Phytotron** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 1:08 pm

Ooh, VP of NFL Officiating admitted the overturning of the Polamalu interception was the wrong call. Good thing it didn't cost them the game.

Sabarai · Post by **Sabarai** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:38 pm

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy... only 19 days to go...