Rob Moore's Round 2 Playoff Picks

Moore Rants

Playoff Predictions Round 2

AFC

Baltimore v. Tennessee

I think this is a game that probably should be the AFC Championship game. I think that it has the potential to be that good of a match up. These two defenses both swarm to the ball hit hard and force turnovers (see Ed Reed Cortland Finnegan and Michael Griffin). This game really could go either way especially given that the Ravens led through much of the first match up before Collins engineered a game winning drive (the drive was extended by 15 yard illegal blow to the helmet penalty). The Ravens defense actually looked like the better unit until that final drive holding, Tennessee to about 200 yards of total offense. Another factor that may tip the scales in the Ravens favor is that this game was only Flacco’s fourth career game. At this point in the season he should be more productive then he was at week four. But in the words of the great FSU alum (this is the first of what will become many shameless FSU plugs) Lee Corso “Not So Fast My Friend!” I still think the Titans take this one and hear is why:

First, the Titans are playing this game and home. Home field advantage in the playoffs is a huge advantage. With a defense like the Titans, they should be able to force Flacco into some turnovers and get the crowd into it early which will put a lot of pressure on the rookie quarterback.

Second, and some what connected is that Joe Flacco will likely struggle in this game. In the first round of the playoffs on the road in Miami, the Ravens offensive line completely dominated and gave him a ton of time. Flacco still only turned in a mediocre performance in that game. Also, the strength of the o-line opened up the run game further strengthening the passing game. This week Flacco, will be against Haynesworth and the Titans d-line. He likely will not have as much time as he did against the Dolphins which will likely lead to a costly error or two that should swing the game to the Titans.

Note: this just in Mawae will not play. This is huge in terms of how they cover the pressure that the Ravens will bring. Mawae is the anchor of that strong o-line .

San Diego v. Pittsburgh

I’m definitely going with Pittsburgh in this one, but I won’t be as emphatic about a San Diego loss as I was last week, because they made me look pretty bad. The pass rush was back last week, even without Shawne Merriman and they got after Manning and made me look completely wrong. A much maligned defense that gave up a ton of yards got after it, mixed up there blitzes and showed something. However, LT was in rare playoff form again (on the sideline watching- at least no helmet this year; I really feel bad for this guy but that’s another blog for another day) and Darren Sproles was covered in ice all week recovering from the best performance that his small frame could put out. That means that either Michael Bennett takes some of the load this week and shows us some things or the offense is going to be all on Phillip Rivers shoulders… And I have two things to say about that: (1) you probably don’t want to put the game in the hands of a back who hasn’t played in a game in about a year and (2) coming in and trying to chuck it around and throw 40 passes is not the way to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers with Troy P. prowling around in the secondary. So as you can see I’m pretty high on the Steelers in this one, my only hesitation is that if they can’t establish a run game, which they struggled to do this season with the injuries to Willie Parker and Mendenhall, then their offense will begin to look like the Colts offense did last week. And you saw what the Chargers D was able to accomplish in that game. With that said, I’m still going with my Super Bowl pick in the Pittsburgh Steelers.

NFC

Arizona v. Carolina

Again we have the Cardinals a team that made me look bad last week. I ranted about how they didn’t have a strong defense, couldn’t stop the run, couldn’t run, and would be shut down by the Falcons pass rush. They proceeded to dust off Edgerrin James and pound him establishing the run, score nine points on defense, stuff Michael Turner, and shut down John Abraham. Should we just charge it to the home field advantage? While I’m sure that stadium was pretty rowdy considering how long its been since they saw a playoff win, I think not. I think that Ken Wisenhunt showed us something about himself as a coach. Wisenhunt showed us that he is the type of coach that is willing to adjust his game plan to attack the weaknesses of the opposing team. This bodes well for the Cards in the future, but sorry Cards fans, it won’t be enough to get the W on Saturday. The Cardinals offense is a little weaker with Anquan Boldin suffering from the hamstring injury and I look for the Panthers to do everything the Falcons couldn’t do. They Panthers have stronger defense than the Falcons across the board, position to position so I look for them to slow down the passing attack and shut down the running game. Also, The Panthers home field advantage in this game should be a big factor. I look for the Panthers to win this game by running the ball with Stewart and Williams and keep the Cards on the side line.

Philadelphia v. New York

I picked Philly to win this game at the start of the playoffs. I am going to stay with them for the integrity of this blog. I won’t back away from my pick. However, I’m a little worried and here is why. Last week Andy Reid Showed a commitment to the run, but the runs were telegraphed and the Eagles were ineffective at blocking these plays. If the Eagles can not establish some semblance of a running game, they will struggle in New York. Also, the Eagles struggled to protect McNabb from the blitz of the Vikings. He was forced to make a lot of check downs and hit the hot receiver, but he was getting knocked down on almost every pass play. The Eagles can not win a game performing like this on offense. The Giants offense with three healthy running backs and Eli Manning at quarterback will score more points than Minnesota did and put more pressure on the Eagles defense. Another problem is that both Donovan McNabb and David Ackers traditionally struggle in Giants Stadium. This is bad news for the Eagles who relied heavily on both in Round 1. However, I still feel comfortable going with the Eagles in this one and here is why:

Brian Westbrook. Westbrook had 200 yards of total offense the last time these two teams met and he showed us last week that he is capable of breaking a big play at any time. In a defensive struggle he becomes the ex-factor. We know Spagnuolo is a great coordinator, but since he has been out on the interview circuit, I wouldn’t be surprised if game planning for Westbrook wasn’t the only thing on his mind. Further, Justin Tuck is slowed down by an injury which should affect their defense as well.

Look for this one to come down to the wire and come down to one of the quarterbacks trying to engineer a last minute drive with their wide receiver-less offenses. There will be a lot of check downs and screen passes in this one.

Note: I was raised a Giants fan and still consider to be Super Bowl 25 to be the greatest Super Bowl of all time and Lawrence Taylor to be the greatest defender to ever play the game. I will be cheering for the Giants this Sunday.