First Round NFL Playoff Predictions

Just for the hell of it. Four games, and I don't have a horse in the race among them, except to hope one of them is capable of beating the Patriots if they have to. I've got no love for those '72 Dolphins, but I'm just petty enough to not want Tom Brady to have the 19-0 record on top of all his other accomplishments, personal success, and supermodel dating. Keeping in mind I haven't paid that much attention to the games this year, here's my picks:

Washington at Seattle: So Washington's riding some kind of emotional "play for Sean Taylor" high right now, and making Todd Collins look better than he ever has. (Geez, I remember when Collins was supposed to be the heir to Jim Kelly, in the pre-Rob Johnson/Doug Flutie days). Their offense seems to consist of basically Clinton Portis runs and passes to Santana Moss. Seattle played in a lousy division (I can say that, I'm an Arizona Cardinals fan, I know how bad the NFC West was), passes a lot, and plays in a deafeningly loud stadium. Given we're talking January in Seattle, I have to think that would favor the better running team, which is the Redskins, who also have the better rush defense. I want to say Washington. I remember the 2002 St. Louis Cardinals, who rallied after Darryl Kile's death and made it to the NLCS before they ran out of gas, and I'd like to take the Skins on that, but somehow I just can't trust Todd Collins on the road in a playoff game. I think Washington falls behind by halftime, and can't come back. Seattle 27, Washington 13. {Update: Final score - Seattle 35, Washington 14}

Jacksonville at Pittsburgh: The Jags beat the Steelers not to long ago, and it wasn't as close as the 29-22 score suggests, and now Pittsburgh is missing Willie Parker. The Jags beat the Steelers at their own game, just pushing them around all over the field, especially on offense. I think the Jaguars are like the Redskins: they're great if they've got the lead and they can just pound Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew at you all day long, but they aren't so good if they need to play catch up. Of course, I think the same is true of the Steelers, though I think Big Ben's a somewhat better passer than Garrard. I'll take the Jags to make it 2 for 2 against the Steelers, 30-21. {Update: Final score - Jacksonville 31, Pittsburgh 29}

New York at Tampa Bay: Oh, do I have to? A Giants team "lead" by Eli Manning, versus a Tampa team that mailed in the last two weeks of the season? In spite of Tampa's seeming indifference to, you know, actually competing, I'll take them, because the Bucs are still pretty good at getting pressure on the QB, and that seems to be when Eli always falls apart. I think Jeff Garcia's going to get hit. . . a lot, but he'll hang in there and make a few plays with his feet to get some first downs and get Tampa a win. Tampa 19, New York 14. {Update: Final score - New York 24, Tampa Bay 14}

Tennessee at San Diego: The Titans hosted the Chargers not too long ago, and had them down for about fifty minutes. Then the defense wore out, because the offense couldn't stay on the field more than thirty seconds, and Phillip Rivers kept get chances until he finally figured out how to complete some passes. That's the Titans problem, their defense can beat a team up, but eventually they wear down because the offense doesn't do enough to help them out. And Norv Turner seems to have figured out that San Diego's chances for success lie with lots of LaDanian Tomlinson, not Phillip Rivers. I don't think it should have taken him five weeks into the regular season to figure that out, but what do I know? I'm not coaching an NFL team. I think this time that the Titans wear out a little sooner, because they get even more LT than they did last time, and so the Chargers start pulling away midway through the third quarter. I don't think it'll be a blowout, though. San Diego 24, Tennessee 14. {Update: Final score - San Diego 17, Tennessee 6}

And now, we sit back and watch as I go 0 for 4. The hard part will be watching the games with the usual idiotic commentary. Guess I'll have to have the mute button ready. Hope we at least don't get any celebrity guests in the booth.