NFL Predictions- Divisional Round
I believe I was 3-1 last week straight up but only 2-2 against the spread. Lets see how things shake out in the divisional round.
Ravens (+8.5) over BRONCOS- I don’t expect Denver to lose this football game. They have a great home field advantage and Peyton Manning. What the numbers don’t predict is the Broncos to win by more than 8 points. The Ravens can do enough to hang around and maybe pull off the late score to cover the point spread. I would be surprised if Baltimore won this game. Their defense is not good enough to stop the Broncos offense and I cant imagine Joe Flacco being able to compete at Manning’s level. If he does it bodes well for a new contract. Broncos 28 Ravens 20
49’ERS(-3) over Packers- I think a lot of people expect the winner of this game to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl and for good reason. Green Bay has the elite QB in Aaron Rodgers, who was the best QB in the NFL this year regardless of what the media tells us about Manning and Tom Brady. San Francisco has the hard hitting defense. The wildcard is of course Colin Kaepernick and how the youngster will play in the big spotlight. If he has a few errors with the football it could be an issue. 49’ers 24 Packers 20
Seahawks(+2) over FALCONS- Huge game for the Atlanta Falcons who have been pretty bad in the playoffs in the past. But the facts are that outside of the win against the Giants the Falcons just have not been that impressive this year. Seattle has been a far better team and is clicking on all cylinders right now. Their defense is scary good and they have the secondary to stifle the Falcon passing game. If that happens the Falcons don’t have a prayer. Seahaws 23 Falcons 20
Texans(+9.5) over PATRIOTS- Similar to the Ravens, I don’t expect the Texans to be so far out of it that they cant create a backdoor cover late, especially against this Patriots defense. The key for Houston is to avoid the turnovers deep in New England territory, which seems to be an area where the Patriots excel. Defensively they have to put a ton of pressure on New England to even have a chance but their defense looks out of gas so I don’t think they can do that. I am sure that we will hear a million times about the Jets comeback against New England a few years ago in the early stages of this game but these are different situations and if anything that should have taught the Patriots to not underestimate their opponents again. Patriots 33 Texans 24.
