Championship Games
Saints at Bears:
Here's the problem with this match-up: whatever the numbers, the Saints are the Storybook team that everyone is rooting for. And that spells trouble for the Bears. Chicago is an all-defense team that can get a lead and ride it. That allows shaky QB Rex Grossman lots of chances to make big plays, and lets the offensive line chew on the defense after they get up on them. It's a formula that's worked well against the Junior Varsity Conference - and worked last week against a Seahawks defense that liked to watch the pretty ball fly past their heads. If they hadn't lied about QB Matt Hasselbeck's broken fingers, I might have gone with Chicago.
But give the monsters their due - they were tough and resilient when it counted.
The Championship game will be classic offense vs. defense. The Bears will test the Saints early and often, trying to establish that lead that will let them pound the ball and play cover-2 all day.
The Saints - well they're just happy to be there. They have the #1 offense in the league, and I suspect they'll use the whole playbook on this one. They'll let it all go and attack with abandon. If they try to play it safe, they'll get clobbered. What will rookie Head Coach Sean Peyton do? If he unleashes his stellar talent on offense, he has a good chance.
I think Cinderella's slipper will fit.
Saints 24-21
Offense:
Run Pass Total
Bears 15 14 15
Saints 19 1 1
Defense
Bears 6 11 5
Saints 23 3 11
Patriots at Colts
Ah, here we are. Back to the rivalry. This time, we meet in the Colts track & field house. This time, we face old friends - yes, that's Dan Klecko you see. And Adam Vinateiri. I like to think that, in a WWE wrestling kind of plot, we sent Adam to sign with the Colts. See, he's going to help them get to the Conference Championship, and right up to the last play, when he will kick the winning field goal - THE WRONG WAY! What's that - Vinateiri is pulling off his Colts jersey - and he's WEARING A PATRIOTS JERSEY UNDERNEATH!
Well, okay. Not so much.
But this won't be close enough to put Adam in that position. The Pats are going to get the Colts by the throat and hold their head in the toilet bowl and give them swirlies all day (a "swirlie" is where you stick someone's head in a toilet bowl and flush). Credit the Colts defense with playing tough in the playoffs. They held KC's awesome running game in check, and stifled Baltimore
effectively. But that stops now.
There's a reason the Colts were last in the league against the run. They've been able to scheme around it, out-guess the opponent (no huge task against Herm Edwards and Brian "the Former Brain" Billick). But Bill Belichick is not someone to be out-guessed or out-schemed. If the Colts are over-playing the run and leaving their DB in man coverage, Brady will burn them. If they've got their front seven playing over their heads and stopping the run without help, Belichick will change their minds about standing up to the run.
Belichick's coaching - and Brady's quarterbacking - remind me of the greatest basketball team ever - the 1986 Celtics. Everything you tried to do against them was wrong. If you tried to play half-court, they'd kill you in transition and then decimate you with their stifling half-court defense. If you tried to run, they'd run you off the court. Nothing the other guy tried to do was the right thing, because the Bird-McHale-Parish-DJ-Ainge-Walton team reacted and countered, always with a better move.
Belichick does the same thing. He prepares and then alters as necessary. And he has Brady to execute.
Patriots 34-21
Offense
Run Pass Total
Colts 18 2 3
Pats 12 12 11
Defense
Colts 32 2 21
Pats 5 12 6
One thing troubles me: when the Saints and Pats play in the Super Bowl, the Saints will be the sentimental favorites. And the media has become bored with the stolid Belichick Patriots. There will be a huge groundswell of support for the Saints, so when we beat them we'll be the bad guys.
But I can live with that.
Here's the problem with this match-up: whatever the numbers, the Saints are the Storybook team that everyone is rooting for. And that spells trouble for the Bears. Chicago is an all-defense team that can get a lead and ride it. That allows shaky QB Rex Grossman lots of chances to make big plays, and lets the offensive line chew on the defense after they get up on them. It's a formula that's worked well against the Junior Varsity Conference - and worked last week against a Seahawks defense that liked to watch the pretty ball fly past their heads. If they hadn't lied about QB Matt Hasselbeck's broken fingers, I might have gone with Chicago.
But give the monsters their due - they were tough and resilient when it counted.
The Championship game will be classic offense vs. defense. The Bears will test the Saints early and often, trying to establish that lead that will let them pound the ball and play cover-2 all day.
The Saints - well they're just happy to be there. They have the #1 offense in the league, and I suspect they'll use the whole playbook on this one. They'll let it all go and attack with abandon. If they try to play it safe, they'll get clobbered. What will rookie Head Coach Sean Peyton do? If he unleashes his stellar talent on offense, he has a good chance.
I think Cinderella's slipper will fit.
Saints 24-21
Offense:
Run Pass Total
Bears 15 14 15
Saints 19 1 1
Defense
Bears 6 11 5
Saints 23 3 11
Patriots at Colts
Ah, here we are. Back to the rivalry. This time, we meet in the Colts track & field house. This time, we face old friends - yes, that's Dan Klecko you see. And Adam Vinateiri. I like to think that, in a WWE wrestling kind of plot, we sent Adam to sign with the Colts. See, he's going to help them get to the Conference Championship, and right up to the last play, when he will kick the winning field goal - THE WRONG WAY! What's that - Vinateiri is pulling off his Colts jersey - and he's WEARING A PATRIOTS JERSEY UNDERNEATH!
Well, okay. Not so much.
But this won't be close enough to put Adam in that position. The Pats are going to get the Colts by the throat and hold their head in the toilet bowl and give them swirlies all day (a "swirlie" is where you stick someone's head in a toilet bowl and flush). Credit the Colts defense with playing tough in the playoffs. They held KC's awesome running game in check, and stifled Baltimore
effectively. But that stops now.
There's a reason the Colts were last in the league against the run. They've been able to scheme around it, out-guess the opponent (no huge task against Herm Edwards and Brian "the Former Brain" Billick). But Bill Belichick is not someone to be out-guessed or out-schemed. If the Colts are over-playing the run and leaving their DB in man coverage, Brady will burn them. If they've got their front seven playing over their heads and stopping the run without help, Belichick will change their minds about standing up to the run.
Belichick's coaching - and Brady's quarterbacking - remind me of the greatest basketball team ever - the 1986 Celtics. Everything you tried to do against them was wrong. If you tried to play half-court, they'd kill you in transition and then decimate you with their stifling half-court defense. If you tried to run, they'd run you off the court. Nothing the other guy tried to do was the right thing, because the Bird-McHale-Parish-DJ-Ainge-Walton team reacted and countered, always with a better move.
Belichick does the same thing. He prepares and then alters as necessary. And he has Brady to execute.
Patriots 34-21
Offense
Run Pass Total
Colts 18 2 3
Pats 12 12 11
Defense
Colts 32 2 21
Pats 5 12 6
One thing troubles me: when the Saints and Pats play in the Super Bowl, the Saints will be the sentimental favorites. And the media has become bored with the stolid Belichick Patriots. There will be a huge groundswell of support for the Saints, so when we beat them we'll be the bad guys.
But I can live with that.
posted by fiduciary at 9:48 AM
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