Divisional Round Saturday Playoff Pick'em

Greetings, all! And welcome to perhaps the highest quality weekend of football the NFL has to offer. Eight teams remain in the win-or-go-home playoffs, and following byes last week, all the top-seeds join the fun this time around.

The Wild Card weekend was a bit disappointing in regards to the brand of football played, but it still had its moments. Folks are still left in amazement over the penalty flag picked up in Dallas that helped spring the Cowboys comeback over Detroit, Baltimore's Terrell Suggs intercepted a pass using nothing but his toned thighs, and Arizona's Ryan Lindley set a new standard as to what constitutes an un-winnable starting quarterback.

At the end of the day, it was a 3-1 week picking against the spread. Carolina, Indianapolis, and Detroit came through while Pittsburgh was the lone blemish. This week's slate of games presents all kinds of challenges in terms of lofty spreads, injured superstars, and which team- if any- will keep us from seeing juggernaut matchups of Denver/New England and Seattle/Green Bay next week. So how will it all go down? Splendid for you to ask!

SATURDAY 1/10
No. 6 Baltimore Ravens (11-6) at No. 1 New England Patriots (12-4)
Kickoff: 4:30pm
The Line: New England by 7
The Lowdown: Patriots haters (present company happily included) will once again need to rally around the Ravens to take down Goliath. Baltimore has had some recent playoff success at Foxboro, are just two years removed from their own Super Bowl Championship. Quarterback Joe Flacco has a well-documented, mystifying ability to play at a level way higher than his regular season norm, and he out-gunned Pittsburgh's favored passing attack on the road last week. Running back Justin Forsett anchors a capable running game, and the Ravens' defense is quite stout in stopping the run as well. In an ideal world, Baltimore will ride Forsett like Secretariat. The less time Tom Brady has to carve up their vulnerable secondary, the better. Speaking of Brady, he had an MVP-type year after a very rocky start to the season. Though they didn't light up the scoreboard each and every week like in years past, the New England defense has their fans feeling like it's once again the glory days of the Bill Belichick era. Revis, Browner, McCourty, etc...suddenly you can't just chuck it at will on them. Just as he is every other game, Rob Grownkowski will be the key player, in his ability to dominate both before and after the catch. The Ravens struggled to make the playoffs, were underdogs on the road in the Wild Card round, and seem perfectly fine playing that role once again.
The Pick: Really looking forward to this one. Had Pittsburgh beaten Baltimore this week, it would have been one-man-team Andrew Luck and his Colts making the rough trip to New England. The vast majority of fans would agree that Baltimore presents the tougher matchup for these Patriots. But there's always the peril that once the divisional round arrives, folks desperately grasp for reason to predict the upsets rather than looking at games for what they are. This does not at all have the look of a one-and-done Patriots team. The defense is as good as its been in years, Grownkowski is 100% healthy, and as far as Darrelle Revis...just ask Jets fans the difference one guy can make on defense. Take Baltimore with the points, because 7 seems irrational. But as far as who's winning...well, I guess some dreams are indeed just meant for sleepytime.
Patriots 21, Ravens 20

No. 4 Carolina Panthers (8-8-1) at No. 1 Seattle Seahawks (12-4)
Kickoff: 8:15pm
The Line: Seattle by 11.5
The Lowdown: The cat chasing the bird...it's a familiar storyline. A point spread as astronomical as 11.5 means there must be some unique storylines in play. And, well, there are. Carolina was a losing team during the regular season whose franchise player Cam Newton had been banged up, then got more banged up in a car accident, and looked rather ho-hum playing against the aforementioned Ryan Lindley & co. last week. Seattle, meanwhile, is the defending Super Bowl champions who have nearly all of their core players back, and also the most pronounced home field advantage in pro sports. Quarterback Russell Wilson, running back Marshawn Lynch, and the NFL's best defense have looked utterly dominant during their 9-1 stretch to finish the season. Carolina's only hope is that their potent rushing attack can set up some long pass pays over the top, and that their defense can hold down Wilson & co. The Panthers will need to be patient and determined in stopping Lynch, as Seattle often wears out its opponents late in the game. Seattle's one weakness is a not-so-great receiving corps, so if Carolina can play near-perfect football and keep things close, it may be able to get the crowd a bit nervous and rouse up thoughts of a stunner. 
The Pick: A five-alarm upset alert is in order. Seattle is the better team from soup to nuts, but there's been a strange aura about Seattle since its dominating Super Bowl win over Denver last season. It wasn't the prototypical 12-4 season, as the Hawks were indeed sitting at just 3-3 at one point this season. Though it's great to get hot and roll off a bunch of games in a row, it may also create a speck of doubt if things don't go their way throughout this game. There have been troubling storylines with Lynch this year- his enormous fines for not talking to postgame media, his resulting bizarre/unpleasant interviews with that media, contract disagreements, his resentment of Percy Harvin being traded to the Jets mid-season. There's not a whole bunch of holes you can poke in a 12-4 defending champion, but Carolina has that moxy to them. Their NFC South division has been trashed all year, folks feel they don't belong, and very few think they can keep this one close, let alone win. But except for some receivers departing, these are the same guys who went 12-4 last year. While that season ended with disappointment in the divisonal round, Cam & co. flip the script and shock the nation.
Panthers 16, Seahawks 10

You know what? I need to get my brain in order and can't attempt to top that one by going into Sunday's games. Stay tuned- those will be up tomorrow. Enjoy Saturday's slate!