NFL Week 19: Divisional Playoff Round

Standing in the queue this morning at Starbucks I was greeted by servers wearing handsome Seahawks 12th Man t-shirts. A good omen? Hard to say. My neighbor, the super of the apartment building where I have lived for the past decade, a guy my age and a fellow sports-on-TV junkie, had this to say the other day when I ran into him on the stairs to our third-floor residences: "It is hard to beat a team three times in a row."

Ah, yes. Words of wisdom. But I think it is a tall order for the Saints to come to CenturyLink Field and hand the Seahawks a loss. Granted, last week the New Orleans defense contained the premier running back in the National Football League; and, granted, the Saints own ground game was terrific; -- I am betting that Seattle has too much defense -- a well-rested defense with springy legs -- for the Saints. It will tighter than the Week 13 34-7 blowout, but it will be a Seattle victory nonetheless. Take the Seahawks.

New Orleans at Seattle is the Saturday afternoon game. The Saturday evening game has the Colts at Foxboro Stadium to take on the Patriots. Andrew Luck has been getting a lot of ink after his comeback win over the Chiefs. I don't think that T.Y. Hilton is going to run crazy in the secondary at Foxboro. Though the forecast is for warmer weather tomorrow -- temperatures in the 50s with rain -- I don't see massive breakdowns in a Belichik defense. Combine that with what I think is a potent Patriots rushing attack and the passing of Tom Brady and I say take New England.

Quickly on the Sunday games, I'm taking San Francisco. Kaep is too strong, and the 49ers defense is too cagey. True, the Panthers have a dynamite defense. But the Cam Newton-led offense is mediocre.

I'm going out on a limb and taking San Diego. The Chargers are the hot team now, and they have proven they can win in Denver. I love the Mathews-Woodhead-Brown ground game. And for some reason I think it is Philip Rivers moment.