Divisional round playoff picks: Saturday

Baltimore Ravens (10-6) @ Denver Broncos (13-3)

4:30 p.m. EST

TV: CBS

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Another slate of playoff football continues on Saturday as the Baltimore Ravens travel to mile high to take on the Denver Broncos.

Last week we saw some good football and some bad football and yours truly went 3-1 on the weekend with the only loss coming because of Marvin Lewis’ inability to put together a solid game plan after a 16 game regular season and Andy Dalton seemingly thinking more about his glory days at TCU then the current task at hand, putting up one of the most miserable playoff performances at the quarterback position in recent memory.

If you don’t believe it, just check out this stat line:

14/30 for 127 yards and a pick-The red head just couldn’t come through, but I guess the arm chair quarterbacks out there can just blame Dalton’s performance on a “sophomore slump.”

Since last weekends Wild Card Round the weather has been unseasonably warm in the northeast, Robert Griffin III went from rookie of the year and possible future MVP candidate, to injury prone and under the knife after tearing his LCL and ACL in Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks.

We also learned that Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan has not changed and will continue to blow smoke up our Asses and put on a front when he needs to. What is the REAL story regarding the process of clearing RGIII to play? To people watching the game it looked like Shanahan and the prestigious Dr. James Andrews kept RGIII in the ball game against a bone-jarring defense on some Fed Ex Field turf that looked like the shrubs in my back yard. But again, I could be wrong.

Photo:Lobshot.com
Since last weeks divisional round I also almost didn’t make it to 12:00 on my 21^st birthday after being fed multiple shots and beers, but got some fresh air and recovered to only stay up until 4:00 a.m. in celebratory fashion of finally being legal to take down some alcoholic beverages-I can talk about it now since I am of age, right?

Oh yea, and the Eagles still don’t have a head coach!

Enough messing around lets cut to the chase!

Since starting 2-3, the Broncos have only reeled off 11 straight wins; no biggie, right?

Come on now…

After many of us speculated and said in our heads “Maybe Peyton Manning doesn’t contain the magic we have come to see from him over the years?” Manning has done non other than throw some ice cold water in our faces as we lie in our beds, hung over after a long night of heavy drinking and blowing cash…Or something like that.

Manning returned this season after a neck injury that could of very well put him on his couch rather than in an NFL uniform and signed a 5 year, $96 million contract with the Broncos that had some thinking that John Elway might have gone crazy.

Manning has since thrown for 4,659 yards, and 37 touchdowns to just 11 interceptions and catapulted the Broncos into sole possession of the No. 1 seed in the AFC with and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Oh yea, and by the way, Manning’s 37 touchdowns are the second most of his career.

For some reason though, I have a really odd feeling about this game.

I know the Broncos are coming in hot. I know and we all know that we never know what type of Joe Flacco will show up on any given day. I know the Broncos basically man handled the Ravens on December 16^th, but Peyton Manning is 0-3 in playoff games in which the temperature dips below 35 degrees.

Game time temperature in Denver? A blistering 18 degrees.

Ray Lewis announcement that he will be retiring at seasons end carries the Ravens for one more week and we don’t get to witness another epic Manning vs. Brady playoff battle.

I’m going against the grain here, people.

Its either going to be close and the Ravens seize the victory, or the Broncos storm out the Kentucky Derby gates and leg kick the Ravens right in the face.

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Prediction:

Ravens 27, Broncos 23

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Green Bay Packers (11-5) @ San Francisco 49ers (11-4-1)

8:00 p.m. EST

TV: Fox

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The story line to keep an eye on is between the two quarterbacks.

First, Aaron Rodgers.

Born in Chico, California, Aaron Rodgers did not receive much interest from Division I programs coming out of high school. Rodgers enrolled at Butte Community College, tore it up there, transferred to the University of California, tore it up there, entered the NFL draft where 23 teams passed up on him until the Packers chose Rodgers with the 24^th overall pick.

One of the teams that passed up on Rodgers? You guessed it. Rodgers favorite team growing up, the San Francisco 49ers.

Second, Colin Kaepernick.

In fourth grade, Kaepernick wrote a letter to himself saying he would either play quarterback for the 49ers or Packers when he grew up, and we know how that story ended up. See the note below:

Alex Smith suffered a concussion, Kaepernick got a shot to shine, did just that and has been the starter ever since.

Saturday will be Kaepernick’s first ever playoff game. Do I expect this to be a huge factor? No, but Rodgers is motivated, and one of, if not the best quarterbacks in football is looking to put the Packers on his back for another Super Bowl ride.

Rodgers didn’t put up a brilliant performance last week vs. the Vikings, but he didn’t really have to because Joe Webb granted and handed the Packers a win on a silver platter. Or maybe just a regular plastic plate, I don’t know.

You get my point, though. The Packers dominated, Rodgers was efficient and it set up a fantastic matchup between Green Bay and San Francisco.

The 49ers are above and beyond a better team than the Vikings, and the atmosphere at Candlestick is going to be rowdy, but the Packers receivers are a little bit healthier, and playing in a warm climate should help their case even more.

The Packers defense stymied the Vikings last week and with Charles Woodson also another week healthier, I see the Packers defense stepping up and causing the 49ers problems, but they must contain Kaepernick.

Its blatantly obvious that the 49ers are going to hand the rock to Frank Gore and let him do his thing, but if the Packers can’t contain Kaepernick in the pocket and let him scramble, it could get ugly.

I’m predicting Aaron Rodgers steps up, breaks out the discount double check in front of the San Fran faithful and the Packers move on to the NFC Championship.

My admirations for the road teams continue, and the Packers pick up the road win.

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Prediction:

Packers 31, 49ers 28