Lame Sports

Lame Sports Divisional Playoff Reaction

By Jason Levy

“One of the easiest playoff games to pick in a long time . . .  All you have to do on Sunday is look at Manning and Tony Dungy leading the Colts, and Phil Rivers and Norv Turner leading the Chargers.  And we’ll get the AFC Championship game we’ve all been waiting for.”

That was my quote from my Predictions column last week.  As you know, I now look like a moron.  As I watched that game Sunday afternoon, I couldn’t believe that the Chargers were keeping it close.  The RCA Dome roof was going to explode from the noise.  But the Colts made tremendous mistakes, allowing the Chargers to stay in the game.  Give credit to the Chargers backups, especially Darren Sproles and Billy Volek, for coming through when everything was on the line, and the starters were riding the pine.  As crazy as it sounds, Norv Turner could be a good fit for this team.

And what’s the Chargers prize for downing the Colts?  A Sunday date with the unbeaten Pats in Foxboro for the AFC Title game.  The Jags hung tough for a half, and gave every Pats-hater a sense of hope, but they just couldn’t keep up with a better team.  Brady played one of the best games in playoff history, going 26-for-28, and controlling the game like only he can.

My other Sunday miscue came from the Giants victory over the Cowboys.  I thought the Cowboys would be better than that; they fell apart in the 4^th quarter.  Of course, that was due to a relentless Giants defense that tormented the Dallas O-line (which never adjusted) and quarterback (who played like his head wasn’t in the game the last couple of drives), along with strong play from the secondary despite being pieced together with medical tape.  Giants QB Eli Manning might not have been spectacular, but he completed 2/3 of his passes, and didn’t turn the ball over.  The game turned for the Giants at the end of the first half, when Eli led a game tying TD drive with just 47 seconds left, right on the heels of Dallas taking a 14-7 lead on a clock eating 10-minute drive.  That drive was helped by a 15-yard facemask penalty, one of the many killer penalties that doomed the Cowboys. Now we’ll see Giants fans saying “47 seconds” and reminisce about Eli’s birth as a quarterback.  Think Peyton will have good seats at Lambeau on Sunday?

Speaking of Lambeau, the Packers dominated Seattle on Saturday, helped out by a blizzard.  Imagine what the score would’ve been if the Ryan Grant didn’t gift-wrap a 14-0 lead for the Seahawks.  Grant had the best performance of the week, rebounding from two early fumbles for a 201-yard, three touchdown game.  And when the weather got worse, the Packers looked even better.

And finally, as a Pats-hater, here is some logic that will show why a Chargers win is inevitable on Sunday (lets see how much I believe this later in the week):

In the AFC over the past three seasons, teams win the Super Bowl the year after they earn the number 1 seed, and become everyone’s favored team.  The Steelers were a No. 1 seed in 2004, but lost to the Patriots at home in the AFC Championship game.  The next year, in the Divisional Round, the Steelers beat the No. 1 seed Colts, the prohibitive favorite after the Pats lost to Denver the night before, en route to a Super Bowl victory.  But the Colts won the Super Bowl the next year, when everyone thought the Chargers would win, and of course they fell to the Patriots at home in the Divisional Round.  So now the Chargers will win the Super Bowl, avenging that loss and defeating the heavily favored Patriots.  It’s destiny, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself….

But that also means the Pats, with their home loss as a No. 1 seed, will win next year.  Still, that’s better than seeing them go undefeated!

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