NFL's Divisional Round To Be... Divisive

At what point does one take down their Christmas tree? Is New Year's too soon? If so, why? How long can one keep the holiday spirit alive simply by keeping their Christmas tree up? I found myself wondering this as my tree is still up as of this weekend, two weeks post-Christmas, and nobody is going to do anything about it since we live in Wisconsin and --duh-- we'll be watching the home-state professional team and get too caught up in other playoff football games. So, how long will the tree be up? Until the Pro Bowl? Super Bowl? St. Patrick's Day? Your guess is as good as mine but, I can almost guarantee that it won't happen during this action-packed weekend.


Here are my Divisional Round picks...

Patriots 27 - Ravens 10

Photo via: Matt West
It'll be hard for Joe Flacco to find many open receivers with Darrelle Revis on the field.

The Baltimore Ravens just took care of #1 rival Pittsburgh in the first round and now, they travel up to snowy, 15-degree Foxboro, Massachusetts to face their second-biggest rivals in the New England Patriots. New England is everyone's favorite to take the AFC since they've made it to the Super Bowl five times with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. One of the teams that has gotten in their way twice are the Baltimore Ravens. Joe Flacco is a playoff miracle-worker no matter who his receivers are and the combination of one the leagues best pass-rushing defenses versus one of the weakest offensive lines Tom Brady has ever had have caused some people to raise their eyebrows when looking at this match-up. It all comes down to who is playing in the secondary (Lardarius Webb, Rashaan Melvin, bad Matt Elam, Antoine Cason and Darian Stewart versus Darrelle Revis, Logan Ryan, Brandon Browner, Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung) and Baltimore's is a rotting carcass while New England's is almost as good as it was in 2004.

Seahawks 23 - Panthers 13

John Clark/The Gazette
This catch counted for 51 of Kelvin Benjamin's 94 yards on 4 catches in Seattle's 13-9 win over Carolina in October.

Last year's Super Bowl champs have had struggles recently when facing the Carolina Panthers. Seattle's won each of the previous three match-ups late in the fourth quarter (16-12 in 2012, 12-7 in 2013 and 13-9 in 2014) but, something tells me that streak is going to end this Saturday evening in Seattle. The Panthers defense is coming around at the right time and Luke Kuechly is still Luke Kuechly BUT the Seahawks defense has only allowed three touchdowns since their November 16th loss to Kansas City. Not to mention, Carolina's offense looked wildly inconsistent (in bad conditions) last Saturday. It could get ugly but, Carolina's defense will show up and keep this game reasonably competitive.

Cowboys 31 - Packers 27

Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Romo and Witten have another 4th down conversion in their future.

This game is a total toss-up. Both teams went 12-4, had the two best QB's in the league in terms of QB Rating, have great Running Backs and fringe defenses that nobody can tell whether they are good or not. To put it simply, Dallas does not deserve to play in this game and because of that, they will totally win. Nothing would please the media more than to continue trashing GM Jerry Jones and Tony Romo but, something weird will happen in this game. There probably won't be an inexplicably picked-up flag but, with an Aaron Rodgers torn calf and a Tony Romo awful back... anything is possible in this one (Matt Flynn v. Brandon Weeden? That's the game I want to watch. So bad, it'd be great). Green Bay doesn't have a great defensive back anymore (2010 was Tramon Williams' lone season) and this game will be a wild shootout.

Broncos 37 - Colts 29

The Broncos have the most underrated defense in the league but against Andrew Luck, that might not matter.

Peyton Manning's noodle arm is a nice story and all but, Denver is still a great team and Peyton Manning's smarts have not been affected by any injury. Denver will get up big early (like turn-off-your-TV-and-go-outside big) but, Andrew Luck is the Quarterback in football who I trust the most after Aaron Rodgers and Indy will make a strong comeback attempt in this game (emphasis on the word "attempt"). Indianapolis will fall short because of Denver's all-pro-filled defense and with DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller destroying a weak offensive line, Luck will be running for his life most of the late afternoon game. Both running games will have their moments but, Luck versus Manning will be the prevailing story-line and Manning gets one last nod over his former team.

So, enjoy the Divisional Round and don't blame me for picking against your team and that result becoming true.

Did I get Breaking Bad on DVD for Christmas? You're goddamn right I did.