NFL Picks: Wild-Card Weekend

Congratulations once again to Joe, who claimed the FCF picks title in his first season of analyzing the matchups. Note that the final scores are only 255 games and not the correct 256 - we didn't get in picks for the Thursday Week 1 kickoff game. Our players might get a shot to run that one back, though, since Green Bay - New Orleans might well be an NFC playoff tilt here shortly.

But now it's time for the NFL's glorious second season and for all of us at FCF to throw our full support behind the great Tim Tebow. WHY DON'T YOU GO HOME, PITTSBURGH??? YOU CAN'T BEAT DENVER!!!

Last Week
Figgs: 7-8-1
Nick: 6-9-1
Joe: 5-10-1

Figgs' $ Picks: 1-0-1


Final Standings
Joe: 132-112-11
Nick: 120-124-11
Figgs: 117-127-11

Figgs' $ Picks: 22-25-2
Nick's $ Picks: 36-29-5


Saturday
4:30 pm kickoff

TEXANS (-3) vs Bengals
Figgs: Bengals. Like Joe said, just can't justify picking Yates in a playoff game. Still not a huge fan of Cinncy, and I'm sure they'll get smoked in the next round, but A.J. Green and co. willl have enough to get by this battered Texan team. ($)
Joe: Bengals; They have a very good defense and Andy Dalton and AJ Green were a fantastic pair of draft picks (at least one Ohio team can get the draft right). Also, (unlike Nick when it comes to admitting he was wrong about the Falcons being good) I will admit I was wrong on this team for most of this season. I'll take the Bungles for these reasons, and because I simply don't feel comfortable taking either TJ Yates or the dreadful Jake Delhomme.
Nick: Texans. Houston is balanced, at home, and that place will be loud. ($)
Andy: Man, do I ever want to see Jake Delhomme in a playoff game this year.

8 pm kickoff

SAINTS (-10.5) vs Lions
Figgs: Saints. Lot of points, but those numbers that Andy gave us are staggering. And to Andy's point, I was going to bet on the game either way, just wasn't sure if I wanted to lay that many points. After a quick debate with myself, I went in the direction of Brees. ($)
Joe: Saints; A lot of points, but this is the worst possible matchup for an exciting Lions team to get. I would have picked them to win outright against the Giants or Falcons, but this is a game I can see the Saints winning like 45-28. I'll swallow the points here and watch New Orleans "Brees" into the next round. (I'll be here all night, folks.)
Nick: Saints. ($ -10)
Andy: New Orleans AVERAGED more than 43 points per game at home this season. Is that even something you can comprehend? Seriously: 30, 40, 62 (!), 27, 39, 31, 45, 45. The MOST points the Browns scored at home in a game this season: 17. Are we sure this is even the same game?

Also, as of me writing this, Figgs has the "$" next to his name but has not entered a pick. Awesome.


Sunday
1 pm kickoff

GIANTS (-3) vs Falcons
Figgs: ATL. C'mon, was there any doubt. I don't like the Giants' inconsistency, I do like the Dirty Birds. ($)
Joe: Falcons; I really like the Giants and a lot of their players, but they have been way too inconsistent for me to feel comfortable picking them. ATL, on the other hand, is the model of consistency. Give me Ryan, White and the dirty birds to get the outright win on the road. (Since I nailed the exact score of the Saints game, I decided to add score predictions to the Sunday games as well). 23-21 Falcons
Nick: Giants in a late switch. Everyone's picking the Falcons here and just ignoring that this is an obvious pick for the Giants. Playoff home game giving only the standard three points, outdoors, with the Giants playing pretty well the last four weeks. I'm not going to over think it or get cute, this a classic "take the home team and don't look back" game. ($)
Andy: The conventional wisdom last week was that Dallas would complete their late-season fade, and that the Giants pass rush would cause all sorts of trouble for Tony Romo. Sometimes the conventional wisdom is right. Has anyone ever seen Jerry Jones NOT wearing a suit?

4 pm kickoff

BRONCOS (+9) vs steelers
Figgs: Broncos. Fuck you, pittsburgh. I will be fully rooting for Tebow for the first time ever. ($)
Joe: Broncos; I don't see any realistic way the Broncos pull off this win, but everything Timmy T has done this year has been beyond realistic, so I'm saying there's a chance. Taking emotion out of it, however, (which is impossible to do when the Steelers are involved), I seriously think Denver will keep it within the point spread. Ryan Clark will be missed more than people will give him credit for, and the Donks defense should keep this to a low scoring game. I too will be Tebowing on Sunday hoping they do more than keep it close though. Come on Denver! (14-6 douchers).
Nick: Donks. Yup.
Andy: I will be Tebowing all day long if the Broncos can somehow topple the steelers in this one. Can we PLEASE not have another goddamn Baltimore-Pittsburgh AFC Championship game?