Football

By The Numbers: Divisional Round + Championship Picks 2017

Izlain

bythenumbers

Well  I went and forgot to post about the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs, and now that those games are over I can’t rightly call them and act like a sage now can I? If you’re curious as to what I would have picked… I think things went down mostly as I would have foreseen. No one was picking the Texans to beat the Patriots, amirite? I think we all knew that the Steelers would come away with that victory, though I doubt that anyone thought they’d win by only scoring field goals. The Falcons beating the Seahawks was kind of surprising in that the Falcons usually implode in the post season, but the Seahawks looked like garbage this season, so I guess that’s a wash. Finally, I expected my Packers to march into Dallas and come away with a win, but my celebratory mood at half time became a roller coaster of emotion through the last two quarters. Spectacular finish though, and more records for the books. Because I can’t provide these insights pre-game, I decided to round up some of the best memes that I saw on social media during the game:

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And my own little post to boot:

So, now that we’ve gotten the fun out of the way, let’s make the picks for next weekend’s NFC and AFC Championship games, shall we?

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:

GREEN BAY PACKERS AT ATLANTA FALCONS

I’m sticking with the hot hand, and my boys are coming in on an 8 game winning streak. We’ve seen a rash of injuries, we’ve seen adversity, we’ve come down to the wire and have prevailed. This team is more complete despite injury, than maybe even the Super Bowl winning squad from 2010. The run is looking eerily similar. Plus, we had the Falcons number in our last post season matchup, along with having only lost by 1 point during our losing streak mid-season. I think this team is the better team. The proof awaits. While I’m on the subject, I pick the Packers to win the Super bowl. But against who?

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:

PITTSBURGH STEELERS AT NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS

Again, I want to stick with the hot hand here. I was secretly rooting for the chiefs to win, despite the fact that Brady would likely hand them a lost next weekend. I just wanted the potential for a Super Bowl I rematch, exactly 50 years later. That would have been cool. But it wasn’t to be, so I’m rooting for the Steelers for now, just to have a rematch of Super Bowl 45, which the Packers won of course. There could be a rematch of the Super Bowl Brett Favre won as well, from ’97 if the Patriots win the Championship game, so I suppose either matchup has a great back story. I’ll take either, but the Packers win it all.

There you have it folks.