2011 NFL Divisional Playoff Predictions

Hello friends! Well after a 2-2 week last week I am back with hopefully a better week with this week's Divisional Playoff picks!

Baltimore Ravens @ Pittsburgh Steelers

Wow what a way to start off Divisional playoff weekend with the NFL's version of the Hatfields and the McCoys! No doubt that this game just like all of the others in this series as of late will be exactly like it should be close, competitive, hard-hitting, and most of all low scoring! Before I get to my pick for this game let me give you guys an interesting little stat if you don't mind and that stat is this in their last 17 meetings the Steelers have won 9 the Ravens have won 8 and here's the key stat total score of those games combined 302-302 that's how close this rivalry has been friends let me tell you! So who wins? Well many are going with the Ravens to pull the upset and why not I mean they have (along with the Green Bay Packers) the most punishing defense in the NFL led by Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Haloti Ngata along with a balanced offense led by QB Joe Flacco, WR's Anquan Boldin and Derek Mason, and their 2 headed monster at RB Ray Rice and Willis McGahee! The Steelers on the other hand have an equally punishing defense led by 2008 NFL Defensive Player of the year James Harrison and the human INT machine Troy Polamulu who is also known for making some of the most eye opening plays in NFL history don't believe me just ask the Tennessee Titans and the Cincinnati Bengals and they'll tell you 1st hand how awesome Polamulu is! In addition to their tough D the Steelers also have an equally balanced attack on offense with Big Ben Roethlisberger leading the way along with their big play WR's Mike Wallace and Hines Ward along with their 1,000 yard rusher Rashard Mendenhall! Wow this is tough to call but not for me because I am going to go with the Pittsburgh Steelers to win this game because of this telling stat and that telling stat is Ravens QB Joe Flacco is 0-5 all time against Ben Roethlisberger including the playoffs! Should be a very fun and entertaining game from start to finish and quite frankly friends I can't wait!

Winners: Pittsburgh Steelers

Green Bay Packers @ Atlanta Falcons

For the 1st time since 1980 the Atlanta Falcons are the #1 seed in the NFC however that year they were upset in the Divisional Playoff by the Dallas Cowboys! So that actually gives the Packers a chance to repeat that fate right? Well sure because the last time Atlanta finished in the top 2 in the NFC they were beaten by the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game! However the Falcons have been to the Super Bowl before and I truly believe in my heart of hearts that this version of the Dirty Birds have a legitimate shot of getting to Dallas this year! OK now as many of you may know I'm an AFC guy and always will be an AFC guy but this is 1 of those rare times that I am actually looking forward to an NFC game because this 1 has shootout written all over it in my book! Now don't get me wrong the Packers have (along with the Baltimore Ravens) the most punishing defense in the NFC which allowed the fewest points while the Falcons defense allowed the 3rd fewest points so that could make this a defensive battle instead of the shootout that I'm predicting this 1 to be! But let's face it with Aaron Rodgers as hot as he's been since coming back from that concussion he suffered against Detroit I don't see him slowing down in this 1 because with the array of weapons that he has such as WR's Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Jordy Nelson, and James Jones that could be recipe for disaster for the Dirty Birds! While Matty Ice (Matt Ryan) has his own array of weapons such as WR's (Rowdy) Roddy White and Michael Jenkins along with Mr. Reliable TE Tony Gonzalez and their all pro RB Michael (The Burner) Turner the dirty birds could most certainly put up points a plenty against this tough Packer D! So who wins? Well the Packers will certainly put up 1 hell of a fight but in the end I have to go with the Atlanta Falcons to win this game for 1 reason and 1 reason only and that is since Matt Ryan became the QB in Atlanta he has gone 20-2 at home in his career so in layman's terms they hardly lose in the Georgia Dome and while I expect Green Bay to come out swinging I just think that Atlanta will find a way to win this game in what I expect to be a close and competitive shootout!

Winners: Atlanta Falcons

Seattle Seahawks @ Chicago Bears

OK friends I'm not going to lie I am really not looking forward to this game at all but since I have to pick a winner here let's get down to business shall we? 1st off you have the underdog Seabags who just upset the defending Super Bowl champion Saints last week and looking for that 2nd straight upset which would make them the darlings of the NFL much like the Arizona Cardinals of 2 years ago who came this close to winning Super Bowl 43 in a game that I still call the 2nd greatest Super Bowl ever played! Just saying! Anyways back to this game the Seabags were a dismal 2-6 on the road however 1 of those wins came in Chicago back in Week 6 so in hindsight the Seabags actually do have a chance to pull off another upset! But with a ferocious defense led by Brian Urlacher, Charles Tillman, and their big offseason acquisition Julius Peppers along with a surprisingly efficient QB Jay Cutler, a fairly decent RB in Matt Forte and of course the greatest return man in NFL history Devin Hester I just think the Bears will be too much for the Seabags to handle this time around and I see the Bears winning this 1 big and moving on to the NFC title game for the 2nd time in 5 years!

Winners: Chicago Bears

New York Jets @ New England Patriots

And now for the main event and quite frankly I can't think of a better game to main event Divisional Playoff weekend than this 1! All week long the Jets have pretty much been giving the Patriots bulletin board material! Bad move Jets! Remember Anthony Smith? Well back in 2007 this former Steeler ran his mouth and gave New England bulletin board material! The end result - Patriots 34 Steelers 13! Nuff said! Anyways what I'm trying to say is if you give the Pats bulletin board material to work with 9 times out of 10 they will burn you and burn you big time! However even with all of the trash talk I am actually expecting this go round to be a much more competitive game than that 45-3 beatdown the Pats put on the Jets on that much overhyped Monday night game last month! Since that game the Jets have been playing better including 2 huge road wins at Pittsburgh in week 15 and at Indy last week! Bottom line is the Jets are road warriors going 7-2 including the playoffs away from their new home this year! While of course the Pats will look to continue to feast off of that home cooking that has won them 3 super bowls over the last decade! Well friends for my money this is going to be 1 hell of a knock down drag out affair that I am very much looking forward to seeing on Sunday evening! So who wins? Well the Jets are certainly capable of stealing 1 in Foxboro however since Rex Ryan took over as Jets head coach last year the home team has won every meeting in this series so that bodes well for the Pats! So with that I like New England to win this game because with Tom Brady leading the way along with a big time array of weapons such as Deion Branch, Wes Welker, Danny Woodhead, Rob Gronkowski, the NFL's youngest player Aaron Hernandez, and the RB who I like to call the law firm in BenJarvus Green-Ellis the Pats should pick up right where they left off in the regular season in which they scored at least 30+ points in every game since that humiliating loss to Cleveland in early November!

Winners: New England Patriots

Overall with the exception of the Seattle/Chicago game this looks like a very fun and exciting weekend of NFL Playoff football which will serve as a nice appetizer for next weekend's Conference championship games! Please leave me a comment with your picks below and I will be back next Saturday with my predictions for the Conference championship games! So until then you know the routine everybody thumbs up talk to ya later! YEAH!!!