NFL 2009 Postseason Predictions

Before the season started I made NFL postseason predictions. You can find them here. Seeing as how I only correctly predicted 4 of the NFC teams and 3 of the AFC teams that actually made the playoffs, I figured I better update my predictions with the teams that actually made the playoffs.

NFC

Round 1

(1) New Orleans Saints & (2) Minnesota Vikings – bye, I guarantee these two teams will be playing in round 2. 😉

(3) Dallas Cowboys – 27, (6) Philadelphia Eagles – 21. Eagles actually keep this game closer than the matchup in Week 17 (a 24-0 Cowboy win), but Tony Romo will continue his hot streak into January and finally give the Cowboys their first playoff win since 1996. Oh, and DeSean Jackson will continue to get owned by the Dallas defense.

(5) Green Bay Packers – 34 @ (4) Arizona Cardinals – 24. Arizona will actually put points on the board in this Week 17 rematch, but Green Bay’s defense will prove to be too much for Kurt Warner, especially if Anquan Boldin can’t play. Aaron Rodgers finally gets his chance to prove to Packers’ fans he was worth keeping, and his won’t disappoint.

Round 2

(1) New Orleans Saints – 31, (5) Green Bay Packers – 27. Drew Brees will lead his team to victory in this shoot-out, proving to Saints fans the last 3 weeks of the regular season were a fluke.

(3) Dallas Cowboys – 20 @ (2) Minnesota Vikings – 17. If this matchup happens, it is really a coin toss as to who will win, but the Cowboys have been in playoff mode since they beat New Orleans a few weeks ago, and Minnesota has floundered the last few weeks. The nail in the coffin with Minnesota will be when Brad Childress decides to try to rely on Adrian Pederson, rather than let Brett Favre open up and sling the Vikes to victory.

NFC Championship Game

(1) New Orleans Saints – 31, (3) Dallas Cowboys – 20. The Saints will exact revenge on the Cowboys for ruining their shot at a perfect season.

AFC

Round 1

(1) Indianapolis Colts & (2) San Diego Chargers – bye. I actually predicted the exact seed the Chargers would be in my previous predictions.

(6) Baltimore Ravens – 13 @ (3) New England Patriots – 10. The loss of Wes Welker in the final game of the season doomed the Pats. The Ravens defense will stack the box and double team Randy Moss, making 10 points questionable for the Pats to score.

(4) Cincinnati Bengals – 24, (5) New York Jets – 17. The Jets defense will actually keep them in this game, but let’s face it, they shouldn’t even be in the playoffs. If not for the Colts and Bengals both giving the Jets a win in the last 2 weeks of the season because they both had their playoff seed solidified already, the Jets probably wouldn’t even have a winning record. I look forward to watching this game to see what Chad Ochocinco will do when he scores a touchdown.

Round 2

(1) Indianapolis Colts – 27, (6) Baltimore Ravens – 14. I feel sorry for the Ravens in this game. Peyton Manning hasn’t played a truly meaningful snap for weeks, and he had his perfect season taken away from him by a stupid decision made by Jim Caldwell. He will run up and down on a very good Ravens defense, taking out his frustrations over the last few weeks.

(2) San Diego Chargers – 38, (4) Cincinnati Bengals – 24. Chargers have won 11 in a row and are running on all cylinders. Bengals have no way to stop the quintuple offensive threat of Philip Rivers, LaDainian Tomlinson, Darren Sproles, Antonio Gates, and the overlooked one, Vincent Jackson.

AFC Championship Game

(2) San Diego Chargers – 31 @ (1) Indianapolis Colts – 28 (in overtime). For the second year in a row the Chargers will beat the Colts in an overtime playoff game in which the Colts offense never got to touch the ball. Hopefully this will prompt the league to finally reevaluate its assinine overtime rules. Hopefully it will also get teams to review their “I’m gonna piss off the football gods by not chasing the perfect season I have a very good chance of completing” stance.

Super Bowl

I’ll go with my original prediction from August:

“San Diego Chargers – 41, New Orleans Saints – 38. (Two of the) highest scoring offenses in the NFL will make Super Bowl XLIV one of the most entertaining ever. This game will basically come down to whichever team gets the ball last, so I give the edge to the team that has the better defense: San Diego.”