Almost There!

The NFL playoffs have been filled with disappointing blowouts, not much drama (except for the Cardinals-Packers game) and playoffs that seem to come and go quickly, at least for me.

This weekend will hopefully be different.

Starting the Conference Championship Sunday off will be the New York Jets going to Indy to play the Colts, and next, the Minnesota Vikings at the New Orleans Saints. Let’s review these match-ups, shall we?

The New York Jets (11-7) at the Indianapolis Colts (15-2) 2:00 p.m. CBS. The surging and surprising New York Jets have upset the Bengals at Cincinnati, and even more surprising, going to San Diego and beating the Chargers! They have done it with defense (the #1 defense in the league with Darrelle Revis, shockingly) and a conservative, yet effective offense with rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez and up-and-coming running back Shonn Greene (a former Iowa standout).

Meanwhile, Indy charged off to a 14-0 start, but lost their last two, similarly to the ’05 Colts that did the same. First-year coach Jim Caldwell has sure convinced me that he is capable of coaching. He’s quieted (for the most part) Peyton Manning’s complaints since they went on that run, and now are in the championship game after being criticized by many Colt fans for benching key players. He’s quieted them too! Peyton Manning, from what I hear, is one of the few who has great success against some of Rex Ryan’s defense’s. Although, he did limit the powerful Chargers offense to 14 points, even though the Jets had A LOT less yardage then the Chargers, they found a way to win. I expect Peyton Manning to do his usual thing against Rex Ryan defenses, and find holes hand rips in the Jets D (defense). So, I am going with my instinct, and taking the Colts, 20-16.

Now on to the Minnesota Vikings (13-4) at the New Orleans Saints (14-3) 4:00 p.m. Fox. Yes, unfortunately, I have to talk about Brett Favre again. The Vikings have ridden on his arm all the way to the NFC championship game, and look like a team of destiny, with their quarterback trying to retire a winner. There are other people contributing other than Brett Favre you know. Like some people on their defense. Jared Allen, Pat and Kevin Williams, and E.J. Henderson. Adrian Peterson, surprisingly, hasn’t been much of a factor this season, or at least, that I’ve heard. Chester Taylor has made the biggest impact on the Vikings.

In New Orleans, the Saints lost their last three games, but somehow, were able to blow out the hot Arizona Cardinals and gain much-needed momentum. Like the Vikings, the Saints have a pretty good quarterback as well. His name is Drew Brees. He throws for five-hundred yards like Brett Favre (how come Brett Favre doesn’t do that, and he’s a soon to be hall-of-famer?) comes out of retirement (dut-dut duh)! They also have Reggie Bush who is starting to come back alive since the last time they went to the NFC championship game, his rookie season. Pierre Thomas, a former Illini running back, is also doing very well, which is nice to see. The Saints are questionable (that doesn’t necessarily mean bad) on defense, but they could surely make up for a bad game for their defense with Drew Brees and Marques Colston!

I think that the Vikings defense is the key, and I predict it will be just enough to hold the Saints offense down for their offense to spread the field and score just a little more. The Vikings win 34-24.

Have a great playoff-football Sunday!