NFL Conference Championships & Other Stuff

Before I get to the championship games, there are a few other items I need to touch on:

• Thanks to my buddy Mikey, who hooked us up with tickets to the Duke/Georgetown game in DC tomorrow. If you are going to be there and want to meet us (and Coop) for a beer before the game, let me know.
• For those of you anti Duke guys who have been waiting four years to get rid of J.J. Redick, get ready to learn the name Jon Scheyer, the high school senior who scored 21 points in 75 seconds in almost rallying his team from a 13 point deficit with under a minute and a half remaining. For Kalinock and Marvel, I include the link:
  http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10895770/ (compliments of Uncle Charley).
• To understand how our country has become way too litigious, you need to look no further than the punk of the week, Michael Axelrod. This is the moron who was pestering Antonio Davis' wife (causing Davis to enter the stands), and is now suing the couple for more than a million bucks. If I understand his claim correctly, his position is that he got beat up by a girl. Are you kidding me? What a jackass. Maybe he is bitter and angry because he is 22 years old and already bald as a bat, and probably has issues with women. Rogaine (or Saturday Night Live at least) should use this guy in an ad campaign about what could happen to you if you go bald at a young age. I would resolve the issue by having a steel caged match with Mrs. Davis against Boy Axelrod, with David Stern as guest referee. Maybe Antonio Davis could sneak in the ring, beat Stern over the head with a steel chair, and the Davises could pummel this punk.
• Even though Duke is 17-0 and UNC lost its top 7 scorers from last season, it is still fun to watch Carolina lose two straight....
• It seems like this trend in the NFL is a good one, with over half of the new coaching jobs going to coaches with no prior head coaching experience. Kudos to those teams for taking a chance on upside instead of settling for guaranteed mediocrity.
• Andy Katz, writer for esopn.com, has an article today about the job Quin Snyder is doing at Missouri this year. Just remember, you heard about Quin doing a good job this season here first (three days ago, see More Fallout from Colts post from Tuesday...). Here is a link to Katz' article: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=katz_andy&id=2298128
• Kelly Clarkson is being ridiculous for not letting American Idol use her songs. She owes her career to this show, and now won't let contestants use her songs on the show. Puh-lease.
• Now, onto the Conference Championships:

Pittsburgh at Denver. Pittsburgh, in the Cowher era, has been a #1 seed several times and been upset in the conference championship round at home (New England twice, San Diego), so wouldn't it be just if now, when no one expected much out of them as a #6 seed, that they beat the #1, 2, and 3 seeds in order to advance to the Super Bowl? On the flip side, wouldn't it be funny is Porn boy and much maligned Jake the Snake Plummer made it to the big game before Peyton Manning?

When Pittsburgh is on offense, Big Ben is going to have to win this game for the Steelers. Denver has great speed on defense that should enable the Broncos to keep Fast Willie Parker and the Steeler ground game contained. If they can contain the running game, and force Roethlisberger to throw, it will be difficult for the QB to be as effective as when the ground game is working and they can throw as a compliment to the run.

When Denver has the ball, look for Pittsburgh to attack Denver with as much pressure as possible, trying to force Jake to revert to the old Snake, when he made more mistakes than Norv Turner during a typical football game. Denver of course will try to run the ball, forcing Pittsburgh to play a little more honest. The Steelers will have a difficult time shutting down the Bronco running game, which will allow Jake to pick and choose his spots.

Look for a combination of the speed of Denver's defense, Denver's balance on offense, the roar of the home Denver crowd, and the difficulty Pittsburgh will have duplicating their level of emotion and execution two weeks in a row to result in a Denver win, 20-13.

Carolina at Seattle. Carolina has some injury problems coming into this one. DeShaun Foster is out (as is Stephen Davis), so the Panthers have to go with 3rd string running back Nick Goings. This could be the revenge of Greg Saine's team in my fantasy team, who actually picked Nick Goings in the second round of our draft, the worst draft choice since Mr. Stitzer picked Tony Dorsett in his last year and Zeke Mowatt early in the draft one year in the 80's (Stitzer will need to elaborate on the specifics there). Fortunately for Carolina, Goings did play a bunch and play well both last year and last week, so he is not a typical 3rd string running back. Also, Julius Peppers is banged up and listed as questionable. I expect him to play, but he needs to get pressure on Matt Hasselbeck, who is suddenly looking like Joe Namath circa 1969. Seattle had some injury concerns of its own, with Shaun Alexander getting a concussion last week, but he has been given a clean bill of health.

I think this game comes down to Hasselbeck vs. the Carolina defense and its ability to slow him down, and Seattle's ability to stop the most dominating player in the NFL today, Mr. Steve Smith. I think both offenses will have some success, putting up quite a few points in this one. At the end of the day, Carolina has been in this position before, going 4-0 on th road in the playoffs the last two years, so they will know how to react in a hostile environment. Look for Steve Smith to make plays on offense (just cannot see Marcus Trufant stopping him), and look for Ken Lucas or Ricky Manning, Jr. to pick off a Hasselbeck throw late. Carolina pulls the upset, 31-27.

For the record, Stitzer is picking Pittsburgh and the under in Game 1, Seattle and the over in game 2. So we are aligned on totals and sit apart on sides. We shall see, we shall see....