WILDCARD CRYSTAL BALL - PART I: Pete's Dream
Published continually since 1994
My friends, THE GURU is ready for NFL playoff action with a field that’s as wide open as my eyes at the local buffet.
Indeed, this year’s postseason menu features six entrants that didn’t qualify for last season’s field, including the #1 seeds in each conference: the Broncos (AFC) and the Seahawks (NFC). Fun.
The other four new teams are no slouches either with the Jaguars and Patriots in the AFC and Bears and Panthers in the NFC. Somewhere, late NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle is smiling at the league’s parity.
A Navy veteran, Rozelle famously ruled with an iron fist from 1960-89, seeing the NFL through the merger with the American Football League, fighting openly with Raiders owner Al Davis and, all the while, dreaming of a time when any team could truly win on any given Sunday - and in any given year. So, he’d be ecstatic looking at this playoff group.
All that said, some old standbys remain in the mix with the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles leading the Pack. And don’t forget perennial contenders like San Francisco, the Rams and Buffalo.
No matter how it shakes out, this postseason should be better than a punch in the face as my man, THE NORDIC BARRISTER, likes to say. We can only hope.
Hope, as they say, is not a strategy but you wouldn’t know it from my predictions. The blind squirrel did find a nut or two last week with an 11-5 (.688) effort improving the season mark to 151-108 (.583).
On to Saturday’s games with more to come later this weekend…
…the action kicks off at 4:30 pm today on Fox with the Rams (12-5, 5-4 away) visiting Carolina (8-9, 5-3), which is back in the playoffs after an eight-year drought. Give or take, that’s how often FATBACK and I say, “Let’s hit the salad bar!”
If you’re old enough to remember, these teams were divisional rivals in the NFC West from 1995-2001 when St. Louis fielded “The Greatest Show on Turf” and the Panthers were led by defensive stalwarts like Sam Mills and Kevin Greene. Now, of course, the Rams are back in LA and Carolina is a longtime denizen of the NFC South.
I’m taking LA here given Coach Sean McVay’s vast playoff experience — an 8-5 (.615) record, the most postseason victories for any Rams coach. But don’t expect Carolina’s top dog Dave Canales to roll over and play fetch.
Catch the action on Fox with Joe Davis, Carolina legend Greg Olsen and Pam Oliver handling the broadcasting duties…
…at 8 pm on Prime Video, we’ve got an intriguing NFC North matchup with Chicago (11-6, 6-2 home) hosting the Packers (9-7-1, 4-4-1). Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit and Kaylee Hartung have the call.
This is the third time the teams have met in the postseason, with the Bears beating Green Bay in 1941 to win the Western Division title and the Pack returning the favor in the 2010 NFC Championship. The latter was the last time that Green Bay won the Super Bowl.
Chitown has made a habit of pulling rabbits out of their hat this season and I think it continues against a Packers team that has been too inconsistent to trust. Bears by a deuce.
That’s all for today, folks. Enjoy the games and God bless!
Love the Rozelle callback on parity. The six new playoff teams realy does validate what he was pushing for, especially when you look at how many "sure thing" franchises missed out this cycle. McVay's playoff experience is the right angle for the Rams pick, but Carolina's home edge feels underpriced here considering how different their defensive identity is in Charlotte. Had a similar situaton last year where road favortie coaches with better resumes got caught by homefield intensity in wildcard round.