Wild Card Weekend

Will the Ravens sink the Patriot's championship hopes?

The last week of the regular season lacked a little of the luster the previous weeks had.  The Texans and Steelers both did what they had to do to get to the playoffs, but didn’t get the needed help from the Raiders or Bengals.  The Bengals decided they’d rather just play the Jets once, and rested the majority of their starters.  This was likely after seeing Wes Welker go down, as the Texans rode Arian Foster past the Patriots.  Chris Johnson broke Marshall Faulk’s record for season single yards from scrimmage record, setting the new mark at 2,509; however he fell 103 yards shy of reaching Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,109 rushing yards.  The Vikings carried over from the second half of their Monday night game putting up another 30+ point half to open against the Giants.  That effort combined with a Cowboy win over the Eagles granted them a first week bye.  All in all 3 matches turned out to be previews of this weekend’s match-ups, and in the final game the Ravens seek to avenge an early season loss to the Patriots that came over so very questionable, and one-sided calls.

Thomas Jones gave the Bengals defense more than they could handle last weekend.  However they had all the time in the world to score points with the Bengals only attempting 19 passes.  Look for Ochocinco to get half as many looks this weekend, as THIS game will come down to whether or not Dirty Sanchez can power them past the veteran Carson Palmer.  I predict an USC Quarterback to pull out the victory this week, just not the one you think.  Riding Thomas Jones, and backed up by a solid receiving core Sanchez will shine, as Ocho Cinco is covered by the league’s most talented lock down DB in Revis:

Jets 24 – Bengals 21

The Cowboys have had the Eagles number so far this season winning both matches.  However last week’s win was aided by the luck of the Favre.  These are two equally matched teams.  The only real X-Factor is DeSean Jackson, who’s yet to have a big game versus the Cowboys this season.  Can the Cowboys beat the Eagles for the third time in a single season?  Or will Jackson dance this weekend? Jackson will dance.

Eagles 30 – Cowboys 24

Sunday

The Patriots won their first match on the strength of two roughing the passer calls that Brady got, that Flacco didn’t.  It was a disgusting display.  Brady’s whining could be heard in the cheap seats as he demanded calls for players grazing his legs as they fell to the ground, while Flacco remained silent as he was speared a full 3 seconds after releasing the ball.  Don’t look for blatant miscalls to determine a playoff match.  The Ravens are healthy, and the Patriots are missing their workhorse in Wes Welker.  Unless a new rule is invented this weekend, Cry Brady cries:

Ravens 31 – Patriots 23

Larry Fitzgerald should have a big game against the Packers.

The Cardinals, as expected, rested Kurt Warner, Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells.  The Packers ran the score up anyway.  With effectively a free preview of this week’s play calling look for the big play Cardinal D to dial in on Aaron Rodgers, while the Dynamic Duo of Fitzgerald and Bolden each get a touchdown and 60 yards a piece.  The Packers prepared for the wrong game:

Cardinals 33 – Packers 24

Hampton’s Record: 16-14 (0.533)

Tags: hampton forecast, larry fitzgerald, nfl, tom brady, wild card weekend

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.