My predictions for this weekend as follows,
Redskins at Seahwaks.
Washington is peaking at the right time winning 6 in a row, after the tough win on the road against Tampa Bay last saturday. For the skins to be successfull, they will need to control the ball with Clinton Portis, and make a few big plays to stay in this game. Despite Seattle’s explosive and dynamic offense, the skins D will keep them in the game, but the the skins offense will struggle,and i dont see Mark Brunell making enough plays down field in the 4th quarter. That will be the difference in this game. Seahawks advance to the NFC Championship
Redskins 17 – Seahawks 27
Patriots at Broncos
The Patroits come into to Denver with tons of confidence and they have that swagger back that has brought them 3 superbowls in 4 seasons. The Pats take on a Denver team that a lot of people underestimate. The key for Denver beating the Pats in week 6 was their ability to run the ball early which led to Jake Plummer coming out of that game with a 134.4 quarterback rating. Look for the Broncos to come out with the same game plan, and look for a lot of rolling out for Jake Plummer, which could lead to a lot of big plays downfield against the weak secondary of the Pats. You never want to bet against Tom Brady in the playoffs, but the Broncos rushing attack will be to much for the Pats to handle. The Patriots reign comes to an end. Broncos advance to the AFC Championship.
Patriots 20 – Broncos 31
Pens Lose 4-1 to Chicago
Well the losing just seems like it is never going to end for this team. From the start this game didn’t look good after trailing after 1 period 3-1. I saw a couple things from this game that stands out to me . One is i agree with Bob Errey’s assement that Sidney Crosby should bring the puck up on the powerplay. Whether it’s Gonchar, Whitney, Jackman or Tarnstrom on the powerplay, everytime there breaking the puck into the zone, their always looking to dump the puck in. It drives me nuts, because 3/4 of the time they dont get control of the puck. I’ve never seen a team on the powerplay that dumps the puck in some much. Crosby will give them that one player who will get the puck up the ice and maintain control of the puck in the opponents zone. It will benefit Gonchar the most. In Washington it was Bondra not Gonchar that was bringing the puck up in the zone on their powerplay. I would like to see it happen.
Second Shane Endicott needs to hit the road. He brings nothing to the table, and takes so many dumb penalties that kill this team. Since the coaching change i like the system Mr.T has implemented, but im still not seeing enough defenseman jumping into the play in the offensive zone. With a team like the Pens struggling offensively, they need players like Gonchar , Whitney, and Jackman jumping into the play and creating 3-2’s from 2-2’s. Lastly game with Ziggy Palffy getting another 3 or 4 prime scoring chances to score tonite and coming away with nothing. The biggest problem i noticed with him tonite was that he is shooting with his head down. I saw it on the 3-1 in the 2nd period, had his head down the hole time.
….Tune in Sunday morning for my picks for Sundays Contest, my opinion on the Pens whether it’s time rebuild again and on who to bring back next year …..
