I don’t know which result to be more stunned by – the Chargers’ defeat of the Colts or the Giants’ upset of Dallas. Maybe I shouldn’t be stunned by either. The Chargers did beat Indy during the regular season, proving they had a successful formula against them. And we all know the old “hard to beat a team three times” argument – well, the Cowboys found it hard to beat the Giants a third time. So there you go – my contrarian, throw out the conventional wisdom argument against New York turned out to be pretty much crap. And forget the whole “the bye week means everything” bit – again, there will be teams playing on conference championship weekend that had to play the first playoff weekend (someday it may sink in that the bye isn’t as huge an advantage as it’s supposed to be).
I am loath to make any big pronouncements about blow-outs I know are going to happen, now that my prognostication skills have been proven non-existent. However…I just don’t see the Giants going into Lambeau and beating the Packers. Green Bay feels like they’re at full-strength right now. And yes, I know the Giants are at full-strength too, and that they weren’t supposed to beat Dallas. And I know that my “Eli Manning can’t win the big one” argument is now dead after he beat Jeff Garcia and Tony Romo. But Manning vs. Favre when it’s supposed to be cold as hell in Wisconsin (gonna be around 0 next weekend if the forecast holds up)? Call me a glutton for punishment, but I’m calling this one a lock again – the Packers will beat New York.
As for San Diego’s visit to New England…things look dire for the Chargers, with Philip Rivers, LaDanian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates all nursing injuries coming out of today’s game. I know it’s been a nutty playoffs so far, but can San Diego really go into Foxboro with Billy Volek at QB and beat Tom Brady? Come on. That’s impossible right?
Right?