The Diary of a Fantasy Virgin - Week 18 Jan 9, 2008 | More

Playoff time and Wild Card Weekend came and went.   I was 3-1 and yes, I am consuming le pie d’ humble.   This tasty morsel goes out to The New York Giants.   That team played their hearts out and proved to me again why you wait until the final eight before making a prediction.    Therefore, at first blush, it will be The New England Patriots against The New York Giants for the whole enchilada at the end of the year.   But let us revisit WildCard Weekend, shall we?  

Wild Card = Wild QBs

How often do you see teams get to the playoffs with a QB that had 9 TDs and 17 INTs?   That would be Mr. V. Young.   How often does a game hinge on the QB having 3 INTs and a fumble lost in the game like Mr. Roethlisberger?   Why couldn’t Seattle win 50 – 14?   That would be Matt…Hasselbeck.   Did you see that part of the game when Holmgren said “Oh Matt!” after an interception by his QB?   Even Mr. D. Garrard got very tight in the second half of the Pittsburgh win.   Who was the calmest, coolest and collectively OK?   Manning the 2^nd my friends.   After a poor first quarter, The New York Giants played like a team that has come together at the right time.   Making all the right decisions, Mr. E. Manning looked nothing like the participant in the November 25^th 41-17 defeat at the hands of the Vikings.   And waiting until this moment is not that hard.   Let us get to the games this weekend.

Saturday’s Games

First up on Saturday is Seattle at The Green Bay Packers from the confines of Lambeau field.   Seattle has a veteran squad of 14 returning participants from the NFC Championship team that lost in the big game two years ago to the Pittsburgh Steelers.   This veteran leadership cannot make up for playing away on the road and Mr. B. Favre.   In a very close game, I think that the Green Bay running game makes all the difference.

The second game is the Jacksonville Jaguars visiting The New England Patriots.   The Jaguars are an amazing team that play very hard and can dominate the running game with two dynamic RBs in F. Taylor and M. Jones-Drew.   But Jacksonville showed an inability to play 60 minutes after giving up a 28-10 4^th quarter lead in Pittsburgh.   Yes, they came back to win but it should never have been this close.   Brady and Company will not make as many mistakes.   Even if the defensive “Blueprint” is utilized, all this has proven to be is a close loss compared to a blowout.   Look for a Patriot win.

Sunday’s Games

In the first game on Sunday, San Diego visits The World Champion Indianapolis Colts piloted by Manning the 1^st.    Watching San Diego and Tennessee slog it out was just awful.   Eventually, San Diego pulled away but just eventually.   If there is any team you would like to pull for it is San Diego.   They have had all those quality wins the last few seasons and early departures in the Playoffs.   Look for a close game but this time Mr. A. Vinatieri makes the field goal to win the game.

The second game should be the best game of the weekend (barring a surprise upset of the Patriots).   It pits The New York Giants visiting The Dallas Cowboys.   Up until a few weeks ago, The Dallas Cowboys had it all going on.   Then, they became mediocre when T.O. had his injury.   As of this writing, there is still no final word whether T.O. will play.   This writing is based upon T.O. being in the lineup.   I believe that The Giants only have to play half as well as they did in Tampa Bay and as long as Manning the 2^nd does not regress, a high scoring victory for the Giants is to be had.  

Master D.

Tim can now be reached at tdavoll@fantasysharks.com and welcomes your opinions on the Diary of a Fantasy Virgin Articles.