2012 NFL PLAYOFFS: DIVISIONAL ROUND

New Orleans Saints @ San Francisco 49ers
ANALYSIS: The San Francisco 49ers are back in the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons and new head coach Jim Harbaugh has the team playing good football. Alex Smith has not been asked to do much, but he has done a great job in protecting the football with just five interceptions. Shouldering most of the load has been Frank Gore—who ran for a solid 1211 yards and eight touchdowns this season. San Francisco is also doing it on the defensive end with the fourth-best unit in the league. Giving up passing yardage might be a concern, but the 49ers picked off 23 passes, while it is very tough to run on the best run defense in the league.

The New Orleans Saints got off to a slow start on Wild Card Weekend, but everything clicked late as they defeated the Detroit Lions, 45-28. The Saints offense was as explosive, if ever, tallying up 626 yards—a new NFL record for a playoff game. Drew Brees threw for 466 yards and three touchdowns on 33-of-43 passing, and Jabari Greer’s two second half interceptions virtually end any chance of a Lions’ win. This week, the Saints will try to win their first road game in franchise history. 

PREDICTION: Saints 27, 49ers 23
KEY MATCHUP: The Saints offense vs. the 49ers defense (especially the passing game)

Denver Broncos @ New England Patriots
ANALYSIS: The New England Patriots are back in the playoffs, yet they are seeking their first postseason win since the AFC Championship Game four seasons ago. In a mirror image of last season, the Patriots breezed through the second half of the season and Tom Brady made his claim to win the MVP award. Brady passed for 5235 yards and 39 touchdowns, and if not for Drew Brees or Aaron Rodgers, he would have had the more prolific passing season this year. His two favorite targets—Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski—were reliable this season, each having over 1300 yards receiving. On the flip side, New England has the second-worst defense in the league but they did force the third-most takeaways with 34.

Tebow-Mania lives to see another week after the Denver Broncos’ thrilling 29-23 overtime win last week. Just as everyone was grasping the new overtime rules made specifically for the playoffs, Tim Tebow hooked up with Demaryius Thomas for the 80-yard “one-hitta quitta” to seal the deal.  Tebow was just 10-for-21 passing, but he threw for 316 yards. While under the radar, Thomas’ 204 receiving yards (103 after the catch) is just as impressive. Denver hopes to avenge a 41-23 loss in Week 15 to the Patriots. 

PREDICTION: Broncos 23, Patriots 20
KEY MATCHUP: Tim Tebow vs. the Patriots defense

Houston Texans @ Baltimore Ravens
ANALYSIS: The Baltimore Ravens finally were able to unseat the Pittsburgh Steelers as champions of the AFC North, ensuring a home playoff game for the first time since 2007. The Ravens are still fierce on defense, giving up the third-fewest yards and points this season. Terrell Suggs recorded 14 sacks and one can never count out Ray Lewis being the heart and soul of the unit. On offense, Ray Rice ran for 1364 yards and 12 touchdowns, along with catching 74 passes. Joe Flacco continues to be hit-or-miss playing quarterback at times, but he threw for 3610 yards and 20 touchdowns to 12 interceptions. Rice, Anquan Boldin, Ed Dickson and Torrey Smith will be counted on to help Flacco.

Houston, we have liftoff! The Houston Texans soared to a 31-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in their first-ever playoff game last week. Arian Foster dominated on the ground, running the ball 24 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Andre Johnson caught five passes for 90 yards in his playoff debut and Houston’s defense forced three turnovers, including J.J. Watt’s pick six late in the second quarter. In this week’s game, can rookie T.J. Yates do the improbable and give the city of Houston its first representative in the AFC Championship Game since the “Luv Ya Blue” Houston Oilers?

PREDICTION: Ravens 20, Texans 10
KEY MATCHUP: Ravens run defense vs. Arian Fostor/Ben Tate

New York Giants @ Green Bay Packers
ANALYSIS: The Green Bay Packers played much better this season than in their Super Bowl winning season last year with Aaron Rodgers emerging as a legitimate MVP candidate. Rodgers threw for 4643 yards and 45 touchdowns despite sitting out the season finale. Greg Jennings was once again his favorite target but four others also caught at least six touchdown passes including Jordy Nelson with a team-leading 15. With the Packers offense sizzling, the defense was awful, giving up the most yards in the league.

The New York Giants pounded the Atlanta Falcons so much into submission that they actually gave them two points thanks to a safety. But in all seriousness, New York’s 24-2 victory was impressive and the Giants continued their recent trend of running the football well and playing good defense. The Giants ran for a season-high 172 yards and Atlanta had a tough time getting its running game going. We cannot even forget Eli Manning’s play in the contest with 277 yards and three touchdowns to no interceptions. New York is quite familiar with Green Bay and played them close until the end of Week 13’s thrilling 38-35 Packers win. 

PREDICTION: Packers 30, Giants 27
KEY MATCHUP: Aaron Rodgers vs. Eli Manning

2012 NFL PLAYOFFS: WILDCARD WEEKEND

Cincinnati Bengals @ Houston Texans
ANALYSIS: The Houston Texans are in the playoffs for the first time in franchise history and overcame many injuries to get to this point. Matt Schaub and Mario Williams were lost for the season, while Andre Johnson was slowed and limited to seven games. The good news is that Johnson is back to give rookie quarterback T.J. Yates a dependable target when he does need to throw. For the other times, Arian Foster and Ben Tate will share the load on the Texans’ No. 2 ranked ground game. Defensively, Brian Cushing leads a unit that ranked No. 2 in total defense and allowed the fourth-fewest amount of points this season.

As the Cincinnati Bengals said adios to Chad Ochocinco and Carson Palmer, their new quarterback/receiver tandem is already turning heads in their first year in the league. A.J. Green lived up to being the No. 4 draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft after catching 65 passes for 1057 yards and seven touchdowns while fellow rookie Andy Dalton was not shabby in his debut season. The second rounder from TCU threw for 20 touchdowns and 3398 yards as he learned the position. One cannot forget Cincinnati’s underrated defense that only allowed 323 points and helped the team win close games.

PREDICTION: Texans 21, Bengals 17
KEY MATCHUP: Andy Dalton vs. T.J. Yates

Detroit Lions @ New Orleans Saints
ANALYSIS: Drew Brees put up unheard of numbers this season as the New Orleans Saints look to win their second Super Bowl in three years. The signal caller threw for a record 5476 yards and shared the wealth evenly as five players caught at least 50 passes in the Saints’ high-powered aerial attack. Brees’ favorite target this season was tight end Jimmy Graham—who burst onto the scene in a major way with 99 receptions for 1310 yards. The only weakness might be New Orleans’ “bend, but don’t break” No. 24 team defense.

The Detroit Lions snapped their long playoff drought thanks to Jim Schwartz instilling a nasty, tough attitude to the team that has not won a title since 1957. Some have taken the nastiness a bit too far to heart such as Ndamukong Suh. When the Lions played the Saints five weeks earlier, Suh was serving the first game of his two-game suspension after stomping on a player. Now that they have him back, they may be able to put up more of a battle in the trenches. Detroit has enough to go into a shootout with New Orleans, thanks to Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson. However, Megatron must improve upon his output (six catches, 69 yards) from when these two teams last met.

PREDICTION: Saints 38, Lions 31
KEY MATCHUP: Ndamukong Suh vs. the Saints’ offensive line

Atlanta Falcons @ New York Giants
ANALYSIS: Left for dead at 6-6, the New York Giants manned up to win three of their last four—including a sweep of the Dallas Cowboys—to take the NFC East crown. While still a bit erratic at times, Eli Manning stepped up when needed by delivering five comeback wins. His primary target was Victor Cruz, who burst onto the scene with 82 catches for 1536 yards and nine touchdowns. However, the two things the Giants must improve upon are defense and running the football. The Giants had the worst rushing attack this season and were 2-7 when they did not get over 100 yards.

For the first time in their history, the Atlanta Falcons have made the playoffs in consecutive seasons but it is the team’s recent lack of playoff success that many people are talking about. Mike Smith and Matt Ryan have yet to win a playoff game and to do so they have to limit their turnovers and stop the opposing team’s passing game. Luckily, Atlanta has a good balance of the run and pass with Ryan throwing for over 4000 yards and Michael Turner rushing for 1340 yards and 11 touchdowns. The Falcons are very good in stopping the run as well, ranking No. 6 in that category.

PREDICTION: Falcons 21, Giants 10
KEY MATCHUP: Michael Turner vs. New York’s run defense

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Denver Broncos

ANALYSIS: The Denver Broncos turned a 1-4 start into an AFC West title after John Fox benched Kyle Orton for Tim Tebow. While Tebow has been dreadfully inaccurate for most of ballgames, he finds ways to win late. Much credit for this goes to Fox for building a game plan that suits Tebow based on a heavy dose of the running game led by Willis McGahee. On defense, rookie standout Von Miller leads a squad that has gotten better in recent weeks, but still can be inexperienced at times and suffer whenever Tebow struggles.

This year, the Pittsburgh Steelers lost the AFC North title to the Baltimore Ravens, but the defense was still stingy in allowing other teams to get yards and points. Pittsburgh was the best team in total defense and scoring defense, as James Harrison and Troy Polamalu look to have big games without Ryan Clark playing in this game. On offense, Ben Roethlisberger might be hobbled but he is very tough and he threw for over 4000 yards this season.

PREDICTION: Steelers 10, Broncos 7
KEY MATCHUP: Tim Tebow vs. the Steelers defense

TALKIN' TEBOW

Tebow-mania has taken over the National Football League and depending whoever you are, you are either on the bandwagon or completely nauseated.

After a 1-4 start, the Denver Broncos have won five of Tim Tebow’s six starts this season to get into the playoff hunt with a chance of winning the AFC West.

However, as the media gives Tebow a lot more credit than he actually deserves after each win, some people continue to pile on and actually hate everything about him. As a result, the median of both extremes is drowned out.

Until now.

Let me preface by saying that I like Tim Tebow and hope he makes it because of his attitude, his demeanor and how he carries himself, but let us be real for a minute.

Right now, he is a below average quarterback who has raw skills that need a lot of polishing and work.

Denver head coach John Fox said it best, “If we trying to run a regular offense, he’d be screwed.”

Tim Tebow's throwing mechanics are not much to smile about and they certainly
need work, but he continues to produce wins and not committing turnovers.
(Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)

You have to give Fox credit for sticking with him and tailoring a game made specifically for Tebow, but what happens if a team is able to jump out to a solid lead, forcing him to throw a lot like the Detroit Lions did in Week 8?

My friend and fellow aspiring journalist (you can catch her blog here) had a similar conversation with me on Twitter about Tebow not too long ago. She believed that he would be better suited for the Canadian Football League as this point in his career due to his mechanics.

I truly agree with her, because the CFL helped many quarterbacks such as Warren Moon, Doug Flutie and Jeff Garcia flourish in a professional league to prepare before making the jump to successful NFL careers.

Unlike those three players, Tebow was drafted early. Denver selected the former Florida Gator No. 25 in the 2010 NFL Draft and gave up picks in the second, third and fourth rounds to the Baltimore Ravens. Given these circumstances, the Broncos had no other choice but to play him to see his worth when the time was right.

In ten games where Tebow has had considerable playing time, he only completed more than half of his throws once. In a time where completing passes at a high percentage is at more of a premium than ever, his 45.5 completion percentage this season will certainly not cut it.

Yet, despite the bad points, the main factor is that he wins games or gives you a chance to win.

According to Pro-Football-Reference.com, four of Tebow’s six career wins were fourth quarter comebacks ending with game-winning drives. Aside from the accuracy problems, he manages the game well, rarely commits turnovers and keeps plays alive with his scrambling ability.

He also is an inspiration to his teammates as Fox allowed him to give the pregame speech before Denver’s Week 12 matchup against San Diego.

“I’ve never seen a human who can will himself to win like that,” Bronco rookie linebacker Von Miller said to the Denver Post. “He gave us a great speech. We came out [for the game] fired up. And that was a wrap.”

Tim Tebow is a great role model thanks to his Christian beliefs,
but are some people going overboard in how they portray him?
(Photo by Lisa W. Buser/USA Today)

But all of the attention continues to go to Tebow from many media markets and overzealous fans. While it is not his fault, the resentment for him is based solely on those who go overboard or just do not want him to succeed.

Players like Miller, defensive end Elvis Dumervil and a running game led by Willis McGahee contributed to the turnaround and are often ignored because of the star quarterback.

In a time where one can order a custom made “Jesus No. 15” Broncos jersey or take in the new fad of “Tebowing”, let us just be careful and not go overboard in idolizing him.

Instead, let’s stay realistic of him as a player, while admiring the type guy he is off of the field.