There’s only three games left in the 2018 NFL season. What are we going to do with our Sunday’s once football is over? Watch more movies, spend time with our families, learn how to become a DJ? On the Sunday following the Super Bowl last year, I was so lost on how to spend my time that I watched the Netflix romcom “When We First Met” twice. Luckily, we don’t have to think about life without football for a couple more weeks. The conference championships this year should be a treat with the four best teams in the league competing. This is only the third time in the last 15 years where the top two seeds in each conference made the NFL’s final four.
Winning the Super Bowl would mean something different and unique for each of the four remaining teams. A Kansas City Super Bowl would create a case for Pat Mahomes having the best quarterback season in NFL history (50 touchdowns, 5000 yards, MVP trophy, and a Super Bowl title have never been done in one season) while also putting an end to all the jokes about Andy Reid’s playoff chokes. The Patriots winning the Super Bowl would add on to what already is the best professional sports dynasty of the 21st century and at the same time piss off every non-Patriots fan who wants to see the end of the Brady-Belichick era. Drew Brees and Sean Payton would move up higher on the all-time quarterback and coach rankings with a second Super Bowl victory. Finally, a title for the Rams would mean the official coronation of Sean McVay as the NFL’s next best head coach as well as lead many sports media talking heads to debate if Jared Goff is “elite” for the next couple of years. I can’t wait to see how this unfolds. Unlike the final season of Game of Thrones, we don’t have to wait what seems like 50 years to see how this all shakes out. The wait is almost over. Let’s get to the picks.
Saints -3 over Rams
The two best offensive play-callers in the NFL (arguably) are going up against each other in a rematch of their regular season showdown that New Orleans won 45-35. To be honest this wasn’t a hard pick. The Saints have been so good at home in the playoffs under Drew Brees and Sean Payton, and I have zero trust in Jared Goff (who didn’t play well against Dallas last week and for some reason seems lost without Cooper Kupp) to go into the Superdome and get a playoff road W. Now there are some positive signs for the Rams. Todd Gurley and CJ Anderson (who is further evidence that teams shouldn’t waste first-round picks and big money on running backs) are a legitimate running back one-two punch. The Rams could run all over the Saints especially with their best run stopper Sheldon Rankins out with a torn Achilles. The Rams have Aqib Talib back for this matchup; he could be helpful in trying to stop Michael Thomas (if that’s even possible). All of that is nice for the Rams, but the numbers support the Saints too much. New Orleans is 6-0 at home in the playoffs during the Brees-Payton era. The Rams are 0-3 on the road against the spread vs teams with a winning record this season. Jared Goff had scary home/away splits during the regular season (2737 yards, 22 TDs, 3 INTs, and 68.3% comp percentage at home vs 1951 yards, 10 TDS, 9 INTs, and 60.9% comp percentage on the road). I simply can’t go against the Saints at home, and I can’t go for Jared Goff on the road.
Patriots +3 over Chiefs
I’m furious at myself for not picking the Patriots last week. I had my doubts given how they looked in the regular season and completely ignored two decades of dominance. The Pats may have reached the point where they just don’t care about the regular season and save their all for the playoffs. I won’t be making the mistake of picking against them twice. The Patriots have a good secondary that will help against Pat Mahomes, and Kansas City no longer has Kareem Hunt who torched the Patriots the last two times these teams played. I’m scared about New England’s 3-5 road record and the fact that Andy Reid’s Chiefs teams have hung 40 points on the Patriots three times. However, this is Andy Reid in the PLAYOFFS, and I have to believe that’s going to matter at some point. Another reason why I like the Patriots is everyone’s overrating the Chiefs defense (that was horrible all season long) because they had one good game last week against an indoors team in the Colts who were playing in the cold. Also, we can all stop looking at Kansas City weather reports since the forecast doesn’t look as bad as it seemed earlier in the week. Finally, Gronk is my X-factor to have a big game after being a blocker instead of a receiver last week. He had 97 yards on 3 catches the last time New England played Kansas City, and I’d like to think in what very likely may be his last postseason run he’d show Travis Kelce who the most dominant tight end is one more time. I really regret picking against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick in the playoffs last weekend, and I’m not doing it twice. I just hope me picking them isn’t a curse.
Last Week: 2-2
Playoffs: 4-3-1