Introduction
As part of my annual awakening and post to the web page, I have picked the NFL Wild Card games each year.A� One of my shticks is that I go into the games as ignorant as possible.A� Since I stopped watching the NFL weekly about 10 years ago, that isn’t much of a problem.A� My research only consists of listening to the Bill Simmons Podcast with Cousin Sal weekly and watching the games on Thanksgiving.A� This year is no different.
Another idea that I got last year or the year before was to have a coin (actually a coin flipping simulator run 100 times) named George (because he’s a quarter, see) choose the games.A� I hate that we’ve made sports into such a big deal in this country that people can make money talking about them as if they have more or better insight than the people at home.A� If I can show that a flipped coin can have just as much, if not more success, than those on television, maybe it will invalidate them.A� Rage against the machine!
The Picks
Bills at Jaguars (Sunday at 1:05 pm):A� The Bills made the playoffs on the last day, sparing us the idiot talking heads discussing the Peterman/Taylor decision.A� Until Christmas, all I knew about the Jags is that Blake Bortles is the quarterback.A� I will forever love and be indebted to him for winning a fantasy league and then never being invited back.A� I think it’s a better story if Buffalo wins, at least for a weekend because they’ll be destroyed by the Pats.A� Instead, I think they’ll save us the false hope and get destroyed by the Jaguars this weekend.A�A�George’s Pick:A� He’s fairly confident that the Jags will win, too.A� Bills 46, Jaguars 54.
Falcons at Rams (Saturday at 8:15pm):A� With a rookie head coach and essentially a rookie quarterback, nobody saw the Rams coming this year.A� The Falcons ping ponged up and down all season, finally sneaking into the playoffs with an impressive 10-6 record.A� The Falcons would like revenge for their collapse in the Super Bowl last year.A� The Rams are playing a home game with house money.A� I think I like the Rams story better than the Falcons.A� Besides, with UGA in the championship, I don’t think I could stand Georgia being the center of the football universe for a month.A� Whatever happens, this will be a high scoring game.A�A�George’s Pick:A� He disagrees, firmly, with me and wants to see the Falcons get revenge.A� Falcons 56, Rams 44.
Titans at Chiefs (Saturday at 4:35 pm):A� This is the “who cares” bowl for me.A� If the Jags win, like I think they will, then the winner of this game plays the Patriots for the right to go to the AFC Championship.A� I guess the Chiefs are better in that scenario because they beat the Pats earlier in the season.A� However, the Titans winning this game and the next, plus the Jags beating the Steelers appeals to the chaos lover in me.A� I will go with the Chiefs on the slim chance that they catch the Pats on a bad day next week.A�A�George’s Pick:A� Apparently George is an anarchist and wants to see the whole NFL break down.A� Titans 51, Chiefs 49.
Panthers at Saints (Sunday at 4:40 pm):A� Too bad this one is happening this weekend.A� This would have been a great NFC Championship.A� Sure, it stinks to have only one division represented in the championship round, but they are always the most fun games.A� Like the Rams, the Saints are a bit of a surprise, while the Panthers succeeded in spite of their owner resigning (somehow rather quietly) amid, for lack of a better word, weird allegations.A� I think I like the Saints in this one.A�A�George’s Pick:A� George is picking another road team.A� Panthers 56, Saints 44.
Wrap Up
Join us next Friday as we post mortem these games and prepare for the Steelers and Patriots to win, set up a rematch, and watch the Pats walk into the Super Bowl again.A� God, the NFL is so boring.