Honolulu hosts the best that the sport has to offer – minus those taking part in the Super Bowl and those who declined the invitation because of injury or in Ray Rice’s case – family reasons.

The NFC is currently favored by 4 points – and so they should be!

The NFC will start Aaron Rodgers at quarterback and have Drew Brees come off the bench followed by Cam Newton who will be in for mop-up duties. The AFC will trot Ben Roethlisberger, Philip Rivers and Andy Dalton out onto the field – huge advantage NFC!

At running back, the NFC has the edge as well. LeSean McCoy, Matt Forte and Marshawn Lynch will all suit up for the NFC while the AFC counters with Maurice Jones-Drew and Arian Foster – Ray Rice who is perhaps the best rusher in the AFC has declined the invitation to play in this game. The NFC’s advantage is slight but it is an advantage.

We all ready know that the QBs of the NFC are far superior to that of the AFC – now let’s look at the Wide Receivers!

Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Smith, Greg Jennings and Roddy White will be the targets for Rodgers and the boys while erratic Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers have Mike Wallace, Brandon Marshall, Vincent Jackson and AJ Green at their disposal.

Take the point spread bet with the NFC earning a win on Sunday.

As the Giants advance in the postseason tournament, starting field position is going to be a key. Yet for the Giants, their punt-return game has performed below standards due a combination of factors.

Of note is the fact that the Giants haven’t really doubled up opposing punt gunners much this season. With New York, which averaged 6.1 yards per return during the regular season, facing Pro Bowl punter Andy Lee this weekend, the Giants might look to double up both of the 49ers’ gunners to give whoever is back returning punts a better chance of gaining yardage.

Giants LB Michael Boley vs. 49ers TE Vernon Davis. The last time these two teams met, Davis, who mostly went against Boley, was held to just eight yards on one reception before a hamstring injury at the end of the second quarter forced the linebacker out of the game. Davis, who last week had seven receptions for 180 yards and two touchdowns including the game-winner, went on to finish that game with three catches for 40 yards, including a 31-yard touchdown catch that put his team in the lead for good.

Giants run defense vs. 49ers RB Frank Gore. In their earlier meeting, Gore was injured and didn’t have a single rushing yard on six carries before he was forced from the game. But this weekend will be a whole new ballgame as Gore is not only healthy, he’s been running well. Last week, he led a 49ers’ rushing attack with 89 of the team’s 143 yards. The Giants’ run defense, which two weeks ago held Michael Turner and the Falcons to just 64 rushing yards on 21 carries, yielded 147 rushing yards on 23 carries to the Packers, 66 of those gained by quarterback Aaron Rodgers. With defensive tackle Chris Canty nursing a knee injury – he is expected to play on Sunday – it will be interesting to see if Canty and fellow defensive tackle Linval Joseph can create congestion inside of the tackles, forcing Gore, who in his last nine games is averaging just 3.8 yards per carry (136 for 512 yards), to go wide.

Coach Jim Harbaugh wants two things in preparing for the New York Giants this Sunday at Candlestick Park in the NFC Championship Game. He wants it to rain on his team in practice, and he seemingly wants his team to be loose.

Harbaugh extended his Thursday news conference by asking a question of his own.

“Isn’t anybody going to ask me about the weather?” he queried.

When questions were asked, he said, “I noticed when I was standing on my balcony today at about 6:20, 6:30 (a.m.), looked out and saw a very red sky,” Harbaugh said. “That means, ‘red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor take warning.’ So, I anticipate that we’ll have some precipitation today, some weather, and that will be a great thing for us.”

By mid-practice Thursday, light rain was falling. The forecast for Sunday is for a 40 percent chance of rain. The 49ers have played all 17 of their games this season in fine weather.

Players seemed unfazed by the possibility of rain, particularly if it’s light.

“You are going to call the same type of game you are going to call regardless (of weather). So, I really don’t think too much is going to factor in,” defensive lineman Justin Smith said.

While Harbaugh didn’t mention how loose his team is, if they are following the example of their head coach, they are plenty relaxed. Harbaugh seemed more interested in talking about who the best baseball player of all time is, rather than his football team.

Harbaugh believes it’s Willie Mays, and the coach was so interested in the discussion, he continued it in the lunch room. According to team president and CEO Jed York, Harbaugh pigeon-holed wide receiver Kyle Williams to talk baseball. Williams is the son of White Sox general manager Kenny Williams.

The 49ers are one of the best run-stopping teams in league history according to the statistics, and the Giants finished the season ranked 32nd in rushing. The 49ers would like to keep things that way and make Eli Manning beat them, which has been their strategy all season. The 49ers have proved vulnerable in the secondary this year. The Giants went with five-man lines and nine-man fronts in the last meeting on Nov. 13. That’s unlikely to happen in this game because 49ers quarterback Alex Smith is improved and the 49ers are not a huge running threat.

Home field advantage will be with the 49ers on Sunday as they face the Giants. Take the moneyline bet with the 49ers overcoming the Giants at home.

49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman said the yards per carry is a result of innocuous 30-yard runs by the opposition at the end of blowout Saints wins. Also, the Saints’ run defense improved greatly in the second half of the season, when they smothered the likes of Michael Turner (39 yards), Chris Johnson (23 yards) and Adrian Peterson (60 yards).

Meanwhile the 49ers no longer possess the potent running attack that once saw Frank Gore rip off five straight games of 100 yards rushing or more. Gore hasn’t reached the century mark since Nov. 6.

But the Saints do allow yards in the passing game. New Orleans led the league in allowing pass plays of 40 yards or more with 14. Not only that, the blitz-mad Saints might be playing right into what Smith does best, and that’s beat pressure. Smith’s passer rating against the blitz this year is 96.3, which trails only Aaron Rodgers (131.4) and Tom Brady (110.9). Eight of his 17 touchdown passes and only one of his five picks were against the blitz.

Behind Smith, the 49ers are actually offensively potent at home. They averaged nearly 30 points (29.9) at home, which is fourth highest in the league.

Like Brees, Smith takes advantage of checks at the line and the ability to change the offense in the serene surroundings of friendly Candlestick Park.

“Obviously crowd noise plays into that, especially on third down when you’re trying to throw the ball on the road,” Smith said. “Anywhere you go you’re going to be dealing with crowd noise. So at home, to be able to use the cadence and be able to communicate a little easier, verbally obviously helps. I think that might play into it.”

Conversely, only 18 of Brees’ 46 touchdown passes have come on the road because much of what Brees does is make last-second adjustments before the snap, which, as Smith notes, are more difficult to make in loud stadiums.

The Saints, however, have been a good road team under Payton. Since his arrival in 2006, they’re 31-17 in the regular season — the same mark as they have at home — including a 5-3 record this year. But the numbers that count this week are 0-2.

“You win 13, 14 games now, and you’re trying to find something,” Payton said. “When you start playing well on the road and home, you’re probably a better team — and we’ve been able to do that. This will be a good challenge for us. Not just playing on the road, but traveling west.”

Two of their three road losses this season came at Tampa Bay (26-20) and St. Louis (31-21), who obviously weren’t as formidable as the 49ers, (7-1 in Candlestick this season) are expected to be.

In addition to the losses to the Bucs and Rams on the road, the Saints beat Carolina and Atlanta by three points each and Tennessee by just five. The Saints’ five lowest-scoring games this season have come on the road, with three of them coming outdoors.

“I haven’t really looked statistically at the indoor thing or the outdoor thing,” Payton said when asked about a difference in his team’s production indoors vs. outdoors. “I know a lot will be made of us playing on the road and the fact that the Saints haven’t won a road playoff game.

“Each week, we try to get ready and put our players in the best position and get them prepared for the environment we’re going to play in. I think we’ve traveled well. That comes with being a better team.”

Saints middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma agreed, saying, “I think it’s about executing, planning and doing what it takes to win the game.

“It just so happens it’s San Francisco,” he said. “They’re the No. 2 seed and have done a great job earning that spot and seed. You’re talking about two very good teams, so I don’t think it matters where we play.”

New Orleans is playing with a very hot offense right now. San Francisco will be unable to stand up to this offensive powerhouse. Take the moneyline bet with the Saints marching over the 49ers on Saturday.

It’s a bit remarkable that the Lions, barring any other setbacks, will start the same 11 players on defense on Saturday that started the season-opener against Tampa. Corey Williams (hip) will be back in the lineup after missing the Green Bay game.

Louis Delmas (knee) will be back at safety. CB Aaron Berry (shoulder), who has missed the last three games, has been back at his normal spot in the nickel package. Berry plays right cornerback in the nickel, with starting RCB Eric Wright moving into the slot.

Expect the Lions to use a lot of dime packages as well against the Saints. Alphonso Smith would be the extra defensive back.

The offense, provided that Johnson plays as expected, will start 10 of the 11 players that opened the season. Running Jahvid Best would be the only starter absent.

Just one year after their magical run to the title in Super Bowl XLIV, the Saints opened the postseason thinking about a second straight championship before the Seattle Seahawks burst their bubble with a stunning 41-36 victory in Seattle.

The long plane ride home from the Pacific Northwest only reinforced what they already knew: how difficult it is to win in the NFL — especially in the playoffs.

With that at least a little bit in the back of their minds, the Saints (13-3) began preparing Tuesday for Saturday night’s NFC wild-card game with the Detroit Lions (10-6) in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

As far as they’re concerned, their record-breaking 2011 season will be nothing more than a distant memory when they go against the Lions, whom they defeated 31-17 on Dec. 4 in the Superdome.

“You understand in our game that when you line up in the postseason, there’s a finality to it,” coach Sean Payton said, perhaps recalling for a second that dreary, cold day in Seattle last Jan. 8.

And, despite everything they did to get to this point, including an eight-game winning streak and setting several club and NFL records along the way, they have to keep pushing ahead with a new season in front of them.

“There’s a lot of things that were positive, and a lot of things that were accomplished with the season we just had,” Payton said. “Yet, the reason you try to win as many games as you can is to prepare yourself for what we’re getting ready to accomplish now.

“I don’t think you reflect now. You are still driven by the challenge ahead.”

Indeed, the current Saints are certainly better than the 2010 version that struggled to find its consistency, particularly on offense, and could be even better than the 2009 team that ran the table in the postseason and captured the franchise’s first Super Bowl title.

But as they envision another journey to perhaps a second Vince Lombardi Trophy, they remember the feelings of that disappointing afternoon in Seattle as well.

The Saints will show up to play and win on Saturday. Take the Saints at -10.5 pointspread for a safe bet this weekend.

Houston! We Have A Playoff Game!
Wk 18: Cincinnati @ Houston – Saturday 4:30 pm ET (NBC)
The NFL playoffs are finally here. The twelve teams that have clinched a spot are preparing themselves for an experience unlike anything else in professional sports. Everything from scores to downs becomes magnified as each team looks to win Super Bowl. This Saturday, the playoffs begin as two teams unfamiliar to the playoff experience face one another.
The Houston Texans enter Saturday’s game against Cincinnati with no previous playoff experience. This will be their first playoff game in their franchise’s history. While making the playoffs for the first time is an accomplishment, Texans fans have to be feeling bittersweet about the playoff berth. Injuries to their starting and second string quarterbacks, along with their starting running back, have put the Texans in an unwanted position. They have to rely on their fifth-round draft pick rookie quarterback, T.J. Yates, to win Saturday. Even though he is a rookie, he has been a solid backup to Matt Schaub and Matt Lienart. T.J. Yates has started five games for the Texans. During this stretch, he has a pass completion percentage of 62%, and he has thrown for 879 yards. However, it still remains to be seen how the pressure of the playoffs will affect his play. The same thing can be said about Cincinnati Bengals rookie quarterback Andy Dalton. He has started all sixteen games of this season, providing the Bengals with solid productivity at that position. He helped lead the Bengals to their first playoff since 2009. However, when playing against good teams, signs of genuine inexperience appeared, as he threw seven picks in six games versus teams with ten or more wins. In the ten other games, he had only thrown six interceptions. That being said, his composure in big game situations will be a concern Bengals fans come Saturday.
In order for either team to come out victorious, they will have to find a way to play effectively on the offensive end. The reason is that both teams are starting inexperience quarterbacks and will likely rely on their defense to win the game for them. Points and scoring opportunities will likely be scarce in this game, despite how well each quarterback has played for their respected teams, since both Cincinnati and Houston have a stingy defense that looks to create turnovers. Houston has forced 27 takeaways this season, while Cincinnati has forced 22 takeaways. Therefore, regarding the over-under, which is set at 38.5 points, the best bet is to go with the under. As for the spread, which has Houston favored by three points, giving the points is the best option. The reason is that Houston has a better overall defense than Cincinnati has. They have the 3rd best passing defense and the 4th best rush defense in the NFL. Plus, Houston beat the Bengals in week 14, which is relevant because Cincinnati is 0-2 this season when playing the same team twice. They lost to Pittsburgh twice and Baltimore twice, so they are likely to lose to Houston for a second time. When Saturday’s game concludes, the Texans will pick up their first playoff win, and the final score will be Cincinnati 17 – Houston 20.

“I like DJ,” Washington defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said when Gomes was thrust into the lineup in place of the injured LaRon Landry for the Dec. 11 game against New England. “He’s a real instinctive football player. He gets better and better every time he’s out there. We like his athleticism. He’s really smart. He just hasn’t had a lot of time playing safety. He played mostly dime in college so it’s going to be a learning process. (He’s) really good in the box. It’s in the space area (downfield), that we’ve got work on and have a good offseason with him.”

Although Patriots record-setting tight end Rob Gronkowski beat Gomes for a touchdown, the 6-0, 208-pound Californian bounced back with a solid game the next week at the New York Giants and was serviceable last week against Minnesota.

But it might not be simple for Orakpo to add to his sack total against Eagles.

When it comes to NFC East games, Orakpo has been virtually sackless. It took him 17 games to finally register a full sack against an NFC East opponent. The former All-America defensive end at Texas has 25 sacks in his 29 games against the rest of the league, but he had just a half-sack against Dallas, New York and Philadelphia before he finally got to the Giants’ Eli Manning late in the fourth quarter of Week 15.

“I think it’s always good (to end the drought) because he has to hear about it, he has to read about it,” Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said. “You have a guy who’s playing extremely hard, (but he’s) not getting it done against NFC East opponents. He wants to prove to everybody that he can make a play when it counts, and he did.”

Orakpo said, “I (wanted) to get the monkey off my back, man. I don’t know (why it took so long). I’m close a lot of times. I (was) just never been able to finish the play.”

On Sunday, when the 7-8 Eagles take on the 5-10 Redskins, the Eagles will be missing two starters in their secondary. Strong safety Kurt Coleman is on injured reserve with a biceps tear and will be replaced by rookie Jaiquawn Jarrett. Left cornerback Asante Samuel will miss his second straight game with a strained hamstring. Rodgers-Cromartie will move outside and veteran slot corner Joselio Hanson will play inside in nickel.

This could be a look at next year’s starting secondary. Jarrett, a rookie second-round pick out of Temple, has had trouble getting on the field this season, but is expected to be given a chance to wrestle the starting strong safety job away from the undersized Coleman next summer.

The Eagles have pretty much come to the conclusion that their secondary isn’t big enough for Samuel, Asomugha and Rodgers-Cromartie. So, Samuel is expected to be traded in the offseason, which will allow Rodgers-Cromartie to move outside permanently.

“Jaiquawn’s had a couple of opportunities in there when other guys have been banged up and he did a nice job,” head coach Andy Reid said. “So I would just expect him to continue to build on that. It’s great experience for him, so I think it’s a positive.”

Rodgers-Cromartie often has looked lost in the slot. But he has looked a lot more like the Pro Bowl player the Eagles traded for this summer when he’s played outside.

“He did good,” Reid said. “He got a little bit tired there towards the end, but that’s understandable. He was in there every snap and also played on a few of the special teams. I think he had fun being back outside. We asked him to cover their best receiver in a lot of cases and I thought he handled that challenge well.”

Division games are generally closer because teams are familiar with each other. However, the statistics do favor the home team by a strong margin and the Eagles have been playing decent football. Washington has struggled more than the Eagles this season and will be playing on the road. A safe bet would be to pick The Eagles to cover the point spread at -9.

Does anyone remember that 1966 Time Magazine cover Is God Dead?, well probably not, but the question is out there in the new NFL. Is defense the ghost of NFL past. Something we remember fondly and tell our grand kids about. Yeah you could win with Jim McMahon at the helm of the 86 Bears but no longer.

Quarterback and coach that’s what wins in the NFL of today. Defenses are a footnote to the game. Take a look at the New England Patriots of 2011. I have a Friend, a old bastard football fan. Every week he calls and bitches about the Pats, ” They suck, The make every quarterback look like the second coming of Dan Marino” and it is all true, but New England still wins, why? Defense is now analogous to his love life, a couple of quality minutes and BANG that’s all you need cause you have Tom Brady driving the bus.

Make one or two stops, give up field goals, trade yards for minutes, and score at the end of the half and at the start of the third quarter. The Patriots have used this formula all season and now have the top seed in the AFC. The danger you face when you play the game like that is having a small lead at the end of the game and have the opponent score last with no time left. That is how they lost to the Bills and Giants. With a little more time you would have won both of those games.

What has happened to dominating defenses? Rule changes have taken the ferocity out of the game, to protect the skill players, because that is what people pay to see. I would venture to say that the Patriots and Packers will meet in the Super Bowl and the suckyest defenses that ever sucked will produce the highest rated Super Bowl ever and drive that stake in to the heart of ” Defense Wins Championships” mantra muttered by old bastard footballers everywhere.

Here is a Christmas present to all, Romeo can coach, give the 2 and take the Chief over the Raiders.

Merry Christmas

Dave “Irish Cream” Bailey

Final Score: New England 35 – Denver 21

There is a way for Tim Tebow to beat the New England Patriots, though it goes against everything Coach Fox has shown the gaming public this season. Tebow must throw the ball between thirty and forty times in this game. That is the formula, blue print to defeat Tom Brady’s Pats. Look at the last two games New England have played.
Rex Grossman was 19 for 32 and that was not enough to beat the Pats. He leaned heavily on the run game which was effective with Helu running for 126 yards but this created the illusion of success when all it did was eat up minutes for yards that were there with his arm. When playing New England, time is the one enemy you have, you must score quickly and make one or two stops giving field goals for touchdowns. Tim Tebow’s feet may be an asset in most games but here it will get him in trouble. Running only when he can not find an opening with his arm.
When Orlovsky chucked it 37 times and completed 30 he looked like Payton but ran out of time. Now you are all saying this is bull but I have watched the Pats all year and have seen the frustration building with the pressure the defense puts on the offense to score every time they get the ball. Alas this will not happen. Denver will put the ball in Willis MaGahee’s hands and set up runs for Tebow, but an early lead by the Patriots will spell the end of the Tebow era in Denver. It all crashes down Sunday. The Pats cover the 6.5 and more. I smell BLOW OUT if Denver fails to score early. The one factor that has to be looked at is how the Patriots have failed in Denver over the years.

Dave