NFL Divisional Round Picks

Wild Card Record: 2-2 (Correct: Colts, 49ers Incorrect: Eagles, Bengals)

Seattle Seahawks over New Orleans Saints: The Saints silenced detractors like myself last week by finally picking up a road playoff win against the Eagles. What made it more impressive is they managed to pick up this win by running the ball and without a big game from top playmaker Jimmy Graham. While the Saints were certainly impressive last week, they are going to need to substantially top that performance if they want to knock off the Seahawks this week. Unlike the Eagles, the Seahawks have a defense that can make plays and really doesn't have any holes that the Saints offense can expose (The Seahawks can be run on, but I don't trust the Saints to put together two solid games running the ball in a row.) This defense gave Brees and co. a horrible time when they faced them earlier in the year and I would be surprised if that didn't happen again. It also doesn't help that the Seahawks possess a big,bruising running back like Marshawn Lynch. The Saints run defense has been up-and down all year and they did a great job containing LeSean McCoy last week, but I don't expect the same to happen with Lynch. Most importantly, the Saints play much worse football when they're away from the Superdome and for a team with road woes, there is no worse place in the league to play than Seattle. The Saints have a tall-order to try and go into Seattle and win, but unless something drastic happens, I don't expect it to happen.

New England Patriots over Indianapolis Colts: The Colts are certainly riding a huge wave of momentum after their gigantic comeback win over the Chiefs last week. That type of momentum is great for a big game against the Patriots this week, but ultimately I don't think it will be for them to take it. I don't think Tom Brady or Andrew Luck is the X-factor here, I believe this game will come down to defense and I just trust the Patriots D more than the Colts right now. The Colts just allowed 44 points to a Chiefs offense that was without Jammal Charles, who accounted for over a third of their total offense in the regular season. I expect a lot of points to be scored with Brady and Luck both facing porous defenses and it could come down to a final possession and because of that, I'll take the Patriots by a hair in this battle of great offenses versus bad defenses.

Carolina Panthers over San Fransisco 49ers: This is hands-down my least confident pick of the weekend. The 49ers are riding a hot streak and are battle-tested in the playoffs opposed to the Panthers, who are a very young team and have no recent playoff experience (Steve Smith and Jordan Gross are the only guys still on the roster from the 2003 Super Bowl team.) Despite the odds being stacked against them, I like the Panthers in this game. It should a defensive slugfest like their regular season meeting with two of the league's finest units squaring off. Someone on offense is going to need to deify this and make a few big plays against a tough defense and I expect that man to be Cam Newton. Newton has come through numerous times in the regular season in big situations and I think his clutch ability will make up for his lack of playoff experience and lead the Panthers to a victory over a resilient and hungry 49ers squad.

San Diego Chargers over Denver Broncos: Phillip Rivers is 2-0 against Peyton Manning in the playoffs and I expect that to become 3-0 on Sunday. The Chargers just went into Denver and beat them last month, which takes away the fear of playing them in their building. I also just don't trust the Broncos defense at all. Their defense has struggled all year long and the Chargers offense is about as hot as you can get right now with Rivers in top-form and a newly potent rushing offense led by Ryan Matthews and Danny Woodhead. You can't count the Broncos out clearly because of the strength of their offense and the magical season Peyton Manning has had. That being said, Manning has looked awful in the playoffs of late and I don't like his odds of a comeback against a team that just shut him down when he's coming off a bye week. The Chargers are just playing great football right now and even against a powerhouse like the Broncos, I wouldn't bet against them.