Two-A-Days ‘07: Playoff and Super Bowl Picks
from mike-greenberg.com
Mike and Mike in the Morning, Two-A-Days '07,
Thursday, September 6th, 2007
Wrapping up the Two-A-Days for 2007 are Mike and Mike’s picks for the playoffs and Super Bowl champion. The predictions:
Greeny:
NFC East: Dallas Cowboys, AFC East: New England Patriots
NFC South: New Orleans Saints, AFC South: Indianapolis Colts
NFC North: Chicago Bears, AFC North: Cincinnati Bengals
NFC West: Seattle Seahawks, AFC West: San Diego Chargers
NFC Wildcards: San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles
AFC Wildcards: Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets
Super Bowl: New England vs. New Orleans
Champion: New England
Golic:
NFC East: Dallas Cowboys, AFC East: New England Patriots
NFC South: New Orleans Saints, AFC South: Indianapolis Colts
NFC North: Chicago Bears, AFC North: Baltimore Ravens
NFC West: Seattle Seahawks, AFC West: San Diego Chargers
NFC Wildcards: Philadelphia Eagles, St. Louis Rams
AFC Wildcards: Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars
Super Bowl: San Diego vs. Dallas
Champion: San Diego
Mike Greenberg says on the AFC: I forced myself to pick one surprise, absolutely made myself pick a surprise, in both conferences. So, my surprise in the AFC is Cincinnati winning the AFC North with a record of 11-5. I like Cincinnati; I love Carson Palmer. Look, Manning and Brady, I guess, have put themselves in a level all their own, but there’s a part of me that wants to put Carson Palmer on that level. If that team can figure out a way to get things done defensively, they have Marvin Lewis, who’s a defensive-minded coach. I just think there’s too much talent there for them not to put it together. … I took a flyer on Cincinnati. I am overwhelmingly the least confident of all of these teams in them, so I can’t put them in the Super Bowl. Indianapolis won the Super Bowl a year ago; I think the way their run defense played last year in the post-season was incredible, but I have a tough time seeing that happen again. I think there are a lot of hurdles that are involved in repeating. I think a lot of things broke right for them. I think they deserve all the credit in the world, they’re a great football team, they’re an extraordinarily well-run organization; I’m not going to pick a team to repeat, I think it’s too hard to do. And in San Diego, I just don’t think you can lose your entire coaching staff, bring in Norv Turner with a career losing record and just say, “Oh, everything will be fine, they’ll just pick up where they left off at 14-2. That gets me to my wildcards: Steelers and Jets. Look, I love the Jets and I would give anything to see them play in the Super Bowl, but frankly, lets just all acknowledge that would be a stretch. And you know, I really was actually tempted to go with the Steelers. I like the coaching change there; I think it was time for a little new blood there, and I’ve liked everything I’ve seen from the new coach, and I like Roethlisberger a lot and I think he’s ready for a bounce-back season, but I just can’t see myself putting the Steelers in the Super Bowl this year. So I couldn’t find anyone else to beat out New England. They’ve put together a super team. What we’ve seen from [head coach Brian] Belichick this year reminds me of what we saw from [Bill] Parcells the last year he was the coach of the Jets. Remember, he really loaded up as though he could tell, “this is my shot, I’m going to win it all this year.” He didn’t let any of his assistants go take other jobs, and he just acted as though “this is my year, we’re going to win it all this year and it’s going to be my last year.” I think that was his mind set, and of course, in the second quarter of the first game of the season, he lost his quarterback and that was the end of that. But I sort of get that same sense from Belichick. I feel like they are loading up. This is the year, and I just can’t find anyone who is going to beat them in the AFC.
On the NFC: In the AFC, I said I wanted to force myself to pick a surprise. In the NFC, I just couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t find a surprise to pick. … What I like is, if you look at all the NFC teams, the reason it is so jumbled is, look at how many of them are dependent upon young quarterbacks. How good is Dallas going to be? Depends on the quarterback. How good is Chicago going to be? Depends on the young quarterback, about whom you have questions. Look for the teams that have veteran quarterbacks in the NFC: to me, I think, ultimately, that could make a difference. … As I looked at my six playoff teams in the NFC, I said, “How do I separate between them?” because all of them, fundamentally one way or another, are flawed. What I decided to do was this: I’m going to eliminate the ones with young, inexperienced, or questionable quarterback situations, so I took out Dallas, the Bears, and San Francisco. I like [San Francisco quarterback] Alex Smith; I think he’s going to be a big-time quarterback. I like [Dallas quarterback] Tony Romo; I think he has a chance to be really good. To me, the jury is very much out on [Chicago’s] Rex Grossman. One way or another, I’m not going to link my wagon to those quarterbacks. That leaves me with New Orleans, Seattle, and Philadelphia. I think there are too many questions about [Philadelphia quarterback Donovan] McNabb and his knee staying healthy; they have a lot of other questions on that football team. Seattle, I’m just not nearly as confident as I am in the rest. And so, in what will probably be a popular pick, and probably because it will be popular I wanted to stay away from it - but again, process of elimination I just couldn’t find anyone else I liked better - I will take the New Orleans Saints in what would be an incredible two year turnaround and a terrific story.
On the Super Bowl: I’ve got New England playing New Orleans, and I will place the ultimate kibosh, the ultimate jinx, and just make the ultimate pick. Look, I can’t go any other way. You can’t take a team that already might have been the best in the sport, give them the best off-season of any team in the sport, and they already have the best coach, and I think they’re going to win. There are probably six or seven teams that could win the Super Bowl this year and it wouldn’t stun you, but if I have to pick the one I think is most likely, I’ll take the New England Patriots to continue what absolutely is a dynastic run and win their fourth Super Bowl in the Belichick era. I will take New England to beat the Saints in the Super Bowl.
