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Oklahoma has better team stats and their only losses this season are to Houston (twice) and Memphis. Congratulations to Honolulu for winning their division but I feel they will need the RNG Gods to smile on them tonight for a chance at the upset. _________________________________________________________________________________
Last Playoff AppearanceHouston 2005 Portland 2005 Playoff Records:Houston 42-15 (9-0 World Bowl) Portland 31-21 (4-3 World Bowl)
Head to Head: Houston is 5-4 vs Portland in the post season. Houston beat Portland 22-19 in OT Week 1 of this season.
Injuries:Houston 5 probable Portland 5 probable
Prediction:Houston 34 Portland 20
Usually I rubber stamp picking Houston most playoff games because they are 42-15 in the post season, and I am picking them now. If they do move on, we'll see how my predictions go, but for this game I'm picking Houston because their offense has been on a roll the last 5 weeks, averaging about 39 points a game. For Portland to win, (they're favored???) they need to keep the score low because they only have 4 games where they scored 28 or more. Houston's defense has their worst ranking in quite some time but I don't think Portland's offense can take full advantage while also playing good enough defense to hold Houston to around 20. ____________________________________________________________________________
Head to Head: This is the first post season game between these division rivals. Michigan swept Cleveland this season, winning 46-0 Week 6 and 37-21 Week 9.
Quite often when division rivals meet in the post season, I average the scores of their 2 games for my predicted score and that's what I did here, and what I'll do when I get to my game against Philadelphia. The combined scores this season were 83-21 Michigan so I rounded up to get 42-11.
This game is probably the most evenly matched of the 6 wildcard games and both teams have impressive resumes. New Orleans losses are to Birmingham, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia while Orlando lost to Philadelphia, Oklahoma, and New Orleans. That's probably why I picked New Orleans but this looks like a true coin flip game. ________________________________________________________________________________
New Jersey Generals (12-4) @ Philadelphia Bell (14-2)
Last Playoff Appearance:New Jersey 2005 Philadelphia 2005 Playoff Records:New Jersey 42-24 (4-6 World Bowl) Philadelphia 4-9 (0-1 World Bowl)
Head to Head: New Jersey is 2-1 vs Philadelphia in the post season. Philadelphia swept New Jersey, winning 37-10 Week 2 and 49-10 Week 5.
Injuries:New Jersey 5 probable, 2 questionable Philadelphia 1 probable, 3 questionable
Prediction:Philadelphia 43 New Jersey 10
The combined scores this season in the 2 games between these teams was 86-20 Philadelphia, so half is 43-10. I'd love to pull the upset but I don't see it happening. My Generals seem to have hit a plateau where they beat the teams they're "supposed to" but as soon as they play a tough team, they wilt. It's been happening the last few seasons, and to make it worse, we weren't competitive in either game against the Bell. I don't see that changing tonight. _________________________________________________________________________
New York (NY) Stars (10-6) @ Pittsburgh Maulers (15-1)
Last Playoff Appearance:New York 1999 Pittsburgh 2005 Playoff Records:New York 5-9 Pittsburgh 17-14 (1-1 World Bowl)
Head to Head: Pittsburgh is 1-0 vs New York in the post season. Pittsburgh beat New York 24-9 Week 16 of 2005.
Injuries:New York 6 probable Pittsburgh 1 probable
Prediction:Pittsburgh 38 New York 17
New York has a tough task in their first playoff game this century, going against the team that mauled their first 15 opponents before finally losing to 14-1 Birmingham last week. If Brian White throws another 5 INTs like last week, New York could pull the upset, especially if Jamie Orman is on fire. Orman had a few games this season with very high completion percentages and if he can keep the Pittsburgh offense off the field...then they have a chance. I figure Pittsburgh will bounce back though and make it to the Divisional Round.
We (New York) have only beat 1 team with a winning record all season. That was the upset over Philly which was a division game and the second time around. There is no hype train in New York as we know who we are atm. We are showing some signs of improving but have a ways to go.
We have 3 shutouts with oddly enough the same scores of 20-0. Also we either win or we lose big. prolly a product of having to swing for the fences against teams that aren't struggling. It's good to make the playoffs though. This game we have to bring the biggest bat we have in the dugout and swing for the fence.
Houston is the defending Champs so I will do my best to defend the Title but my defense is suspect!
The only thing my defense leads the league in is missed tackles!
As a team we have 256 missed tackles which works put to 16 freaking missed tackles a game.
It is entirely my own fault for neglecting to find defensive talent early in the draft or free agency and instead using late round picks with questionable abilities on defense.
I may not be around long in the postseason let alone repeat but I'm proud of my current playoff streak of 25 straight seasons making the postseason. I can only claim 23 of the 25 myself as first Setherick then Offensivetaco had 1 year each before I took ownership.
Good luck to my opponent and everyone in the postseason and let's hope we all get the best RNG we can!
Last Playoff Appearance:Houston 2005 Memphis 2004 Playoff Records:Houston 43-15 (9-0 World Bowl) Memphis 30-16 (5-0 World Bowl)
Head to Head: Houston and Memphis have split 6 post season games. They also split during this regular season as Houston won Week 2 45-17 while Memphis won 22-10 in Week 8.
This game is a coin flip game imo. Houston blew out Memphis Week 2 but the Showboats didn't have a punter that game, leading to the lopsided score. Once Memphis fixed that issue, they only lost once the rest of the season, including a 22-10 win over these Gamblers. I'm surprised the Showboats still have so many injuries after a week off but that's what depth is for. Houston is certainly capable of beating Memphis and I would not be surprised at all if they do win, but I can only pick one team. __________________________________________________________________________________
Another game picked based on gut feeling. Seems to me Raymond Settles isn't playing his best football for Oklahoma and I think he might throw a couple of INTs to turn the tide of the game. Just like Houston/Memphis, I can see either team winning this game but I can only pick one. _______________________________________________________________________________
All 4 divisional round games are coin flip games and the TV audiences should be HUGE. Again I can only pick one team and Birmingham has been a beast team this year. They have beat every team they have faced, as they split with New Orleans for their lone L. They did not face Orlando, and the Renegades have an explosive offense of their own, but I feel Dwayne Byrd is more likely to have a bad game than Russell Gall, therefore I pick the Stallions. ____________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Bell (15-2) @ Pittsburgh Maulers (16-1)
Just to be different, all I know about this game is a team from Pennsylvania will be in the World Bowl. Which one? You guessed it, flip a coin. I kind of want to see a rematch of Week 16 Pitt/Birmingham, but whichever teams win, the Conference Finals will be awesome.
Playoff Records:Oklahoma 15-13 (1-1 World Bowl) Memphis 31-16 (5-0 World Bowl)
Head to Head: Oklahoma is 3-2 vs Memphis in the post season. Oklahoma beat Memphis Week 1 of this season 53-16 while Memphis won the Week 11 rematch 17-3.
Both teams are pretty evenly matched and I could see a 35-34 type game or a 6-3 slugfest. I lean more toward a low scoring defensive battle with Oklahoma winning. It feels like this would be an upset but the Outlaws are favored. _________________________________________________________________________________
Playoff Records:Pittsburgh 19-14 (1-1 World Bowl) Birmingham 6-13 (0-1 World Bowl)
Head to Head: This is the first post season games between these teams. Birmingham beat Pittsburgh 30-17 in Week 16 to earn the right to host this game.
When Birmingham won in Week 16, they were aided by 7 turnovers with a margin of +5. I think this time Pittsburgh and Brian White cut down those turnovers and win on a late Brian White TD pass to Patrick Howard.
