AFC SB Predictions (1 Viewer)

[Grid71]

My ranking of the teams:

TEN (Because they beat PIT head to head, they can definitely be beat if PIT learns from their mistakes in the game)

PIT (Don't deserve the #1 ranking - TEN earned it)

BAL Great D, Better O than given credit for

MIA Easy schedule, but developed well. More under rated than the Colts

IND Their best chance is to play inspired ball in all phases for their coach

SD Should have a better record after getting cheated out of some wins. End of year heater turns to a blown engine and won't whiff the divisional playoff round.

Predictions:

IND over SD (High scoring affair - big day from LT and Sproles but not big enough)

BAL over MIA (Ray Ray sends the wildcat formation back to college)

PIT over IND (Ben manages the game and the PIT D comes up big in win)

TEN over BAL (Will be a great heavy weight battle - ball control offense - have an ambulance on the sideline kind of game)

PIT over TEN (Schedule victim. Will be TOUGH for any team to beat BAL & PIT in back to back weeks. TEN will still be healing from BAL rumble.)

 

[Irish]

My guessIND beats SDMIA beats BALIND beats PITTEN beats MIATEN V IND this is a tough call I gotta go with TEN though.

If Miami beats Baltimore and Indy beats San Diego, then Miami would play in Pittsburgh and Indy would play in Tennessee.IF...and this in my mind is a huge if...Miami gets by Baltimore, I think they could give a (shaky?) Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh fits.

It's a toss up for me between PITT and MIA as the AFC weakest link. But it's the playoffs and anything could happen.

SD is the weakest link in the AFC. They have no defense and LT has groin issues. Colts will win easy with Peyton leading them on a lot TD drives.

 

[MDSkinner]

I think the colts are the most overrated team in AFC.They beat a bunch of weak teams at the end and barely beat others decent teams.Now they have to play every game on the road.I'll take the Titans.

In that run they beat 3 of the 6 teams in the AFC playoffs two of which were on the road (oddly, SD and Pitt...which may be their next two games). They also beat the 11-5 Pats in that time frame. I get the Titans pick and think it is solid, but to call the Colts overrated after what they have done 9 weeks seems pretty silly to me.

 

[Holland Freeze]

My guess

Indy at SD - SD

Baltimore at Miami - Baltimore

SD at PITTS - SD

Baltimore at Tennessee - Tenn

SD at Tenn - Tenn

I agree with everything except the last pick. I think if SD gets by Indy they will be able to pull one off against the Titans. Perhaps I am writing the Steelers off to easily but even if Ben is ready I think his play will be affected enough to allow an upset.

All reports are that is was a low grade concussion and Ben could be back in practice as early as today though they'll probably wait until next week since they have the bye. By that time I doubt his play will be affected much.To me the only thing keeping the Steelers from the Super Bowl will be turnovers. In the Steelers 4 losses this season they turned the ball over 15 times. In their 12 wins they only turned the ball over a total of 10 times.

If the Steelers lose it will be due to their offense coughing up the ball. Unfortunately, the best teams in the NFL in terms of turnover ratio are all in the AFC playoffs: Miami, Tennessee, Baltimore and Indy.

I've read since my last post that it was not that serious. I can see Ben back in time for the game but can also see a tenativeness on his part throwing his timing off or causing him to "flinch" causing some of those turnovers. I don't question the effectiveness of the Steeler D but like you realize that the Chargers best chance is stopping the Steeler offense which becomes much more likely if Big Ben is not having his best game.

 

[Black&Gold]

My ranking of the teams:TEN (Because they beat PIT head to head, they can definitely be beat if PIT learns from their mistakes in the game)PIT (Don't deserve the #1 ranking - TEN earned it)BAL Great D, Better O than given credit forMIA Easy schedule, but developed well. More under rated than the ColtsIND Their best chance is to play inspired ball in all phases for their coachSD Should have a better record after getting cheated out of some wins. End of year heater turns to a blown engine and won't whiff the divisional playoff round.Predictions:IND over SD (High scoring affair - big day from LT and Sproles but not big enough)BAL over MIA (Ray Ray sends the wildcat formation back to college)PIT over IND (Ben manages the game and the PIT D comes up big in win)TEN over BAL (Will be a great heavy weight battle - ball control offense - have an ambulance on the sideline kind of game)PIT over TEN (Schedule victim. Will be TOUGH for any team to beat BAL & PIT in back to back weeks. TEN will still be healing from BAL rumble.)

VERY I think TENN/PIT/BALT are a tier above the other three. As I said in a previous post, I'm glad the Ravens won't be coming into Pittsburgh in the Divisional Round. I'm hoping that the Ravens and Titans beat on each other enough to give the Steelers the edge in the Championship Round. There always could be an upset but I think the Steelers are going to the AFC championsip. After that, all bets are off.

 

[ravnzfan]

My ranking of the teams:

TEN (Because they beat PIT head to head, they can definitely be beat if PIT learns from their mistakes in the game)

PIT (Don't deserve the #1 ranking - TEN earned it)

BAL Great D, Better O than given credit for

MIA Easy schedule, but developed well. More under rated than the Colts

IND Their best chance is to play inspired ball in all phases for their coach

SD Should have a better record after getting cheated out of some wins. End of year heater turns to a blown engine and won't whiff the divisional playoff round.

Predictions:

IND over SD (High scoring affair - big day from LT and Sproles but not big enough)

BAL over MIA (Ray Ray sends the wildcat formation back to college)

PIT over IND (Ben manages the game and the PIT D comes up big in win)

TEN over BAL (Will be a great heavy weight battle - ball control offense - have an ambulance on the sideline kind of game)

PIT over TEN (Schedule victim. Will be TOUGH for any team to beat BAL & PIT in back to back weeks. TEN will still be healing from BAL rumble.)

VERY I think TENN/PIT/BALT are a tier above the other three. As I said in a previous post, I'm glad the Ravens won't be coming into Pittsburgh in the Divisional Round. I'm hoping that the Ravens and Titans beat on each other enough to give the Steelers the edge in the Championship Round. There always could be an upset but I think the Steelers are going to the AFC championsip. After that, all bets are off.

we'll 2nd that the 2 Wild Card's are better teams than the Division teams they are playing, but will find it awfully tough to go into Tenn/Pitts and grab a 2nd straight road W

IF Kerry Collins gets KO'd early in the game, it'll be interesting how Vince handles being thrown to the wolves in Purple....THAT would be the only senario I could see the Ravens advancing to the confrence final in, and might well be worth the road trip!

 

[(unwelcomed)GUEST]

There have been some interesting posts in this thread, the very large majority of posters demonstrate the football knowledge that this forum possesses. The "match-up" discussion is what I like. As the AFC playoff picture solidified, most left the Chargers out of the equation - at least I did. I really don't know how they fit in. We've seen the Ravens face: Pittsburgh twice (early and late in the season); the Colts, Titans and Dolphins (early in the season). The Colts have played the Titans twice (not sure what we can take from week 17 though); the Steelers; the Ravens; and the Chargers. The Titans have played all but the Dolphins and the Chargers.

From those games we know that the Colts match-up well against the Ravens, they will be prohibited favorites against Baltimore if they face each other. The Ravens match-up well against Miami, Pittsburgh and Tennessee. I'm a Ravens fan and saw them outplay both Pitt and Tenn for three quarters ealy in the season. Very questionable officiating calls helped make the difference in the Ravens-Titans game and both Steeler-Ravens games. Tennessee matches up well against Pittsburgh and Indy, not so well against Baltimore. San Diego has shown that they match-up well with Indy, but the Chargers have some serious injury ??? that could diminish any advantage that they possess. I think Miami probably matches up best with the Chargers, but I'm not sure that they can beat any of the AFC playoff contenders.

IMHO:

Baltimore

Ravens matchup well with Miami. OC Cameron knows the personnel on both sides of the ball for Miami. Baltimore's defensive weakness is the banged up secondary, Miami doesn't have the personnel to take advantage of this. Baltimore should be able to shut down the Miami rushing attack, minimize the TE and put pressure on Pennington. Baltimore's Oline should have a push allowing Bmore to have success running the ball. The Ravens have an advantage over any team that's offense is predicated on running the ball. They have trouble with teams that are adept at passing. The only exceptions this year have been against the Giants, where they were physically dominated in the rushing game, and against the Eagles, where HC Harbaugh's knowledge of Reid's WC offense made a huge difference in shutting down the passing game.

Advantageous matchups: Pitts, Tenn, Miami

Disadvantageous matchups: Indy (if they meet, this game would be played inside at Indy)

Unknown: SD

Pittsburgh

The Steelers match-up much better against prolific passing teams than do the Ravens. They do not shut down the run quite as well as Baltimore, nor do they run as well. Offensively they do a better job moving the ball through the air.

Advantageous matchups: Indy, Miami, SD (this game would be played in Pitts)

Less advantageous matchups: Balt, Tenn

Tennessee

The Titans have a poor passing attack, the worst of any AFC playoff team. They play well on both sides of the ball defensively and have a very good pass D. The dominant running game doesn't matchup well against Baltimore or Pittsburgh.

Advantageous matchups: Miami, Indy, SD

Disadvantageous matchups: Balt, Pitt

Indianapolis

The Colts have Peyton Manning! When healthy, they have a speedy, attacking defense. The often injured Sanders needs to play to keep this D strong. They run the ball well if the passing game is working and have demonstrated an ineffectiveness or inconsistency in this aspect of their offense. The pedestrian rushing attack could be this team's achilles heel outdoors in their playoff run.

Advantageous match-ups: Balt

Disadvantageous match-ups: Miami, Pitt, Tenn, SD (depending on their health)

Miami

Miami has feasted on weak competition. Balt, Pitt & Tenn will not allow the rushing attack to succeed and throw a huge monkey wrench in the play-action passing attack. I don't think Miami will produce enough points against either of these three teams to win. I also don't think that Miami will be able to shut down Balt or Tenn's rushing attack. Miami should be able to run the ball effectively against both Indy and SD allowing their play-action passing game to work.

Advantageous match-ups: Indy, SD

Disadvantageous match-ups: Balt, Pitt, Tenn

San Diego

The Chargers have a great passing attack when they can get it on track and a poor defense. The rushing attack has been more down than up this year. They won't face any weak D's in the playoffs, they will struggle. They match-up best against the Colts, whom they play at home.

Advantageous match-ups: Indy, Balt

Disadvantageous match-ups: Pitts, Tenn