Championship Sunday Preview

Championship Sunday is here, and I am getting ready to settle in to the last official "Football Sunday" of the year. The Super Bowl is for everyone else (Wives, Girlfriends, Moms, and Gamblers). The real NFL fan that is there for the Draft, Free Agency, Training Camp, Pre-Season, 17 Regular Season weeks, and the playoffs has to deal with the fact that there is only one last NFL Sunday left until September. You can't count the Super Bowl, it is not for the real die-hard NFL fan, so all we have left is Championship Sunday. A couple of thoughts about Championship Sunday: One, if your favorite team has made it this far, you are very lucky. To have your team play in a game every week of the season is awesome-there is no better feeling for a fan. Two, if your favorite team has made it this far, you want them to play in the second or late game on Sunday. If your team plays in the early game and they lose, then you are miserable and can't even watch the second game without being utterly depressed. Simply, it sucks. Denver lost to Pittsburgh in the 2005 AFC Title Game, and it completely turned me off to the NFC game. I couldn't even watch the Seahawks beat the Panthers because I kept replaying the Denver game over and over. Finally, the odds show that one of the two home teams will lose. You usually get one road team to win and one good game out of the two. In 2007, the Giants won in Green Bay. In '05, the Steelers won in Mile High. In '04, the Pats won in Pitt. In'03, Carolina won in Philly, In '02, the Bucs closed down the Vet. Also, I was thinking about some of the most memorable Championship Sunday moments or games. I think the best Championship Sunday of recent time was 1998. You had the top four teams in each conference going at it. Denver was 14-2 and hosting the 12-4 Jets. Minnesota was 15-1 and hosting the 14-2 Falcons. The Atlanta-Minnesota was an instant classic, with the Falcons pulling off the upset 30-27 in overtime. The Denver-Jet game was a war, with Denver climbing back from a 10-0 3rd quarter defecit to win 23-10 in John Elway's last game ever at Mile High Stadium. I would say if I had to rank the last 10 years of Championship Sundays, here is my list: 1) 1998 (See Above) 2) 2001 (Pats over Pitt/Rams over Philly) 3) 2007 (Giants over Packers/Pats over SD) 4) 2002 (TB over Philly/Raiders over Titans) 5) 2006 (Colts over Pats/Bears over Saints) 6) 2003 (Pats over Colts/Panthers over Philly) 7) 1999 (Titans over Jags/Rams over Bucs) 8) 2000 (Ravens over Raiders/Giants over Vikings) 9) 2004 (Pats over Pitt/Philly over Atlanta) 10) 2005 (Pitt over Denver/Seattle over Carolina). Let's hope we get two great games this Sunday. Without further ado......

Last week: 1-3
Overall Playoff Record: 4-4

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Philadelphia at Arizona- The Cardinals run in the playoffs has proven that is doesn't matter what your record is, you just have to get in the playoffs and anything can happen. The Cards are defying odds, and there are a lot of reasons to like them this week. One, Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald are pretty damn good. Two, their defense is playing lights out. Three, the Cards are just really good playing at home. Four, they have the "Nobody Thinks We're Good" mentality going into this game. Five, that 48-20 loss to the Eagles on Thanksgiving means squat right now, but everyone is going to point to that game. Lastly, everyone loves the Eagles this week. With all that said, I can't pick the Cardinals. I just can't do it. The Arizona Cardinals are a nice story this year, but they just aren't supposed to go to a Super Bowl. Nobody wants to see them get there. I just can't pick them. I'm going with the McNabb-Reid Karma. Maybe it is their time. I'm going with Westbrook and Dawkins and the Philly playoff beards. I'll ride with Jim Johnson dialing up blitzes to knock around Kurt Warner. I going with Eagles using the Phillies World Series Karma. I'll take the Eagles (-3) over Arizona. FINAL SCORE: Philly-24 Arizona-20

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Baltimore at Pittsburgh- This is a classic steel cage match for the AFC Title. I love this matchup. I think the Steelers get to Joe Flacco and wreak havoc. I also think the Ravens get to Big Ben and create chaos. I could see the Ravens winning a 13-6 game, but I can also see the Steelers pulling away in the 4th quarter. This game will be close for at least three quarters. I think Big Ben and the Steeler offense makes just enough plays to close out the Ravens for a third time this season. The Steelers go for a record 6th Super Bowl win. I'm going with Pittsburgh (-5) over Baltimore. FINAL SCORE: Steelers-23 Baltimore-10