The commentators have all begun to comment on the upcoming playoff games and the teams involved. And it seems to be a consistent theme that, even though the Packers are a 6th seed and didn’t make the cut until late on the final week of the season, no one wants to play them and they could go all the way.
Peter King has prepared quickie videos featuring his brief summaries of each team. I listen to him, and I hear a lot of love for the Packers.
Meanwhile, his colleague at Sports Illustrated, Don Banks, has ranked all 12 playoff teams. He puts Green Bay in the middle (#6), but the Falcons and Saints are the only NFC teams he ranks ahead of us. Also, he likes our chances this weekend against the Eagles:
Aaron Rodgers needs to win a playoff game to fully take his place among the game's top five quarterbacks and get the credit he's due. But the pressure of Green Bay having to win out to reach the playoffs should serve him well, because it has put him in postseason mode these past two weeks and prepared him for the big-stage games to come this month. The best news for the Packers is the way their defense has come on and started to dominate of late. They can rush the passer and they can play the pass, and that's the formula for winning playoff defense. I'm on record saying the Eagles are in trouble this Sunday in Philly.
Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/don_banks/01/05/nfl-playoff-power-rankings/index.html#ixzz1AE54p9zF
Elsewhere, at NFL.com, they offer a chart of the standings going into the playoffs. If you click on each team, you can read a quick summary of where they’re at, how they got there, and what their prospects are. Remarkably, in 3 of the 6 NFC team blurbs, the Packers are referenced.
On the other hand, the power rankings at ESPN.com are much less favorable. They put both the Eagles and Bears ahead of the Pack -- a fascinating decision since we played both teams head-to-head this season, besting the Eagles and splitting with the Bears. A slight majority of the experts at CBS Sports are also favoring the Eagles this Sunday. And Steve Wyche at NFL.com also gives a slight edge to Philly (though I think his technique is highly arbitrary and badly flawed).
In the end, of course, all this speculation is just for the amusement and distraction of frustrated fans like me who can hardly stand the wait between weekends! (It’s too bad I don’t like the NBA or MLB more, since they have games on constantly throughout the week during their respective seasons.)
The sports pundits are, in a sense, even less informed than the political pundits are on their TV and radio shows. The latter at least have the advantage of actual polling data to help handicap an upcoming contest. But there is nothing about what will happen on the field Sunday afternoon that the sports writers and broadcasters can see in advance. All that any of us can do is look back at what has happened in the past, and then project from there.
And as I look back over the past month of football, I would say that Green Bay is playing better than Philadelphia. And that’s good enough to give me a lot of hope going into Sunday.
By the way, here is a very helpful, concise summary of this year's playoff schedule.
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