Football Picks [Bound To Go Wrong]
by Chris Clement

33-46. Nothing exciting. Last week? 2-2. Nothing exciting. 35-48. Well, you get the point. What I don't get is why I can never eclipse the .500 mark in the playoffs? Perhaps it's my inability to target key weaknesses, nagging injuries, or my lackadaisical approach to these picks? Either way, why stop the fun now? Let's roll!

NFC Championship Game
New Orleans @ Chicago [-2.5]
Just about everyone and their mother is jumping all over this spread and taking the Saints to win big. Slow that roll. As poor as Chicago's defense has looked in recent weeks, they will be at home and riding a rabid home crowd. This is a Saints team who has just a little experience in these games as Grossman and company do. Remember, Brees was 0-1 in the playoffs (love mentioning that Jets upset two years back) before this season. Joe Horn should be back, as of Thursday, and that is a huge boost for this big-play offense. In the end, Grossman will probably have to make the 3-4 throws he made last week for the Bears to contend in this game. While I wouldn't mind seeing Da Bears return to the Super Bowl, the Saints will make their first trip to the ultimate game with a convincing victory. They've put up 30 on the road in 6 of 8 games. Make it 7. New Orleans keeps the dream alive, perhaps ala Rams 99, and heads to Super Bowl XLI.
Pick: New Orleans [outright]

AFC Championship Game
New England @ Indianapolis [-2.5]
I would've bet everything I owned that the Pats would've won last week. Although I wouldn't have thought it would be primarily be due to the Chargers choking the game away (idiotic penalties, McCree's fumble, and Parker's sucktitude). LT didn't get enough screens and Gates was all but forgotten. Mike Vrabel isn't that good, folks. Ironically enough, for once, the Colts have went under the playoff radar thus far. Yet, despite Peyton's average play, the defense has rallied behind Bob Sanders (and a few other names, such as Rob Morris) to vault the Colts into their first home AFC Championship Game. This won't faze Brady and Bill though. What might though is a healthy Freeney, a roaming Sanders, and two wideouts trying to prove something in the playoffs (Harrison & Wayne...not Gaffney & Caldwell). While I never make any cash picking against the Pats, the Colts will win the game. Vinatieri's kicks usually are with a tied game, so 3 sounds safe for the cover. It would be all too storybook if Gostowski ended up having to hit a game-winner in the 40s, which he (not the incredible overrated Nate Karding) could easily do. Peyton doesn't want to be a newer version of Marino. He'd settle for far less accolades, which he'll get anyways, if he could get a real shot at that ring. If the Colts can't do it this year...well, we've said it and heard it before. Peyton finally conquers his white whale. Indianapolis reaches it's first Super Bowl, not of the Baltimore-variety of course. Mark it down folks, Colts/Saints. Let the points-line begin climbing!
Pick: Indianapolis [cover]

So this means one of these teams is in...and one is out. If you check my picks, that is. Either way, I'll be hating on the Pats and oddly pulling for both teams in the NFC.

Until next time...