Daily Blog • Sunday, January 8th

 

NFL WILD CARD PLAYOFFS: 2-0 YESTERDAY!
136-74 65% REGULAR SEASON

NFC WILDCARD
SUNDAY JANUARY 8TH
1:00 PM ET FOX

ATLANTA (10-6) VS NY GIANTS (9-7)
Rushing
Passing
Points
TO’s
ST
A.O.R
ATLANTA 110
265
23
1.6
#19
98.2
NY GIANTS
91
295
30
1.8
#23
99.5

These teams haven't met since mid-2009 w/the Giants winning 34-31 in OT. The Giants went 4-4 at home TY w/a +30 yd edge (+3 TO's) for a 23.3-23.1 avg score. ATL went 4-4 on the road w/a +47 ypg differential (+1 TO's) getting outscored 23-20. ATL went 2-3 vs the common foes of PHI, SEA, GB, and NO getting outgained by 28 ypg (+2 TO's) and outscored 31-24 on avg. The Giants earned a 1-4 record w/a -46 ypg margin (-1 TO's) and was outscored 31-25 on avg. Over the last four weeks, the Giants have the #8 and #16 units (+3 TO's) vs a good Dallas offense, a tougher than advertised Washington team and a physical Jets defense. Atlanta has the #4 and #17 units (+9 TO's) but has faced a weak Carolina def, a depleted Jacksonville team, was hammered by New Orleans and beat a Tampa Bay team that quit at Thanksgiving. We now have a dome team in cold weather vs a Giants team playing with confidence with a brutal DL and home crowd. I'm going with the more physical team at home here.

PHIL’S FORECAST: NY GIANTS 27 ATLANTA 20

 

AFC WILDCARD
SUNDAY JANUARY 8TH
4:30 PM ET CBS

PITTSBURGH (12-4) VS DENVER (8-8)
Rushing
Passing
Points
TO’s
ST
A.O.R
PITTSBURGH 129
208
21
1.2
#12
97.5
DENVER
170
81
11
3.3
#15
99.2

The last meeting was in 2009 when PIT beat DEN 28-10. This is also the 1st playoff game for DEN since PIT beat them 34-17 back in '05. The Steelers have gone 5-3 on the road TY despite being +62 yds (4th best) due to a -11 TO mark. DEN has been outgained by 39 ypg at home (28th) and are -10 TO's for a 3-5 record. PIT beat Fox's Panthers 27-3 LY. DEN has struggled vs winning teams TY going 1-4 being outgained by 82 ypg (29th) with -11 TO's losing 35-19. PIT has outgained their winning foes by 62 ypg (3rd best) but -12 TO's have them 4-4. PIT has a massive edge in postseason experience with most of LY's team that made it to the SB still on the roster. For all the excitement that Tebow has brought to the Bronco's he's clearly their biggest weakness. DEN has been held to under 20 pts in 8 of his starts and by keeping him in the pocket he can be controlled. He now matches up vs a PIT defense that is allowing 258 ypg and 8 ppg since its bye week. In losing Mendenhall with a beat up OL (again) the Steelers will be challenged to go downfield more in a hostile venue. With Roethlisberger not having as much mobility to extend plays and Dick LeBeau having a disciplined, aggressive unit to contain Tebow look for a lower scoring game with the Steelers coming out on top.

PHIL’S FORECAST: PITTSBURGH 20 DENVER 13

 

GODADDY.COM BOWL
Sunday, January 8th @ 9:00 p.m.
Click on the bowl logo for MORE info!!!!

ARKANSAS ST (10-2) VS NORTHERN ILLINOIS (10-3)
Rushing
Passing
Points
TO’s
ST
A.O.R
ARKANSAS ST 145
323
35
2.0
••
91.3
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
196
213
30
2.7
-
86.6
This bowl got the matchup they wanted with the MAC Champ vs the SBC Champ. What a job HC Freeze did in his 1st ssn as ASU went unbeaten in conf play and has its best record since joining the FBS. Their only two losses were at Ill and VT, but they played well in both finishing the reg ssn 10-2. Freeze was named HC at Ole Miss, leaving ASU with a skeleton coaching crew for this gm. RB coach David Gunn was promoted to interim HC, while ASU reached out to alumni to fill their coord needs. ASU lost in their lone bowl appearance (New Orleans in ‘05) vs Southern Miss, 31-19. NI leads the all-time series 6-1 incl a 31-30 win in the last meeting in ‘96. NI is playing in its 7th all-time bowl (3-3). While they are in their 4th straight bowl, their will be led by their 3rd different HC in the bowls as Jerry Kill, who went 0-2, left prior to LY’s bowl and then LB Cch Matukewicz led them to a 40-17 blowout of Fresno St in the Humanitarian Bowl. This will be new HC Doeren’s 1st bowl as a HC but he did see a few as the DC at Wisky. The Huskies trailed Ohio 20-0 at half in the MAC Championship game but after losing their 2 previous MAC Champ gms in the final minute, kicked the GW FG as time expired to win 23-20. NI went 3-1 vs bowl teams. NI finished #10 in the NCAA in offense and my rankings have them a bit lower at #25. They certainly are capable of lighting up the scoreboard having reached 40+ pts 9x’s TY. ASU has topped 500 yds 4x’s this year. Both offenses prefer up tempo action and on avg they’re combining for 148 plays a gm. Expect some points and I'll go with my computer here and take the Red Wolves to cap off one of their best seasons in school history.
PHIL’S FORECAST: ARKANSAS ST 37 NORTHERN ILLINOIS 34