NFL Playoff Prediction - Wildcard Weekend

Who's going to win the Super Bowl? I have no idea, and you know what? Neither does anyone else. Media members, NFL "experts", fans, it's all a guess.

With football being "one and done" and not a series like other sports, a lot of it comes down to who's healthy, who comes to play that day and what calls go their way.

Yes, you can make an educated guess that such and such team will win (better regular season record, home team, better QB, defense, etc), but with the margin of error small, it's a crap shoot. And anyone that tries to convince you otherwise is delusional.

Here's my guess about what will happen in the wild card games. I have a 50% chance of being right, so place your bets accordingly:

1) Cincinnati at Houston - AFC, 6 seed versus 3 seed - Houston's at home in their first playoff appearance as the Texans, but the Bengals are the healthier team. Bengals 21, Texans 17

2) Detroit at New Orleans - NFC, 6 seed versus 3 seed - Offensive shootout. I like the Saints at home with the difference being the head coaches. I like Sean Payton over Jim Schwartz. Saints 40, Lions 31

3) Atlanta at NY Giants - NFC, 5 seed versus 4 seed - I like the Falcons here. Matt Ryan steps up and has a big game and so does the the Falcons running game. Giants have been up and down all year and this week they're down after their emotional win against the Cowboys last weekend to make playoffs. Falcons 28, Giants 21

4) Pittsburgh at Denver - AFC, 5 seed versus 4 seed - At this point, everyone's followed the whole Tebow story. Denver's going to struggle scoring points we know that. Pittsburghs beaten up with Roethlisberger's high ankle sprain and Mendenhall being out with the torn ACL. Close, low scoring game, this won't be a blowout. Steelers 14, Broncos 9.

Those are my Stone Cold Lead Pipe Locks. I'm sure I'll be right, after all, I'm a fan.

Bill