This might be my favorite weekend of the football season. The Patriots are sitting at home getting a much-needed bye week (but still keeping their intensity at 10) and we the Pats fans can just sit back and enjoy some great playoff football without the heart palpitations.
Next week our butts will be on the line Saturday night against the lowest remaining AFC seed, but who do we want to win this weekend?
First, a disclaimer — I’m all about history. Wins over teams the Pats don’t have history with mean less to me and when Belichick and Brady are done I’d like it to all wrap up into a nice neat little package. Fortunately for us, there aren’t many teams the Patriots still owe.
Really, I thought 2011 would be an almost too perfect playoff run had they finished things off. They got revenge on the two teams that had ended their seasons in 2005 and 2009 (Denver and Baltimore) and had a chance to avenge the horribleness of Super Bowl 42 only to lose to Eli Manning and the Giants in similar fashion.
Yes, they still owe the Giants, but we’ll get to that. Here’s who I want to win, not necessarily who I think will win.
Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans – Saturday, 4:35pm EST, ESPN
There’s a good chance the Pats will face the winner of this game, and while Houston is the slight favorite (-3.5), it’s Oakland that I’m rooting for. Nothing against Bill O’Brien and all the other former Patriots that litter his staff and team, really it’s more of a favor to them because I just don’t have the heart to want to end all of their seasons back in Foxborough. I’m sure Belichick would have no problem with it. He might even enjoy it more, watching them all trudge out of Gillette with their heads down.
As for the Raiders, I was sick about Derek Carr going down. Well, kinda. Mostly I just felt bad for their fans. Kinda. The Raiders are poised to be the next great AFC team once Carr is back and I think we can all agree the NFL is better when the Raiders are good. I still believe their defense is good enough for them to win in Houston and they’re the team I most want to see next Saturday. Why? It goes back to history and the symmetry to Brady’s first playoff run. This will be a developing rivalry, I’d like to get a jump on it now. Let’s remind them how far they have to go.
WANT: RAIDERS
Detroit Lions at Seattle Seahawks – Saturday 8:15pm EST, NBC
The Seahawks were the one team to beat the 2016 Tom Brady Patriots in the regular season and it took a 4th-down goal-line stop to do it. They’re my third choice for potential Super Bowl opponent and I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for their team since I was kid, despite the recent back-and-forth with the Pats. A re-match of Super Bowl 49 would certainly check the history box, but we won Super Bowl 49 so I’m not really gunning for Seattle that hard. Still, we kinda owe them for abusing our defense in Week 10, so I’d take it if it came.
PICK: SEAHAWKS
Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers – Sunday, 1:05pm EST, CBS
If the Steelers blow this one I’m going to be royally pissed, and they’re just the kind of team that would blow it. They always seem to play up or down to their competition. Miami already beat the Steelers 30-15 in October, albeit in Miami. Seeing the Dolphins for a third time doesn’t scare me all that much, though beating a team three times in a season can be difficult. But more importantly, I don’t want to make it easy on the Chiefs, whose fans already seem convinced they can roll into Foxboro and repeat 2014’s 44-14 blowout that happened at Arrowhead. And really, for history’s sake I’d prefer to see Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship anyway. They better not blow it to Matt Moore.
Pick: STEELERS
New York Giants at Green Bay Packers – Sunday, 4:40pm EST, FOX
Ah the most exciting football matchup of the weekend featuring two of the three teams that have beaten the Patriots in the Super Bowl. As you might’ve guessed I want a third shot at the Giants. There’s simply no other team in the NFL that the Belichick/Brady Patriots owe more. I know it would be scary, but really what would losing another Super Bowl to Eli Manning really mean? We’ve done it twice, how much worse could a third time be? I’m willing to risk it. And really, shouldn’t Eli have a front row seat to see Tom Brady win more Super Bowls than any other QB ever, in spite of Manning’s two wins? Sorry for the GIF below, just a friendly reminder how much I still hate them more than Belichick hates sleeves and we owe them. More than anyone else.
PICK: GIANTS
Playoff Eli 1-and-done 4 times. Advanced past 1st round twice over entire career. Will ride 2 good 4 game stretches and some volume numbers into the HOF. Can join fellow NY hype machine overrated QB Joe Naemeth as two least deserving HOF QBs.