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The NFL has finally found a way to stop the New England Patirots!  Injure their star future hall of fame quarterback and have him be replaced with a guy who hasn’t started since high school.  The New England Patriots are playing valiantly in absence of Tom Brady, and if they some how make the playoffs this year it should be considered almost as good as winning a Super Bowl.  The defense is old, and finally looking that way, and for the first time in years they just seem entirely out of ball games from the opening whistle.  This wasn’t more evident then in San Diego last week when they lost 30-10, and it wasn’t even really that close.  However, the coaching staff of the Patriots has a way to turn things around in a hurry, and playing at home against the Broncos on Monday night you have to assume they will find a way to stay in the game.

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The Pittsburgh Steelers moved to 3-1 with a 23-20 overtime victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night football this week.  The win was a much needed one, as the previous week they were beat in every category possible against the Philadelphia Eagles a week before, a game which saw QB Ben Rothlisberger get sacked eight times, and the offense unable to score a touchdown.  The offense still didn’t look great against the Ravens, but the Steelers proved their resiliency by bouncing back for a close game in this one.  However, they will face even more problems heading into this game as they have now lost three running backs to injury.  Mewelde Moore, who had a grand total of one carry their first three games, and has been used as primarily as  3rd down back for his career, is now the only healthy running back they have that has been on their team the entire season.  If the offense was struggling now, they will have a lot to overcome as they face the Jaguars this coming Sunday.

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The Jacksonville Jaguars advanced to the divisional playoffs with a 31-29 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pittsburgh. As a reward, after such a hard fought battle, they get to take on the undefeated, and rested, New England Patriots. While the New England Patriots have looked beatable the majority of the last part of the year, they have continued to find ways to win, and are still the overwhelming odds on favorite of sweeping the post season and holding up the Lombardi trophy the first Sunday in February.

Jaguars quarterback David Garrard managed to get through the entire regular season throwing just three interceptions, but he nearly matched his total with two in the victory of the Steelers. He finished that game just 9 for 20 with 140 yards passing and a touchdown. It was the play of running backs Fred Taylor, and Maurice Jones-Drew who ultimately led them over the hurdle, combining for three touchdowns. It is Taylor who has been shunned by Pro Bowl voters every year he’s been in the league, but it was the play of the young Jones-Drew, with two touchdowns, that was the deciding factor overall. A successful duo of two high quality running backs is always a good thing, never a bad thing, when trying to run deep into the playoffs. If there has been one knock on the Patriots is that they have struggled against the run a bit. At least, struggled as much as a team who has won every game they’ve played. Jacksonville is also expected to be every bit as physical at the Patriots, a fact they tack pride of.

The New England Patriots got a week of rest to enjoy their body of work, which included multiple records set by the duo of Tom Brady and Randy Moss. To give an example of the dominance the Patriots had this year they scored 589 points this year. The next closest team in their division scored 268. On defense they gave up 274 points. The next closest in their division gave up 354. However, as mentioned, the last few weeks of the season weren’t a cakewalk for the Patriots. Even in the final game of the year the Pats needed a second half comeback to defeat the New York Giants 38-35 in a game of the year candidate that ultimately have very little effect on the regular season, other then the fact the Giants were trying to end the undefeated streak. If Giants fans have their way, they’ll be seeing each other again in February.

As odds on favorite it’s no surprise when I pick the Patriots to win this game. I am not sure Garrard has enough big game experience to lead his troops against the defense of the Patriots. I think defensively they can keep it close, but as the game wears on I think the Patriots will take a steady lead, eventually winning by nearly three touchdowns.

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Despite Jacksonville having a better record, and maybe even playing the better football, they will have the task of going to Pittsburgh to try to knock off the Steelers in the opening round of the playoffs. Both teams are also coming into this game with a loss, but it should also be noted that winning this game didn’t do anything for either team in terms of playoff positioning, so each team sat most of their star players against their respective opponents. For what it’s worth, neither of their opponents made the playoffs.

What may be of some concern for the Steelers, not even taking the final game into account, is the way they closed the year. Altogether they dropped three of four, including a 29-22 loss to Jacksonville in week 15. The Steelers had a hard time beating other playoff teams this year, but it hasn’t been because of the play of their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. “Big Ben” has a quarterback rating of 104.1, better than his rating during his Super Bowl victory year. He’s thrown for 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. A loss that they will no doubt feel in the playoffs is the loss of Willie Parker. At the time of his injury he was at the top of the league is rushing yards. Najeh Davenport has filled in, averaging an impressive five yards a carry, but he doesn’t have the same breakaway speed Parker has.

Jacksonville won it’s final three games in a row, not including the finale. They are led at the quarterback position by nearly mistake free David Garrard. While Garrard isn’t overpowering at his position, he only threw an amazing three interceptions on 325 passes this year, including 18 touchdowns. The Jaguars also have a running back who should be an All-Pro this year, Fred Taylor. Taylor has never made a Pro Bowl, despite rushing for over 10,000 career yards, including 1202 this season. They also have a nice second option in Maurice Jones-Drew, who scored nine times.

This is a tough choice because of Pittsburgh historically playing so well at home, including a 7-1 record this year, with its lone loss coming to the Patriots. As noted though, the Jaguars come in the hotter team. I think Pittsburgh finds away to win this, as I don’t think Jacksonville is quite experienced enough to travel on the road in win in such a hostile environment. My pick is Pittsburgh 28, Jacksonville 17.

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In an important AFC game a battle of 9-4 games, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Pittsburgh Steelers will attempt to jockey themselves into a better playoff position. But, these teams are heading in different directions.

The Steelers played the New England Patriots well for a half, but were then outscored 17-0 in the second half, blowing the game completely open. Another negative thing that came out of that game, other than the loss, was that safety Anthony Wright had guaranteed a victory over the undefeated Pats. Most of the older veterans on the team didn’t appreciate that, and neither did the coach. Overall, the last four games for the Steelers haven’t been up to par to their usual standards. First, they lost a game to the New York Jets in overtime, and followed that up with a 3-0 victory over the winless Dolphins. We should cut them some slack in that game, because the weather was awful, leaving the field a watered down mess, but, still they were only able to score three points. The next game they seemed to be getting out of the rut, defeating Cincinnati 24-10. Then of course, came the loss, with the wrong prediction, coming at the hands of the Pats. However, the Steelers still have a top notch defense, and with a couple victories down the stretch, they can be sitting pretty in the playoffs, perhaps with a chance to play the Patriots again.

The Jaguars have been playing really well lately, including hanging with the defending Super Bowl champions, the Indianapolis Colts, losing 28-25. Even with that loss, they have won four out of their last five, including a victory over the Carolina Panthers this past week 37-6. Their quarterback David Garrard has only thrown one interception this year, to go along with 13 touchdowns, but that included three missed games due to injury. Its play like that that will keep them in any game, as long as he can continue to limit his mistakes, and remember to hand off the ball to Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. Both players are averaging over 4.5 yards a carry, and have combined for 11 touchdowns. For a long time Taylor has been one of the most underrated players in the league, but injuries have kept him on the backburner. Jones-Drew had a breakout season last year, and after starting a bit slow this year, has also came alive, making the Jacksonville offense something to leave defenses worrying about.

Pittsburgh is very tough at home, winning all their games there this year. But, they are coming off a few lackluster performances the last four weeks, or so. I am going to lean towards Jacksonville in a minor upset because they are on a roll. I take the Jaguars 27-24, in a game that could go either way.

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It might seem odd, but there are more than a few people out there that think that the Colts having two losses by this point of the season is somewhat of a surprise. On the other hand, those same people may seem it’s a shock that the Jacksonville Jaguars find themselves playing the Colts for first place in the AFC south. The Colts unexpected loss came against the San Diego Chargers one week after giving up a fourth quarter lead against their rivals, the New England Patriots. Maybe losing to the Chargers shouldn’t be such a shock, despite San Diego sliding down this year, but it was the way they lost. It featured a number you will most likely ever seen again: Peyton Manning: 6 interceptions. Because of that stat Manning’s numbers look a little low this year (19 TD’s, 12 Int’s) but he is still on pace to throw for over 4000 yards, generally a benchmark of a good season. However, his 89 passer rating is five points below his career average, and even more below the rating he has had the last few seasons. Because of that, the Colts will actually have important games down the stretch, something they haven’t been used to since they began to dominate the AFC south a few years ago.

When healthy, David Garrard is showing he is a more than formidable NFL quarterback. In his eight starts he has generated a 6-2 record while compiling a quarterback rating of over 103, a stat comparable to other top quarterbacks like Tony Romo and his opponent this week, Peyton Manning. While he has only thrown nine touchdowns this year he has thrown no interceptions in his 209 passing attempts, an amazing stat in the NFL. His goal on the team seems to be to limit mistakes while handing off to one of the best running back duos of Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. Fred Taylor has ran for over 700 yards with two touchdowns, while Jones-Drew has found the end zone seven times while running for a little under 600 yards. Both running backs are averaging over 4.5 yards per carry, a stat that will win your team a lot of ball games. Neither player is really considered the featured back, but Fred Talyor is enjoying one of his best years in a while because of past injury problems. The undersized Jones-Drew is a very exciting player to watch. He has also gained a reputation for his blocking skills, despite being undersized in every which way.

With Indy being a bit undermanned due to injury, this could be a close ball game. However, it is very hard for me to go against Manning in his home stadium. I believe the Colts will take this one by a slim margin, something like 27-24. That’s if Adam Vinatieri can start knocking down some field goals.

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