One more day of football for football's sake, followed by two weeks of hype for Super Bowl parties and square pools and commercials and entertainment that includes a football game in there somewhere. Pretty sure I can find something to say about these two games that hasn't already been said. Maybe? We'll see.
Packers at Falcons: I still haven't entirely figured out how Dallas lost to Green Bay last week, beyond the obvious that they didn't run the ball enough. The Cook play was certainly critical, as was the poor decision to spike the ball on Dallas' final possession, though I guess Green Bay would have probably won in overtime anyway. Whatever, moving on.
Green Bay has some banged-up wide receivers, that's the main storyline of the week. I don't really care if Jordy Nelson is active, I wouldn't consider using him. I sort of feel the same about Davante Adams and Geronimo Allison, though it seems like they'll be out there with minimal to no practice reps at something less than 100 percent. I'm using the healthy guys, Randall Cobb and Jared Cook, in every daily lineup. But so is everyone else, right? So I guess you get the edge in these competitions by figuring out which wide receiver is least injured and least likely to be affected by his injury. Reading between the lines it sounds like maybe Adams isn't as bad as he was a year ago when he was banged-up all year. Allison, who knows what ability he has to play through injury. For me it's Cobb, Adams, Allison.
Atlanta also has Julio Jones at less than 100 percent. Nothing to save him for, so he's gotta be out there as long as he's functionally walking. I'm using him, and would also use Taylor Gabriel -- could certainly use both and stay away from injured Packers wideouts entirely. Like the main running backs for both teams (Freeman, Montgomery, Coleman), since they'll all be involved in the wild passing battle sure to ensue. Quarterbacks, I'm ranking them 1-2 this week in some order.
So who wins? Truth: I kind of liked Atlanta to come out of the NFC before the playoffs started. I didn't know who would win Giants-Packers, but I thought that team would then go in and possibly upset Dallas, so Atlanta would host this game. At the risk of betting against Aaron Rodgers, Ryan has had a phenomenal year and I don't see Green Bay's defense slowing him down. I'm calling it Atlanta 38, Green Bay 31.
Steelers at Patriots: Like most of the world, I think (sorry, Patriots) I'm looking for some way the Steelers go into Foxborough and win. Some viable points have been made, like the Patriots not facing any good quarterbacks for half a season, and the Steelers not having faced the Patriots with Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown all available in recent meetings. Really, it comes down to whether Roethlisberger can play a better road game than he has for most of the season (and recent seasons), because field goals up in Foxborough aren't going to get it done. I do think the Steelers can win, but at the end of the day I'm not willing to bet on it.
Pittsburgh will struggle to run the ball effectively, yes even with Bell. New England is just really tough on the run, and it's ultimately going to fall on Roethlisberger passing the ball. Can he find the holes and hit some big plays? That's the key to the Steelers getting the upset. And maybe knocking Tom Brady around some (no downside to that!), and getting in the kind of dogfight that New England doesn't always win. Possible.
In this competition where you can only use players once, of course, I've already used Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown, and am saving Brady, Blount, Lewis and Edelman for the Super Bowl. So if the Patriots DO lose, I'm toast -- have already used or am using Falcons and Packers this week. But that's a small price to pay for not having two weeks of Patriots stories. That being said, New England will probably score plenty, and I haven't seen enough out of Roethlisberger on the road to be confident they'll follow suit. I'm calling it Patriots 27, Steelers 23.
Enjoy the games.