First up on Sunday is the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots hosting the surprising and dark horse Jacksonville Jaguars. The Patriots who have been favored since the preseason to win their 2nd consecutive Super Bowl, won easily over Tennessee last weekend but have been mired in controversy since the Playoffs began. New England which always seem to be in the spotlight for this or for that, have been in a PR crisis since a story broke alleging a power struggle and discontent between head coach Bill Belichick, QB Tom Brady and Owner Robert Kraft. On top of that, both the OC Josh McDaniels and DC Matt Patricia have been interviewing for head coaching jobs and it looks like both will be with new teams next season as head coaches. And now, we have an alleged hand injury to QB Tom Brady, which is now at the forefront and has taken some of the pressure and media scrutiny off the other issues within the Patriots team. New England seems to prefer to have chaos surround them especially during the playoffs. The Patriots at home are a 9 point favorite to win. The Jaguars have a great defense and will need to have them show up again along with the offense playing good football and scoring some points. Turnovers will be key in this game and it looks like a chilly but decent weather for a game in Foxboro this time of year.
The second game on Sunday will be the NFC Championship game featuring the Minnesota Vikings behind backup QB Case Keenum visiting the Philadelphia Eagles with backup QB Nick Foles at the helm. For the second consecutive week, the Eagles who are at home will be the underdog once again. Last week, Philadelphia was also the underdog at home against Atlanta. Both teams have strong defenses and this should be a very physical football game with the team who dominates the trenches winning this game. The Vikings who won on a last second Hail Mary TD pass to beat the Saints will need a more balanced attack on offense as well if they want to win this game. Philadelphia needs more offense as well and can't just rely on its defense to win again! The weather will also be mild and not be a factor in the game.
Once again officiating in these playoff games was atrocious at best! The NFL needs to do something quickly to address this issue that continues to plague the game. The officiating groups for the playoffs are made up of selected individuals who have never officiated a game as a group all season long. Also, the officials need to either call the games the same for both teams and let the teams know if they are going to call every little thing or if they are going to let them play. Letting the players celebrate TD's again was a saving grace for the NFL but allowing teams to celebrate a turnover the same way needs to be looked at after the season. The NFL also needs to address all these cheap shots and targeting hits that are causing serious injury as well as making a better attempt to address players and concussions on the field. Teams that continue to try and get around the concussion protocol that protects players need to be more then just fined, draft picks need to be taken away also as a way to enforce the protection of a player vs. winning at all costs.
As the Coaching Carousel is alive and well in the NFL, it seems teams continue to try to circumvent the Rooney Rule when they interview for their Head Coaching position and this time it seems the Oakland Raiders did so and have even admitted to doing it. They are now back peddling and trying to say they interviewed 2 minority candidates but even though they did, it was window dressing as they already had a deal in place before Christmas to hire Jon Gruden to a 10 yr./100M contract. It is time for the Raiders to pay the piper and for the NFL to make an example of the Raiders and not only fine them but to take away at least 2 top draft picks in the upcoming draft as a penalty for deliberately violating the NFL's Rooney rule. After a couple weeks of teams letting go their head coaches, this past week was the week where teams decided to either keep or let go OC's and DC's as well as others on their coaching staffs. It seems when one of these coaches get let go by one NFL team, another team swoops them up immediately.
It has been another very successful and fun filled season for Cooper and we want to thank all who follow Cooper and My Blog for the past few years. We look forward to the playoffs and making our picks as well as the follow up of the playoff games.
Cooper went 3-1 on Wild Card weekend and is 6-2 with His Playoff picks. CupofJoeintheD also went 2-2 and is 6-2. We will continue to post His record for the NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl. twitter; @cupofjoeinthed email; cupofjoeinthed@gmail.com www.cupofjoeinthed.blogspot.com
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Cooper NFL Analyst after making His NFC and AFC Championship picks
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