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Edited on Wed Jan-11-06 03:16 PM by Awsi Dooger
An old quarterback who has shown signs of a weakened arm and had his yards per attempt diminish generally can't get over this hurdle against a legit team on the road. Beating Tampa Bay via defense and a few big plays is one thing, but now against a rested team and one whose quarterback Matt Hasselbeck gets an excellent 7.7 yards per attempt this year is quite another. Brunell falls well below the statistical number for playoff success, since he's at 6.7 yards per attempt this year. IMO, even that is misleadingly high since he accomplished it via numerous miraculous plays by Santana Moss. I remember when Marino with a yards per attempt very similar to that 6.7 range flopped bigtime in his final playoff game at Jacksonville, after squeaking out a win at Seattle a week earlier. Washington's defense is excellent with many bigtime players but asking them to win another road game is far fetched.
Generally the wild card teams are flawed and get overhyped after winning on national TV a week earlier. Once the rested and superior teams show up the home teams often dominate at least 3 of the 4 games on this weekend. But this team the road teams are more legit, included playoff tested teams in New England, Pittsburgh and Carolina.
IMO the Carolina/Chicago game is fascinating. I'd love to see Carolina win since I think the makeup of their team with all the star players plus a QB in his prime can make for a very formidable Super Bowl team from the NFC if it's either Carolina or Seattle. Delhomme is at 7.9 yards per attempt this year, outstanding. But on the road for a second straight week is a monumental task and you won't get the same level of Carolina team as last week. I watched the Bears dismantle Carolina late in the season and it was legit. With Orton I think Carolina would outscore Chicago but since Grossman can get the ball down the field this game figures very close and tough to call. The over/under is 30 points, lowest any of us in Las Vegas can remember for a playoff game.
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