Divisional title picks

Last week I went 3-1 and 3-1 against the spread. Bringing my overall playoff record to 7-1 and 6-2. So, with all due respect to Scientologists, it looks like they are not the "authority" on everything, as a certain excitable actor/religious leader likes to claim. Here are the picks:

New York and Green Bay (-7)
Did you hear the station manager from Green Bay's Fox affiliate has pulled Seinfeld from the Saturday line up because he doesn't want to give "comfort to the enemy" and Giants' QB Eli Manning lists Seinfeld as his favorite show? Sure it's probably just a marketing gimmick, or a way to prove to the world that Green Bay does have television, but there still seems to be something profoundly wrongheaded about this tactic. Throughout his career, Eli has distinguished himself with his seeming indifference to his own poor play. And, over the past couple months, he's proved that his blase' demeanor doesn't change much when things are going his way. So it's unlikely being denied watching a Seinfeld episode he has already seen ten times will have much of an effect on the reluctant football player. But just because Packer nation doesn't get the Giants' enigmatic QB, it doesn't mean the Packers' defensive line won't be able get to Eli on what is forecast to be rock-hard frozen tundra. The press will not be denied their Favre love-in (I'd talk about this more, but on the tenth year anniversary of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal it seems in poor taste) and the Pack skate 28-13.


San Diego at New England (-13.5)
It was I who suggested San Diego would be better off if Phillip Rivers pulled a Jason Campbell and got hurt. Little did I know the unexploited competency of back-up Billy Volek was such that it could offset the loss of Hall of Famer Ladainian Tomlinson on the way to a come-from-behind victory over the defending Super Bowl champions. LT will be back Sunday, and Rivers may not, but before you start upgrading the Chargers consider how eerily humble and respectful the Patriots have been this week. That's eye of the hurricane stuff. Speaking of weather systems, it is going to be very cold in Foxboro Sunday, and the Chargers' SoCalness stretches far beyond mere geography. The Pats storm 56-14.