So now that the regular season is over the playoff picture is starting to shape up. Every year I put together a small breakdown of how I think the playoffs will play out. This year, I have decided to share that with you.

Let’s start with the final seedings for both conferences:
AFC
1. New England Patriots
2. Indianapolis Colts
3. San Diego Chargers
4. Pittsburgh Steelers
5. Jacksonville Jaguars
6. Tennessee Titans

NFC
1. Dallas Cowboys
2. Green Bay Packers
3. Seattle Seahawks
4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
5. New York Giants
6. Washington Redskins

Looking at the teams and where they are playing (seeds 1 and 2 get byes in week 1 while the 3 seed hosts the 6 seed and the 4 seed hosts the 5 seed) I have some pretty interesting ideas of what could happen. Here is how I think things might shape up. Commentaries are for week 1 only.

Wildcard Round – Week 1
Tennessee at San Diego
This should be a no-brainer. San Diego is coming in to the playoffs with a strong showing in the regular season. They probably should have won a few more games than they did, but they are nowhere near the “limping into the playoffs” status of the Titans.
My pick: San Diego 31, Tennessee 10

Jacksonville at Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh will be looking to avenge their home loss to the Jags a few weeks ago. They will fail. The Jags are the team no one wants to face in the playoffs right now.
My pick: Jacksonville 24, Pittsburgh 17

Washington at Seattle
Seattle, period. They are playing better than Washington. And they are at home, where things seem to go their way. Emotions are high for the Redskins, but not high enough.
My pick: Seattle 23, Washington 13

New York at Tampa Bay
New York could win the Super Bowl today… if the game only lasted 35 minutes. Few teams know how to not finish a game like the Giants and that will be the difference in Tampa.
My pick: Tampa Bay 28, New York 23

Divisional Round – Week 2
Indianapolis 34, San Diego 17
New England 38, Jacksonville 21
Green Bay 27, Seattle 20
Dallas 24, Tampa Bay 20

Conference Championships – Week 3
New England 28, Indianapolis 24
Green Bay 24, Dallas 20

Super Bowl XLII – Week 5
New England 31, Green Bay 28

So what do you think? Am I crazy? Silly? Totally nuts? Yeah, probably. But this is my blog, so I can pretty much get away with it.

See you Super Bowl Sunday.