Ok I’ve been in the lovely Sin City Las Vegas for the last 3 days, and I concluded that they need a professional sports team.  Baseball, basketball, football.  Oh hell, even hockey.  Just give them something.  It will certainly draw more people out here.  Not like we need an excuse to go to Vegas, but this just adds another one to the column.

Speaking of Vegas, yes I bet on the NFL playoff games this week.  And yes, I won.  Ravens and Eagles!  Nice little payout.

So far the home teams are 0-2 in the NFL divisional games. Tennessee and Carolina came out looking flat on offense, were plagued by injuries and turnovers, and looked overall rusty.

Normally teams look forward to having a week off to prepare for the coming playoff games. It is a time to heal injuries and scheme different packages on both sides of the ball for the faster paced games. “I’ve never had a bye week before and believe me when I say we need a week off — both the offense and the defense,” said quarterback Jake Delhomme after the end of the season.

Apparently he used the time to learn how to throw the ball to the other team as he completed just 45% of his passes and had 5 picks in the game with a lossed fumble in his own 20.

All-Pro Steve Smith didn’t have a catch at all in the first half and the might rushing game of the Panthers never got going. After rushing for 178 yards in the 33-31 win against the New Orleans Saints in the last game of the season, DeAngelo Williams ran for only 51 yards on 11 carries.

The Titans were sloppy throughout the game and didn’t look like the team with the best record in the NFL at all. In the end, the mighty Ravens defense hit, ran over and spanked the Titans for the win. Yes there was a blown call towards the end of the game but Tennessee had plenty of chances to score points.

It will be interesting to see how the Giants and Steelers perform in front of their home crowds on Sunday. Both the Chargers and Eagles are on hot streaks, basically playing must wins for the last 4 games of the year and winning in the first round of their playoff games.

I’m highly anticipating the Ravens vs. Titans clash this Saturday.  Both of these teams are known for their tight defense. 

The Raven’s linebacker Ray Lewis and safety Ed Reed are two very physical guys who understand smart defense and will give Kerry Collins and the Titan’s Offense a difficult time to score.  Ed Reed tore Miami apart last weekend with 2 picks and a return TD.  Both of these playesr have been a huge contribution to Baltimore still leading the league in turnovers and interceptions, and 6 returns for touchdowns.  

I expect this game to be low-scoring and close.  I vote for Baltimore to take this game.

The last week has been awful for me in terms of sports betting.  Everything that seems to make sense just doesn’t work out.  And to top all that off, the Colts and the Falcons gave me a beating yesterday!  Matt Ryan went into the locker room at half time and came out as Ken Dorsey.  Both the Colts and the Falcons just decided to stop playing in the second half.

But today is a brand new day!  Eagles, check!  Ravens, check!  It was beautiful.  Ed Reed is absolutely amazing.  I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but on the second interception, he was about 10 yards away from the ball when Chad Pennington threw it.  I still have no idea how he got to the ball so fast.

Anyway, great day, great football.

Wow!  I just checked the lines for the NFL games for this weekend, and ALL the home teams are home underdogs.  Amazing.  But then on second look, none of the home teams look that good.  Cardinals?  Dolphins?  Chargers? Vikings?  Not sold on any of them.

• I really don’t think the Cardinals would even make it out of the NFC West had Mike Singletary been the 49ers head coach all season.  Plus, they haven’t been playing very well.

• The Dolphins can’t stand up to the mighty Ravens defense.  The TWICE comeback player of the year, Chad Pennington, can only go so far.  Seriously, how does someone win comeback player of the year twice?  You come back once, leave, and come back again?

• The Chargers offense is good, but Indy is experienced and ex-Superbowl Champs. This year’s LT is not the same LT.  I should know… he was on my fantasy team!

• The Eagles are red hot.  The Vikings are not.  And Pat Williams has a broken bone in his right shoulder.  And the Vikings can’t even sell out their first home playoff game in the last 8 years.  And the Vikings haven’t even been to the playoffs since 2004.

Hmm… betting on 4 road teams might be kind of crazy though.  I gotta be missing something here.