King Kaufman's Sports Daily
NFL playoffs: Home teams all win. No surprises. We all foresaw the Romo muff, Colts defense and just-good-enough Eagles. Right?
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Jan. 8, 2007 | This weekend's playoff games were a perfect illustration of why it's so amusing whenever anyone says anything about the future in the NFL with any degree of certitude.
I find it not just amusing but hilarious when I -- or anyone -- make a prediction about an upcoming game or season and am met with incredulity. "Are you serious?" readers or listeners will ask.
Yes. Whatever the prediction: Serious. But if not, it wouldn't matter. When it comes to the NFL, no prediction is any more serious than its exact opposite. Some predictions may be a little more likely to be correct than their antipodes, but not by so much they shouldn't be taken seriously. Indianapolis Colts defense to dominate? Sure.
And no prediction is ever so good that any confidence accompanying it should be considered anything more than hubris. Larry Johnson will slice the Colts to ribbons. No doubt about it, right? Right.
Look at the four games this weekend. I'm a genius because I picked all four winners. Most of us are.
We all knew the Seattle Seahawks would beat the Dallas Cowboys 21-20 because Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo would fumble the snap on a go-ahead field-goal attempt with 1:19 to go that would have been shorter than an extra point. You had that one pegged, right?
On the other hand, we somehow knew the Philadelphia Eagles wouldn't botch their try at a game-winning field goal, a 38-yarder by David Akers in a light rain, so of course most of us looked good when the Eagles beat the New York Giants 23-20.
And who didn't know the Indianapolis Colts would beat the Kansas City Chiefs 23-8 with a stout defense and a strong running game, that one of the worst run defenses in the history of the league would hold the great Johnson to 32 yards on 13 carries, with a long of six yards, that Peyton Manning would throw three interceptions and the Colts would win going away?
Everybody, that's who. Thirty-two yards on 13 carries for Larry Johnson against the Colts? Are you serious?
The New England Patriots, favored by nine, pounded the New York Jets 37-16, so yeah, sometimes things go according to form.
But think about that Cowboys-Seahawks game. The Seahawks won it on a fluke, one they had no control over, nothing to do with. Yes, flukes count and a win is a win. Sure, the Seahawks were in position to benefit from Romo's unforced bobble because they'd done some things right, outgaining the Cowboys by 48 yards and keeping Dallas' dangerous receivers in check. Terry Glenn and Terrell Owens combined for six catches, 67 yards.