Wormy Pix Playoffs Pick of the Week (WC)

What a great way to end the reg season. Got a lot of great complements from the fine folks of the RX, but not 1 wk make a man! On to POs, where serious $ is thrown around.

Regular Season POW 10-7, Teasers 10-7, Overall 45-27-1.

LAR -5 ½ is the hot, young team of the NFL. McVay is only 31 yrs old (born in ’86, sigh), Goff is in his 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] yr, Gurley in his 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] yr, & the rest of the team rounds out the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] youngest roster in the NFL. At least DC Phillips is 70 yrs old! Despite all this, LA is currently a tight locker room w/a coaching staff that has experience mixed w/youthful intelligence. Enter ATL, who are driven after their SB loss w/a wealth of PO experience. I am going w/the ignorant young’uns here. McVay rested his starters last wk, effectively giving them a bye. Meanwhile, ATL was fighting for their PO lives against a heated rival, & now must compose themselves in a short wk, traveling across the country to play a rested, motivated team. The 1 weakness ATL could exploit is LAR’s run “D”. It currently sits @ 28[SUP]th[/SUP] in the league, however Phillips constantly adjusts his “D” & was able to contain 2 very good rushing “O”s (mostly due to their QBs) recently in SEA & TEN to 78 & 97 total rushing yds respectively. That’s impressive considering both teams were playing for POs @ the time. W/Freeman nursing a bad ankle, this will only help LA contain ATL’s very good run gm, & allow their great pass rush to pressure Ryan who’s having a terrible yr. Revenge is also a minor factor here as LA got shelacked by ATL 42-19 last yr. However, that was Fisher’s uninspired last season & Goff getting thrown to the wolves. This time around Gurley will pace Goff, who will has the ability to run for key 1[SUP]st[/SUP] downs & possibly TDs. LAR is 9[SUP]th[/SUP] in TO differential, while ATL finished 19[SUP]th[/SUP]. If LA can force a few TOs, this will be ugly. Otherwise, I easily see the score below being a reality. K Ficken is a HUGE wild card here, but he has some momentum from Wk 17. Don’t be surprised if LAR go for it on 4[SUP]th[/SUP] down on many occasions within the 40 yd line.

ATL 17
LAR 30
4 Units

GL to all & comments are most welcome.

Honorable Mentions:

1 Unit JAX -8 ½: It was between LA or JAX for POW, but decided this was too much pts for JAX to be giving in any situation. That said, JAX has no excuse to not blow BUF out of the water. This would effectively be BUF’s 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] rd gm in a row, & McCoy is very questionable. If he doesn’t play, this should be a snoozer. Tyrod Taylor? Good luck.

1 Unit TEN +8 ½: I’ve been watching TEN all yr due to Mariota being a local boy. Whether it’s injury related or not, he has held this team back from being special. TEN’s oline is good, run gm is good, “D” fairly decent, & special teams very good. Yet, they’ve floundered all yr & now go west to the AFC West champs. KC has rediscovered their groove, thanks mostly to getting the ball in their best “O” player’s hands, Kareen Hunt. It’s well documented that Alex Smith has performed awful vs TEN, including last yr’s 19-17 loss @ KC. TEN plays very physical & that should be a problem for KC. Maybe TEN finds PO magic here?

3 Unit Wormy Teaser:

TEN +21 ½
LAR +7 ½
JAX +4 ½
CAR +20

I disagree somewhat about Mariota. Yes, he has to step up, but I really think he is getting fk'd by bad coaching..

Wormy,BOL on your picks as I have to agree with you as I see and been hearing alot of Atlanta love the past few days as the Rams are too young and dont have the experience to pull it off today but we will see.I have to work today so I post something later on.

Good looking card. Good luck this playoffs.

Good luck my friend and as always a pleasure reading your thoughts and info.

I’m liking those Rams. Good luck Wormy

Nice season so far buddy. Good luck in the playoffs.

Aloha_4_Da_Winna said:

I disagree somewhat about Mariota. Yes, he has to step up, but I really think he is getting fk'd by bad coaching..

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Howzit Aloha.

Man, Mariota has been tough to watch this yr. Yes, playcalling has been awful & very predictable, but have you seen his passes to open receivers? Or he completely misses open receivers as he stares to 1 side of field. There have been times where the WR screwed up his route, but that can't be all of those times. I will say his passing in redzone has been awesome, but getting there has been the problem.

I'm hoping big time that he continues to run, which will open the pass. When things break down & he uses his legs, that's where the dumb coaching can be taken out of the equation!

Gravy said:

Wormy,BOL on your picks as I have to agree with you as I see and been hearing alot of Atlanta love the past few days as the Rams are too young and dont have the experience to pull it off today but we will see.I have to work today so I post something later on.

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I've seen that only today. Lots of ATL love. Experience in POs is a big thing, but ignorance is also bliss! I just didn't like what I saw out of ATL this whole season. Ryan is really off on his throws & receivers drop too many balls. Not to mention Freeman's recent fumblitis.

TIGERTOY said:

Good looking card. Good luck this playoffs.

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Thanks Tiger. I'm going to need luck here as usual. Every gm has the potential to go either way, so this wk wasn't easy!

United said:

Good luck my friend and as always a pleasure reading your thoughts and info.

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Thanks United! I think we both cash today my friend.

ca$hmoney said:

I’m liking those Rams. Good luck Wormy

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Yup, saw your post on our good old friend Mr. Lang. I thought he was good in POs tho?

3pointdog said:

Nice season so far buddy. Good luck in the playoffs.

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Thanks for the kind words 3pt. Let's all start POs w/a winning weekend.

Good luck today my friend

Thanks XS!

Watching Sammy Watkins reminds me of Mike Wallace. They both refuse to catch w/their hands. I always wondered why he didn't put up bigger #s w/Goff & now I know. He would've had @ least 2 long TD catches, but tried to basket catch one that was batted away & let the ball go rt thru his hands on another one. Gurley, who proclaimed if you can't catch a football you shouldn't be playing, dropped a bunch & caught ones that he shouldn't have (because of clock).

No doubt inexperience was key here. I can't believe that on 2 wks rest that was the best LA could muster. Very disappointed in that effort @ hm against an opponent flying across the country.

Wormy, I didnt see much of games on Saturday but what i did see was some bad coaching on the Rams part running Gurley up the middle for little or no gains but they looked like the pressure got to them making some dumb mistakes etc.Love it when Andy Reid chokes again in the playoffs as how you blow a 21-3 lead at the half is amazing and think he needs to go.Get them in the div round wormy dont let the Rams loss get to you.