I Dislike Your Favorite Team

The final game of football is upon us.  We must embrace its every tendril of warmth, for the next seven months will be cold.  For our participants, the 2013 Playoff Pick'em will be decided by this week's picks.  Because it's the Superbowl!

Standings
1.  Jess:  31 pts (+16)
2.  Adw:  26 pts (+4)
3.  MuMuMan:  24 pts (+14)
4.  Big BM:  21 pts (+8)

Superbowl Pick  +10
1.  Pick the winner:  San Francisco 49ers vs. Baltimore Ravens

Bonus Points    +7  (closest wins)
2.  San Francisco scores how many points?
3.  Baltimore scores how many points?
4.  Who is the Superbowl MVP?

Special Points    +3
5.  Who is the game's leading rusher?
6.  Who is the game's leading passer?
7.  Who is the game's leading receiver?
8.  Which defense forces the most turnovers?

Some very high-quality football over the weekend, including a double overtime which none of our participants predicted.  Hey, it's tough out there.

In answer to MuMuMan's question, yes you can still post your picks.   Bigger and juicier points await, and competition is heated.  Jump on in!
Standings
1.  Adw:  22 pts (+14, almost perfect except the OT question)  [Atl/Pats; Broncos]
2.  Jess:  17 pts (+8)  [49ers/Broncos; 49ers]
3.  Big BM:  13 pts (+4) [49ers/Broncos; Atl]
4.  MuMuMan:  10 pts  [Seahawks/Broncos; Broncos]

Conference Round
Rank these by confidence.  Pick #1 = +4/-2, Pick #2 = +2

San Francisco 49ers at Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots

Bonus Questions  +2
3.  Which game will be closer?
4.  Which game will have the most combined points?
5.  Which offense will have the most rushing yards?
6.  Which defense will allow the fewest passing yards?
7.  Which team will score a special teams or defensive TD?
8.  Which team will be penalized the most yards?

My word, it was fun to watch RG3 play football in the burgundy and gold.  Bringing the torch of hope to the woeful franchise, and lighting our hearts with his determined grace.  Twenty years of agony melted away in the rays of a new sun.

Then he was left in a game to suffer not one but two further injuries to his already-sprained knee.  We now know that this injuries, compounded by the exponentially-growing weakness of the joint, were catastrophic.

RG3 destroyed the patella graft which replaced of the ACL he tore in college.  He also tore his LCL, the ligament which had once only been sprained.  Doctors will create a patella graft from his left (good) knee to attempt a total reconstruction of his blown right knee.

Two knee surgeries for the 22 year old rookie.  RG3 has amazed me with his maturity, skill and toughness.  So I am not ready to write him off, as my old gnarled fan-instincts tell me to (same old shit).  But his rehabilitation is going to require more from him than he's ever had to give, which is saying a lot. 

This offseason should have been one of hope.  It still is, but the nature and altitude of that hope has changed drastically. 

Many years, this is the most difficult round to predict.  Every team still in the playoffs has an arguable chance to make it to the Superbowl.  Some of these teams are jerks, but there is no helping that.  This week again features confidence picks, which my lead to more separation between our hard-charging competitors.

Standings
1.  MuMuMan:  10 pts (Seahawks/Broncos, Broncos)
2.  Jess:  9 pts  (49ers/Broncos, 49ers)
Big BM:  9 pts (49ers/Broncos, Atlanta)
3.  Adw:  8 pts (Atlanta/Patriots, Broncos)

Divisional Round
These are this week's games.  Ranks them from 1-4, with #1 being the pick you are most confident about (+4/-2) and #4 the pick you are least confident about (+1).

Baltimore Ravens at Denver Broncos
Green Bay Packers at San Fran 49ers
Seattle Seahawks at Atlanta Falcons
Houston Texans at New England Patriots

Bonus Questions +2
5.  Which game will be the biggest blowout?
6.  Which game will have the fewest combined points?
7.  Which game will go to overtime?

Welcome, dear friends, to the Playoff Pick'em.  Badcock Industries has pooled its vast resources, boiled them down to a paste, and then smeared that paste on Jerry Jones's limo.  Metaphorically.

First Prize is an awesome t-shirt!  Second prize is steak knives*.  Third prize is you're fucking fired.

This Pick'em is free to everyone.  Please list your picks in the comments.

These are the Wildcard games:
Bengals at Texans
Vikings at Packers
Colts at Ravens
Seahawks at Skins

How Do It Work?
It works thusly:  the first part of the Pick'em is a confidence pick.  Rank your picks in order according to which you think is most likely. 

1. (most confident) +4 if right, -2 if wrong
2. +3
3. +2
4. (least confident) +1

So if you know for sure that the Packers will win, put them at pick #1.  If you have to flip a coin on Colts/Ravens, put that pick at #4.

Bonus Questions  +2
5.  Which game will be the closest?
6.  Which game will have the most combined points?

Going Deep    +7
7.  Pick the NFC champion
8.  Pick the AFC champion

Superballs Deep    +10
9.  Pick the NFL champion




* steak knives not included

I won the regular season pick'em and, while I enjoy victory, I found that I preferred it when someone else won.  This could be you!