Luke Waltons Forehead presented by the Sports Dude.

What the hell was that this morning, that strange glowing ball in the sky? Was it the end of all things, a sign from above? Hell no, it was our old friend the sun, whom I have not seen since last year! No pun, no joke meant, literally speaking here folks, I don’t think I have seen that damn thing since before Christmas. However, we are not here to talk about the sun, or lack there of lately, we are here to talk about football, the Wild Card Weekend, and what I think will happen this weekend in the NFL.

AFC Wild Card Weekend Match-ups:

Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals

Cincy was the surprise team this year to many, me included, to make the playoffs. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, needed to somehow find a way to beat the mighty Detroit Lions in their final regular season game in order to make the playoffs. In other words, if you already didn’t sense my sarcasm, the Steelers knew they were in before they even showed up that day! Cincy is at home, extremely happy to be in the playoffs, but I think the biggest problem is they are too young and this really is their first taste. Cowler has been in Pittsburgh for 80 years now (or so it seems!) and the Steelers have continually been a playoff contender for just about every one of his years there as head coach. I take experience over the home field, so I give this game to the Steelers.

Pittsburgh 23, Cincy 16

Jacksonville Jaguars at New England Patriots

So my boy Tom Brady threw out the “disrespect” card this week hey, as did his Jacksonville counter part Byron Leftwich. Look, you all know I have serious man love for Tom Brady, I am not ashamed to admit it, and even if this game were in Jacksonville I would still pick the Pats. Look, the last time I checked, Tom Brady has YET TO LOSE A PLAYOFF GAME IN HIS CAREER AS A STARTER, how can you go against that? You can’t, at least not until they match up against the Colts in the AFC Championship Game anyway. I think this year may be the year Brady loses, but not this weekend anyway!

New England 27, Jacksonville 13

NFC Wild Card Weekend Match-ups:

Washington Redskins at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Well I guess we have to have at least one of these games in every playoff year, you know, where everyone will be bored to death? You have the old coach (Gibbs) against the young coach (Gruden) and then you even have the old lefty QB (Brunell) against the young lefty QB (Simms). Look, I am sorry, but this game interests me just about as much as watching my laundry dry on the line, you have two solid defenses with very inept offenses. Quite frankly I expect this to be the lowest rated playoff game this weekend, for those of us that don’t need caffeine just to get through it! I go with the Bucs because A.) I have to pick someone and B.) I guess because they are at home.

Tampa Bay 13, Washington 10

Carolina Panthers at New York Giants

Well, the “other” Manning is going to get his first taste of the playoffs this year, unfortunately for him it is against the Panthers. If I am not mistaken, aren’t these the same Panthers that were on the cover of Sports Illustrated and picked to win the Super Bowl this year by them? Isn’t this the same team that was in the damn thing two years ago? Yep, it sure is, and did I mention this is the “other” Manning yet? You know the one that Peyton has the loaf of bread signed for? Man, I love those commercials for some reason. Yes I know NY is at home but I still like the Panthers in this darn game.

Carolina 31, NY 27

So there you have it, my picks for Wild Card Weekend baby! In my crazy little world this means my bracket has next weeks AFC Games being Pittsburgh against Indy and New England against Denver, while my NFC Games are Seattle and Tampa Bay then Carolina and Chicago. I would give you my picks for those as well, but we’ll wait and see how this weekend falls first. Anyway, that is all I got for the time being so as always please “football watch” responsibly and come back for more fun times next week my hearties! Later and Godspeed, the sports dude.