2-0 is even better

I'm not here to brag, but both my picks Sunday were right with Philadelphia ousting New York, and Pittsburgh sending San Diego home. The scores weren't exactly what I predicted, but they were close. I said Philly would win 30-17, both teams ended up about a touchdown off from my prediction, but I thought the score difference would be 13 and it was 12, very very close. In the Pittsburgh game I thought they would win by 11, and guess what, they won by 11. Just to remind you though, I'm not here to brag.

Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants
Philadelphia Wins 23-11

New York may have been the higher seeded team in this match-up, but I don't think many people were surprised by its outcome. With the Giants dropping the majority of their games after Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg, and after losing to this same Eagles team at the Meadowlands in week 14, not many people expected the Giants to rise from the ashes. Neither Donovan McNabb nor Brian Westbrook had the day I was expecting them to have. McNabb threw for 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions; he also rushed for a touchdown. The Giants Brandon Jacobs rushed for 92 yards on 19 carries for the day, but Philadelphia's defense prevented New York from scoring a single touchdown. The players of the game have to go to the Eagles defense and Eagles kicker David Akers, who kept Philly a step ahead of the Giants throughout the game.




San Diego Chargers at Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Wins 35-24

San Diego, a team that went over .500 for the first time this year after beating Indianapolis last week, finishes their season at .500 after getting outplayed by the Steelers. The Chargers struck first and looked promising, but Santonio Holmes' punt return for a TD took the wind out of San Diego's sails for good. There's not a whole lot to say about this game, I think the final score makes it seem a lot closer than it was in the second half. For the most part the Steelers defense shut Darren Sproles and the Chargers running game down and held him to 15 yards on 11 carries. Philip Rivers did have a much more successful day in the air than Ben Roethlisberger did, but San Diego's offense didn't look like it could do what it pleased on the field as much as Pittsburgh's did, mostly due to Willie Parker's 147 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns. There were three key ingredients that won this game for the Steelers; Santonio Holmes stealing San Diego's mojo with the punt return TD, Pittsburgh's defense shutting down the Chargers running game, and Willie Parker running all over the Chargers defense.