Ineligible Man Downfield

Sick’em?  Yes you heard us correctly.  Sick’em boy!  Here at imdownfield.com we have a twist on the proverbial “pick’ems” to call our picks on the winner of a particular match.  Unlike others where the decision is made by humans (and our inherent errors and inaccuracies), we allow a dog decide the outcome.

How do you ask?  We’ll I’m glad we’ve put you into a tease.  Basically without going into too much technical information, we lay out two treats (which represent the two teams in a match) in front of a dog.  The treat the dog prefers (a la McGruff ) after we yell “sick’em” is the winner of the match.  Our job as the founders is to interpret and analyze this “preference” and relay it to the masses (a.k.a you the reader).  For scientific reasons (objectivity and precision), each of us (Quackster, jadamusss) have our own dog that we allow for the decision to be made.  We’ll see whose dog is more “accurate.”  Without further adieu, here are our results:

Quackster’s Dog, Lucky the Pointer chooses:  Eagles over Arizona, Ravens over Steelers

Eagles:  Lucky chose the Eagles because they are riding high right now with Donovan McNabb zoned in like a locked target in Top Gun (see my cinematic tastes are not limited to Bruce Willis flicks).  Oh by the way, the old Top Gun school in San Diego at Miramar Air Base.  Just thought you’d like to know this random tidbit.  Now back to the pick.  The Cardinals are also riding high (Wow! We got a “cockfight!”), but I think their inexperience at this playoff level will be a detriment.  In addition,  Jim Johnson’s defensive blitzing schemes will knock  the immobile Kurt Warner down and stifle their passing game.  Look for Asante Samuel to get some takeaways.  Let the Eagles soar (with help from former Attorney General John Ashcroft):

Ravens:  The Ravens are to win this game because Lucky knows that the Steelers can’t beat the the Ravens three times in a row, that is unless you are the Raiders in which case any team can have a 3 game winning streak or more, even a BCS football team like Utah.  Plus, I think the NFL wants a huge “cockfight” for its final in the Super Bowl.  Since cockfighting is illegal now, the next best thing are teams dressed as birds:  Eagles, Ravens, Cardinals.  Out of these three teams, only the Cardinals are not predators but rather prey.  In terms of football play, the Ravens are younger and have a better offense with Joe “Cool” Flacco at the helm.  I don’t trust ”Big” Ben Roethlisberger is fully recovered from his multiple spinal and head concusions.  The Chargers in the last game did not have a good enough defense to exploit Big Ben.  Be fearful of the Ravens my friends because they have the poetic supernatural backing of Edgar Allan Poe.

Jadmusss’s Dog, Sharkee the Shorkie chooses:  Arizona over Eagles, Ravens over Steelers

First let me say that Quackster’s borrowed dog Lucky is unlucky so I wouldn’t listen to anything he has to say about who will win this weekend.

Arizona will win by 10 points. Before you get your panties all bunched up, let me explain why. The Eagles are overrated and are getting lucky that teams are over looking them. Asante Samuel is a joke and we all know it. I seriously doubt that he can cover Anquan Boldin or Larry Fitzgerald one on one. This means the Eagles will need to bring safety help everytime Larry or Anquan runs a go route. This will free up the other player and Kurt Warner will have a field day with the Eagles secondary. Also I strongly believe the Donovan McNabb will commit two turnovers that will be the difference in the game. Okay I am going out on a limb on this one, but I will say that Kurt Warner will only be sacked once because the offensive line coach will prepare his line to handle the different looks the Eagles will throw at them. Quick! Can you name the offensive line coach? ……. MMMMM yah that is what I thought. His name is Russ Grimm and prior to being with the Cardinals he was in charge of coaching the stellar Pittsburgh Steelers that won Super Bowl XL.

Ravens will win by 6 points. I strongly believe this will be a smash mouth game with a low scoring output. Big Ben will get hit repeatly in this game and will leave with an injury. I do not wish any harm on anyone, but the Ravens will have heard how the Steelers beat them twice already and how they will lose again. This will add extra bulletin points for the Ravens defense to put a monster hit on Big Ben. Joe Flacco will have studied his game film from the previous meetings and made enough adjustments to win it by two field goals. Also Ed Reed should keep the Steelers passing game honest allowing the pass rush to pressure Big Ben into situations where he will turn the ball over.