Playing The Spread 2K7, Wild Card Weekend

Now that the regular season is over, we arrive at that peculiar part of the season where teams with strong records hit the road to face off against teams with lesser records who happen to play in division with weak teams. It doesn't quite seem fair.

In college sports, roughly two-thirds of a given team's schedule is played against conference opponents. The team's conference record is tabulated and reported separately. Conference champions are named based only on how those teams did in conference play. When it comes to seeding teams for the NCAA playoffs, conference champions qualify automatically but receive no special placement (or even a guarantee of a home game, where applicable) because of their championship. Teams' overall record (along with strength of schedule) determines where they sit in the NCAA brackets.

So, it seems really odd to give NFL division champions a home game, yet base that designation on their sixteen-game record, not just how they did against the three teams in their particular division. And furthermore, these divisions are artificial constructs. Unlike the Big Ten, SEC, and their brethren, NFL divisions are nothing more than eight quasi-regional groupings of 32 roughly equal teams. Divisions lack the same personalities or traditions of collegiate conferences.

Furthermore, with only four teams per division, one of whom is guaranteed a home game, there is a significant risk that a team will get a home game simply by being a mediocre team that was grouped in. It's bad enough that the divisional structure allows an 8-8 team to make the postseason when a 10-6 team can theoretically be left out, but it's worse that the 8-8 team would get a home game while the 11-5 wild card team would have to hit the road.

As a result, the Giants must travel to Tampa this weekend as punishment for being placed in the same division as the Dallas Cowboys, while the Bucs are rewarded simply because they had a better season than the Falcons, Saints, and Panthers. It really doesn't matter how the Bucs did in relation to the other 28 teams and I think that's wrong.

The following picks are for entertainment purposes only and should not be the basis for any actual cash wagers.

Last Week: 5-10-1
Season To Date: 115-129-12
Best Bets: 10-7
Final Eliminator: 14-3 (Streak: W 5)
The Monkey: 8-6-3

Redskins (+3) over Seahawks
While the Skins have been riding late-season momentum and seem downright invincible at this point, the Seahawks probably wouldn't have even made the playoffs if they were an AFC team. If Sean Taylor's murder couldn't keep the Skins down, the Seahawks sure won't be able to do so. LOSS

Jaguars (-3) over Steelers
Don't we already know how this game turns out? Of course, with several key injuries to the Steelers, it won't be nearly as close as it was two weeks ago. LOSS

Bucs (-3) over Giants
Every team that gave the Patriots a run for their money this year (all of which, need I point out, were unsuccessful) has found itself on the tail end of the game they played the next week. It happened to the Ravens, Eagles, and Jets, so I have to imagine the same fate will befall the Giants on Sunday. LOSS

Chargers (-10.5) over Titans
If the Titans could only manage a six-point win against Jim Sorgi and the Colts backups (particularly when their failure to call a last-minute time-out showed exactly how much they cared about that game), they don't have a prayer against the Chargers' starters. WIN

BEST BET: Jaguars (-3) over Steelers LOSS

THE MONKEY: Giants (+3) over Bucs WIN