Joe Gibbs retiring should not have surprised anyone at all. I know he said he intended to fulfill his entire contract, but the operative word there is intended. His grandson, who wasn’t even born when Coach Gibbs signed the contract, has leukemia. Also, he is 67 years old and still an active force in his NASCAR team. A team who switched from Chevrolet to Toyota this year and if you know anything about NASCAR, you know that’s going to take a lot of P.R. babysitting. The question now is, what does Daniel Snyder do??

Daniel Snyder Washington Redskins NFL FootballI predict this will be the most painful coaching search Dan Snyder has ever gone through. He has to get a huge name and there just aren’t any available. Cowher isn’t coming back this year and he’s already been down the Schottenheimer road. The best candidates are already on his payroll in Al Saunders and Greg Williams, but mark my words, he won’t think they’re big enough. In the end, I think he will go through this long drawn out search and decide on Williams, but he won’t be happy about it.

Now on with the “take ‘em to the bank” picks for the divisional round of the playoffs.

 

Brett Favre Green Bay Packers NFL FootballSeattle at Green Bay
Even though I’m not completely sold on the Packers, I do think they will find a way to get past the Seahawks at home Saturday. The Seahawks are showing too much reverence for Brett Favre and the Packers in general for my liking. I’d rather see them with a little bit of an edge rather than the butt kissing everyone is doing. I think Favre will have a good enough game to get Green Bay another home game next week.

Jacksonville at New England
NO, I don’t think the Jaguars are going to beat the Patriots in Foxboro Saturday night. And YES, I think it will be a close hard fought game. It’s not in Jacksonville’s DNA to get blown out now. They have too much confidence after their win last week in Pittsburgh. The Patriots are simply too rested and too good to falter in this round though. They may lose, but it won’t be in this game. I’ll take the Pats, 31-27.

Please come back tomorrow for the other two picks and some more thoughts from the game that we all love…to fuss about!!