The Chargers,Saints Go Marching Into London; Bills To Play Annually in Toronto

The NFL has announced that the New Orleans Saints will be playing London for the 2008 season. They will go up against the Chargers. The game will be on October 26, 2008 at Wembley Stadium. The NFL is hoping they can spread the popularity of America's game into Europe.

The Buffalo Bills starting this season will play one annual game in Toronto through 2012. They will be playing in the Rogers Centre, a domed-stadium with a retractable roof.

Both were to be announced during Super Bowl week.

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Roose's Championship Sunday predictions

Well I went 2-2 this past week, killing my perfect bracket. I also lost my championship pick with Indianapolis. I've been thinking about this week already after the Giants win over Dallas. Do I want to go with an upset or do I want to go with the home teams. Both home teams (New England and Green Bay) play in the frozen tundras.

AFC: The Patriots have been perfect. They are 17-0 and 2 games away from history. They already tied the '72 Dolphins by winning their first 17 games and they are one win shy of being tied with the '85 Bears' total of 18 in a season and playoffs. They go up against the #3 Chargers who upset the defending champion Colts. The Pats are fully healthy while the Ladanian Tomlinson (hyper extension) and Phillip Rivers (sprained meniscus) are both questionable for Sunday's game. Antonia Gates has also been battling injuries in the playoffs. Look for a low scoring game as San Diego's defense, especially Shaun Merriman look for revenge after last year in the AFC championship game. If LT is having problems with his knee, look for back-up Michael Turner to see plenty of touches. The Pats offense is explosive. Tom Brady is the best in the league, Lawrence Maroney and Kevin Faulk are a dangerous duo, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Dante Stallworth are a dangerous trio to defend, and the defense is tough to do anything on. I have the Patriots winning 21-10.

NFC: The #2 Packers emerged victorious last week with a big win over Seattle as the Seahawks couldn't handle the snow and wind. Brett Favre is riding this record-breaking season to another championship game. He will look to cap it off with a ring. The Giants are coming off of a huge win in Texas as the Cowboys struggles near the end of the season and in the playoffs again. Romo can't seem to get his first win as a starter and T.O. needs a box of tissues. Maybe Jessica Simpson can cheer him up. The Packers are a very balanced team. They have Ryan Grant in the backfield, Favre at the reigns, solid receivers in Donald Driver and Greg Jennings, and a good defense with a great secondary. The Giants have young but inconsistent QB in Eli Manning, a very strong running game with Brandon Jacobs, weapons for Eli, and a vicious run defense. If the secondary plays their game for both teams, the scoring will be low as well. I still have the Packers 20-10.

Look for a repeat of Super Bowl XXXI with hopefully the same outcome.

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Roose's Playoff Predictions - Divisional

OK after a 4-0 Wild card week for me, I correctly picked New York, Seattle, Jacksonville, and San Diego to move on to the Divisional round. We already had 2 "upsets" with wild card Giants and Jags winning. Will a few more upsets occur? I picked no as the #1 and #2 seeds should advance to face eachother in the Conference championships.

AFC: The AFC is featuring 2 very anticipated match ups. The first of these is the Saturday game, #5 Jacksonville at #1 New England. After a 16-0 season, the first of it's kind, the Patriots are the pretty pick ot win it all. They have a tough road ahead of them as the other 3 AFC teams are very tough as well as the winner of the NFC. The Jaguars are known for beating good teams as they have proven in the past. Their no-name defense and ground-oriented offense could pose a threat to NE. The Pats are favored heavily but the under-estimated Jaguars will keep it close but fail.
Pick: NE over JAX

The Sunday game features the #3 Chargers, who are coming off a close game against Tennessee, versus the #2 Colts, who are now healthy and ready to defend their championship. The Colts quietly went 13-3, while the Patriots took all the spot light. The Colts enjoy being the under-dog. With Marvin Harrison back, all Peyton needs to do is find his ryhthm with him and they will lock up victory. The Chargers don't seem to stand a chance unless LT can run all over the defensive line who is featuring the return of Dwight Freeny.
Pick: IND over SD

NFC: The Saturday game features the #3 Seahawks going to Lambeu Field to face #2 Green Bay Packers. Brett Favre is looking to cap off a magical season, and probably career, with a Super Bowl ring. The Seahawks, who got 14 of their points from the defense last week, needed the whole game to put away the fighting Redskins. Hasselback has shown he is an interception machine and with the secondary the Packers have, it could get worse. The run defense, led by AJ Hawk and Nick Barnett will look to shut down the inconsitent Shaun Alexander. Look for domination as Green Bay wins easily.
Pick: GB over SEA

The Sunday game will be played in the great state of Texas (yea ok) where bad presidents come from. The #5 Giants look to knock off hated rival #1 Dallas. Going into the final weeks of the season, Dallas has played awful, getting shut down by Philadelphia, a team absent from the playoffs, and Washington, a team getting knocked out last week. Tony Romo has been very poor to finish off the regular season while T.O. got hurt in week 16. He is expected to play and maybe his efforts will be "heroic." The Giants are coming off of a solid win over Tampa but another inconsitent QB, Eli Manning, is leading them. He could wind up throwing 3 TD's or 3 picks. He needs to prove if he really is as tough as his Ecko Citizens watch.
Pick: DAL over NY

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Perfect the first round

I went perfect my first round of playoffs successfully picking Seattle, Jacksonville, New York, and San Diego to move on. In a few days I will write next weeks picks for the Divisional round. Will the 1 and 2 seeds prevail or will they be upset by one of these four winners.

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