Super Bowl XLVII Pick

So it has all come down to this: the San Francisco 49ers will be playing the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans. Lots of people are picking the 49ers, and lots of people are picking the Ravens. We'll get to who I'm picking in a bit; first the results from 2 weeks ago.
I finished 1-1 picking the Conference Championships. Both were pretty good games, with the 49ers/Falcons game being the more entertaining of the two. I'd make an assumption that I wasn't the only one surprised with the Ravens/Patriots result, but the Patriots played poorly against an excellent Ravens defense. The Falcons looked like they were going to win for a while, but blew a 17 point lead as the 49ers never quit. I do think this game will be low scoring, but ultimately the 49ers defense showed more holes than the Ravens'. With that, on to the pick:

Super Bowl XLVII
Baltimore Ravens over San Francisco 49ers, 23-16


Previous Results
Week 4: 12-3
Week 5: 10-4
Week 6: 5-9
Week 7: 12-1
Week 8: 6-8
Week 9: 11-3
Week 10: 10-3-1
Week 11: 12-2
Week 12: 8-8
Week 13: 9-7
Week 14: 10-6
Week 15: 10-6
Week 16: 11-5
Week 17: 9-7
Total: 135-72-1 (65%)

Wild Card: 3-1
Divisional: 2-2
Conference: 1-1
Total: 6-4 (60%)

Surprise NFL stat of the season so far

Just found out, thanks to the info button from Comcast, that the Texans and Ravens are the ONLY two teams with winning records in the AFC; the NFC has 7. Both at 5-1, the teams are playing each other right now, with Houston easily handling Baltimore.



And I don't think I've said it publicly, but let me go on record and say that the Houston Texans are my second favorite team, aside from the Eagles of course.

Eagles vs. Ravens: Behind the Numbers

Another week of "Behind the Numbers" and another Eagles win! Again it wasn't pretty, but a win is a win is a win. The Birds are now 2-0, flying solo at the top of the NFC East. If you missed last week's BtN, check it out here; now on to Week 2 against the Baltimore Ravens.

Obviously this week wasn't as dominating for the Eagles, though it did result in another 1 point win. After last week's sloppy game against a sub-par team, this week's battle against the Ravens was billed as a challenge. There's no way the Birds could play as sloppy as they did last week, right? Wrong. While they definitely played a slightly cleaner game, Michael Vick threw another 2 picks and fumbled; LeSean McCoy fumbled again, already doubling his total from all of last season. Penalties were reduced, but still an issue of concern. In the end, Vick led another late 4th quarter comeback (second in as many weeks) to defeat Joe Flacco (abysmal in the 2nd half) and the Ravens 24-23. Stat analysis after the jump...

Texans win first ever playoff game, have best NFL playoff winning percentage

Sure, they're only 1 for 1, but it's good for a 1.000 winning percentage.  Despite being forced to start their third-string quarterback, the Texans (backed by great defense) played well enough to easily beat the Bengals 31-10.  Congrats to my second favorite team, and good luck next week against the Ravens!