Rugby for fairies, Divisional Playoff, Sunday game 1

Carolina laid an egg. East of Tucson, who would have believed it?

To blame that loss on Delhomme doesn't give full credit to the Cards. The real problem was that the Panthers couldn't stick the one guy they had to stick. Warner and Fitzgerald carved up the Panthers' repeatedly blown coverage. The birds took the game to the Panthers. The Panthers, always on the back foot, had no answer. Down 14 - 7 and sensing his team was already in trouble, he summoned his inner Brett Favre. This game was over when Delhomme threw that pick. The rest of it was a train wreck.

I write off that one...I wouldn't have gone near that game. After splitting yesterday, it leaves us 3 - 3, same as flipping a coin.

GIANTS (-4) over Eagles - People are putting a lot of stock in the Eagles' earlier victory at the Meadowlands. At this point, that means as much as the Titans' regular season victory over the Ravens, the Panthers' regular season victory over the Cardinals and the Steelers' regular season victory over the Chargers.

The Giants have to worry that, lacking the difference-maker that Plaxico has been against the Eagles, the Eagles will stack the box to dare E. Manning to beat them through the air. The perception is that this is a suspect receiving corps and, without someone who can make plays, much less someone who can bail out E. Manning when he throws up a chicken, he can once again be rattled.

Further, in the past, we could always count on both McNabb and Reid to blow the game. Now that Reid seems to have lit a fire under McNabb's ass by benching him, we can only count on Reid to do the honors. That's still enough.

It's also thought that the home-field advantage is neutralized by playing another northeast-based team. I disagree there. The Giants have lost three playoff games in Giants Stadium. None of those teams- L.A. Rams (SoCal), Vikings (dome), Panthers (53 degrees in Charlotte at game time last night- play(ed) in their home games in the cold. I've seen the Giants dominate the 'skins, Bears and Eagles (not to mention the rapes of the Niners and Vikings).

With that in mind, I don't think the Eagles will shut down the Giants' running game suffient to tee off on E. Manning. I see the Giants winning this by 7 - 10 points.