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Hello everyone.  Hope everyone is having a good week and is looking forward to the NFL playoffs which kick off on Saturday.  One quick note before we go to that, congrats to Peyton Manning for winning his 3rd NFL MVP award.  He is very deserving of this award, especially with the slow start that the Colts go off to and all of the injuries that they endured over the course of the season.  He may not have had his best season statistically, but Manning probably played the best football he's ever played this season.  But anyhow, let's turn our attention to Saturday's games as we take a look at "Wild Card Saturday":

Atlanta Falcons @ Arizona Cardinals 4:30 ET NBC

If you picked these two teams as a playoff matchup at the beginning of the season, you're lieing.  The Atlanta Falcons have been the surprise team of the year (yes over the Dolphins) and they have perhaps the best back-up running back turned starting RB in Michael "the burner" Turner.  Offensive ROY Matt Ryan hasn't played as great in the last few weeks as he did earlier in the season, but he is poised and ready to make a run in the postseason.  The Cardinals since clinching the NFC West in what seems like months are coming off of a 2-4 stretch and needed to play most of their starters last week against the Seahawks just to gain a little momentum heading into the postseason.  They feel disrespected by people who say that they don't deserve to be in the postseason, but will that transfer to the field on Sunday.  Edgerrin James ran his mouth to ESPN's Bob Holtzman earlier Friday about how he would not return to Arizona next year even though he has one year left on his deal.  Now is probably not the time to say that.  Kurt Warner has a lot of playoff experience on a team that hasn't seen the playoffs since the 1998 season.  Will that help the Cardinals?  Well with a healthy Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, that certaintly should help the Cardinals chances.  However, the key matchup in this game is the Cardinals defense vs. Michael Turner.  If the Cardinals defense can bottle up Turner and force Matt Ryan to convert on third and long and make big plays, things should bode well for the Cardinals.  However, if Michael Turner controls the line of scrimage and chews off clock, the Falcons will win.  They are favored, like all road teams are this weekend, and I think they pull this one out.  The dream season/miracle season/magical carpet ride continues for the Falcons.

Prediction: Falcons 27 Cardinals 20

Indianapolis Colts @ San Diego Chargers 8:00 ET NBC

This is perhaps the best of the wild card matchups.  Newly crowned MVP Peyton Manning leads the hottest team in the NFL to San Diego to take on the surging Chargers who have won four in a row, and thanks to a Denver collpase, (including the beat down by the Chargers last week), the 8-8 Chargers are hosting a playoff game.  But LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates are not 100%, and the Chargers need them to be to beat the Colts.  This is a rematch of a game played earlier this year, a game won by the Colts.  However, the Colts have had a difficult time in recent years of beating the Chargers in the playoffs (see last year, and two years before that).  But both of those games were played in Indianapolis.  And you know Peyton Manning is going to have his team ready to play.  The Chargers are the proud owners of 31st ranked pass defense, a dubious stat, that the Colts are bound to notice and take advantage of.  It is a shame that two of the hottest teams in the AFC have to face each other on wild card weekend, but that is what has happened.  This should be a great game.

Prediction: Colts 27 Chargers 17

Well that is all I have for now.  I'll be back later with a preview of Sunday's Wild Card games so stay tuned for that.  Enjoy the great games on Saturday.  Until next time, c ya.