The Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts meet on Saturday in a 2010 AFC Divisional Playoff game. The Ravens advanced to this AFC Divisional game by beating the New England Patriots in their AFC Wild Card matchup last week. The Colts are the AFC South Division Champions, are the AFC number 1 seed and have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Colts are favored by 6.5 points and the under/over is 46.5 points.

The Colts had a chance at an undefeated season going into week 15 but the team decided to rest their starters in the second half against the Jets. The result was a Jets win and the end to the Colts run at 16-0. Colts fans were angry about the move but the Colts management stuck to their decision to rest the starters to give them the best chance at ascertaining their goal – a Super Bowl win. The Colts ended up 14-2 and haven’t played a meaningful game in over a month. So the Colts could be rusty coming into this Divisional playoff matchup with the Ravens.

The Ravens are coming off an impressive win against Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots. The Ravens caused Pats QB Tom Brady to throw for 3 interceptions and 1 fumble. RB Ray Rice had an 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage and the Ravens never looked back. The final score of that AFC Wild Card game was 33-14.

Ravens QB Joe Flacco has thrown ofr 21 TDs 12 INTs for a 63.1% completion percentage. Colts QB Payton Manning has thrown for 33 TDs 16 INTs and a completion percentage of 68.8.

The Ravens hold the rushing advantage over the Colts (who are rated last in the NFL in rushing). Former Rutger standout Ray Rice is averaging 5.3 yard per carry and has scored 7 TDs; he also leads the team in receptions with 78 for 702 yards and 1 TD.

But the Colts passing offense is absolutely devastating. The Colts WR Reggie Wayne and TE Dallas Clark both have 100 receptions, 10 TDs and over 1000 receiving yards.

Although the Ravens have the momentum and the Colts may be rusty, the Colts passing offense will be too much for the Ravens defense. The Ravens will win but will not cover the spread.

Thenflthisweek.com Prediction

Colts 31 Ravens 28

The New York Jets take on the San Diego Chargers in the 2010 AFC Divisional Playoffs on Sunday in San Diego. The Jets advanced to the AFC Divisional Playoff game after beating the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Wildcard game last week 24 -14. The Chargers are the AFC West Champions, are the 2nd seed in the AFC and enjoyed a bye on AFC Wild Card weekend.

The Jets come into this Divisional playoff game as a heavy underdog (Jets +7 under/over 42 points). That’s a huge spread for a playoff game – but spreads are made to be broken. And Thenflthisweek.com predicts that not only will the Jets beat the spread, they will win the game outright. Here’s why:

As everyone now knows, the Jets are #1 in team defense and 1st against the pass; they also have the #1 rushing offense. The Jets QB Mark Sanchez threw 20 interceptions in the regular season but hasn’t thrown one in the last 3 games. The Jets starting running back, Thomas Jones has a banged-up knee and was limited to 15 carries and 34 yards against the Bengals last week. However, rookie RB Shonn Green picked up the slack and rushed for 135 yards. Sanchez has two good receivers in Jericho Cotchery and Braylon Edwards.

The Chargers are the hottest team in the NFL and the winners of 11 straight. They have captured their 4th straight AFC West championship and will be rested from the bye last week.

Chargers QB Phillips Rivers is ranked 3rd in the NFL in QB passing rating with a 104.4. He completed over 65% of his passes for over 4200 yards and 28 TDs. Rivers has a exceptional retrieving corps in Vincent Jackson, Malcolm Floyd and Antonio Gates. And don’t forget they have running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

Many NFL analysts and armchair quarterbacks believe that the Chargers will win the game. Others believe that for the Jets to pull an upset, its up to the Jets defense to stop the powerful Chargers offense. We disagree!

The key to a Jets win is their #1 rated rushing attack. The Jets offense must be able to keep drives alive by running the ball and taking time off the clock. They must keep Rivers and the Chargers offense off the field. If the Jets rushing attack is successful it opens up the chances of Sanchez taking advantage of the play action pass for some big plays.

To a lesser extent, the Jets Defense must stop the Chargers running threat, LaDainian Tomlinson. If they can do that, the Jets could take advantage of their #1 ranked defense against the pass. This will allow them to play man-to-man and put heavy pressure on Rivers and force turnovers.

The Jets have something else going for them, it’s the Chargers bad karma in the playoffs. In 2006 they won 10 straight going into the playoffs then were cut down by New England Patriots in the AFC Divisional Playoffs. In 2007 they won 8 in a row before losing to the Patriots again in the AFC Conference Title game. And last year, they upset the Colts in the Wild Card matchup and lost to the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

And finally, the Jets have the momentum, confidence and belief they can go all the way to the Super Bowl.

Thenflthisweek.com Prediction:

Jets 35 Chargers 31

The AFC East Division champion New England Patriots (10-6) host the AFC wild card winner Baltimore Ravens (9-7) in the second AFC matchup of Wildcard Weekend. If you’re a betting man, you can bet on the Patriots winning this one and moving on to the second week of the AFC playoffs.

The Patriots certainly aren’t the same team they were in their Superbowl seasons of 2001, 2003 and 2004. But they still have arguably the best active coach in the NFL – Bill Belichick. They also have future hall-of-famer Tom Brady leading the offense. One impressive stat that stands out is the Belichick-Brady combo have a 14-3 playoff record.

The Baltimore Ravens are lead by sophomore coach-QB combo of John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco. In 2008, the Ravens stunned the masses by not only making the playoffs but advancing to the 2008 AFC Championship game. However, in 2009 they barely beat the Oakland Raiders to win one of the two wildcard spots. And since the departure of defensive coordinator Rex Ryan (Now the Jets coach), the Ravens defense just isn’t the same.

The New England Patriots offense does have one big issue to overcome. They will operate without their star WR Wes Welker (placed on injured reserve). But Thenflthisweek.com believes that the combination of Patriots future hall-of-fame WR Randy Moss and rookie WR Julian Edelman should be able to pickup most of the slack left by Welker’s absence. The Pats also have a multitude of running backs in Kevin Faulk, Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris available to carry the ball.

Don’t be misled by the Ravens offense. QB Joe Flacco has a complement of talent to help move the ball in RB Ray Rice, WR Derrick Mason and TE Todd Heap. But based on his 2009 regular season statistics, QB Flacco is not as effective on the road as he is at home.

The Patriots are favored by 3.5 points with the under/over is 43 points.

The combination and playoff history of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady is the determining factor in our prediction.

Thenflthisweek.com AFC playoff prediction

Patriots 21 Ravens 17