Going into week 15 of the 2009 NFL season, the NFC playoff picture is pretty clear. Four teams have already clinched a spot in the NFC playoffs; they are the Saints (13-1), Vikings (11-3), Cardinals (9-5) and Eagles (10-4). Three other teams are in the hunt for the final two NFC playoff spots, they include the Cowboys (9-5), Packers (9-5) and the Giants (8-6).

Here is the NFC playoff picture going into week 15 of the NFL season:

New Orleans Saints (13-1)

• Clinched the the NFC South and a first-round bye
• Clinches homefield advantage throughout the NFC playoffs with:
  A win or tie OR
  Minnesota loss or tie

Minnesota Vikings (11-3)

• Clinched NFC North
• Clinches first-round bye with:
  A win and Philadelphia loss or tie OR
  A tie and Philadelphia loss

Arizona (9-5)

• Clinched NFC West

Philadelphia (10-4)

• Clinched a playoff spot
• Clinches NFC East with:
  A win and Dallas loss or tie OR
  A tie and Dallas loss

Green Bay Packers (9-5)

• Clinches a playoff spot with:
  A win and Giants loss or tie OR
  A win and Dallas loss OR
  A tie and Giants loss

Dallas Cowboys (9-5)

• Clinches a playoff spot with:
  win and Giants loss or tie OR
  tie and Giants loss

The New York Giants are still in the NFC playoff picture but it will take a loss by both the Packers AND Cowboys over the next three weeks in order for them to have a chance.

sources: NY Daily News, nfl.com, espn.com

The Philadelphia Eagles are destined to join their baseball counterparts, the Philadelphia Phillies, and add another championship to the city of brother love. On Sunday, January 18, 2009, the Eagles will dominate the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC Championship game and head to the Super Bowl XLIII. 

The Eagles convincingly defeated their NFC rival, New York Giants, last week to advance the NFC Championship. 

Tomorrow, expect the Eagles defense to be in the face of the Cardinals QB, Kurt Warner and hold one of the most explosive passing games in the NFL to single digit points.  The Eagles QB, Donovan McNabb and running back Brian Westbrook will do enough to take them to the Super Bowl.

GAME INFO

Date: Sunday, January 18, 2009 3:00 PM EST
Location: U of Phoenix, Glendale, AZ    TV: FOX

THE SPREAD
The Eagles are the favorite by 4 points. Over/Under is 49 1/2 points.

GAME PREVIEW AND TRENDS
In the last meeting between the two teams, the Eagles dominated on Thanksgiving Day 48-20.That victory provided a spark for the Eagles, as they won four of their last five regular season games, outscoring opponents by an average of 23.0 points in those wins.

Philadelphia still needed help in Week 17 to make the playoffs, and it has taken full advantage of its opportunity.

The Eagles trounced Dallas 44-6 in their regular-season finale to clinch the No. 6 seed, then beat Minnesota 26-14 in a wild-card game before defeating the New York Giants 23-11 in last Sunday’s divisional game.

While that Thanksgiving win got Philadelphia’s season back on track, Arizona’s loss led to an awful late-season finish for what is historically one of the league’s worst franchises.

The Cardinals dropped four of their last six regular season games. Their only wins in that span came against St. Louis and Seattle - teams which combined for a 6-26 record - and they were outscored by an average of 24.3 points in those losses.

Although it won the weak NFC West and had won only two playoff games in their history prior to this season, the Cardinals have been at their best in this postseason and now become the first No. 4 seed to host a conference championship game.

They had been the only NFC team not to play in one since the 1970 merger before pulling off a win few saw coming. Arizona traveled to Carolina for last Sunday’s divisional game as a 10-point underdog, but raced to a 27-7 halftime lead en route to a 33-13 win over the Panthers, the league’s only unbeaten team at home in the regular season.

“Not many people had very nice things to say about us and didn’t give us a chance,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “We believe in ourselves. I like being the underdog, and we’re going to continue to be the underdog.”

Arizona will be the underdog again, as oddsmakers made the Eagles as 4 point favorites.

The Cardinals are 7-2 at home this season, including a 30-24 win over Atlanta in the wild-card round, but Philadelphia is not going to be intimidated.

After winning just three road games during the regular season, the Eagles have had no trouble playing away from Philadelphia in the postseason. They’ve already won at the Metrodome, where the Vikings were 6-2 during the regular season, and at Giants Stadium, where New York was 7-1.

Philadelphia had success at Minnesota and against the Giants thanks to a swarming, suffocating defense.

The Eagles have forced five turnovers and allowed 322 passing yards in the postseason. Philadelphia had the league’s third-ranked defense during the regular season (274.3 yards per game), and has allowed just four TDs in the past six games.

“We’re going to be close in every game because we aren’t going to give up those type of big plays and hopefully that gives the offense confidence to make whatever call they want whenever they want to call it because they trust us not to give up a lot of points,” Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins said.

Shutting down Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald may not be as easy.

The Cardinals thrive on big plays behind Kurt Warner and Fitzgerald. They hooked up for a 42-yard touchdown in Arizona’s wild-card win and a 29-yard TD last week.

The Eagles, though, did a solid job of slowing down Warner and Fitzgerald in their Thanksgiving meeting. Warner threw for three touchdowns but also had three interceptions, while Fitzgerald was held to five catches for 65 yards, though he did score twice.

Last week, Fitzgerald set a team playoff record with 166 yards receiving even though Warner was missing one of his deep threats in wide receiver Anquan Boldin.

Boldin, nursing a strained left hamstring, returned to practice this week and said he will play Sunday.

While Arizona relies on its high-scoring offense, the Cardinals defense has surprisingly stepped up in the playoffs. Arizona was 19th in total defense during the regular season (331.5 ypg), but has limited its two playoff opponents to an average of 259.5 yards.

The Cardinals held Atlanta’s Michael Turner, the No. 2 rusher in the regular season, to 42 yards and Carolina’s DeAngelo Williams, the league’s No. 3 rusher, to 63 yards. Arizona also intercepted Jake Delhomme five times last week, and has forced nine turnovers in the playoffs.

“We feel like we’re a solid defense,” Cardinals defensive end Bertrand Berry said. “We have some guys out here who can make plays. It’s just a matter of putting it all together for 60 minutes on Sunday. If we can do that, the sky’s the limit.”

Arizona had no answer for Philadelphia’s Brian Westbrook on Thanksgiving, though, as the versatile running back rushed for 110 yards on 22 carries and scored a career-high four touchdowns - two rushing and two receiving.

Westbrook hasn’t been much of a factor on the ground in the playoffs, as he has rushed for just 74 yards on 38 carries. He did come up with a big play in the fourth quarter of the wild-card win, though, scoring a 71-yard touchdown off a screen pass.

GAME PREDICTION
Philadelphia Eagles 21  Arizona Cardinals 3

sources: nfl.com, espn.com, thespread.com, fox.com

On Thursday, December 11, we predicted the Bears would win 24-20. The Bears did win in overtime by a final score of 27-24. The Bears were favorited by 3 points and our pick resulted in a push.  In our last 8 NFL picks we are 7-0-1 against the spread.  An pretty impressive record. 

In our best bet pick for Sunday, December 14 - Week 15 of the NFL football season, we are picking the San Francisco 49ers over the Miami Dolphins.

GAME INFO
Teams: San Francisco 49ers vs. Miami Dolphins

Date: Sunday, Dec 14, 2008
Kickoff: 1:00 pm EST
Teams: Location: Dolphin Stadium, Miami Florida
TV: Fox

THE LINE (Daily Line for Saturday, December 13)
The CURRENT line of 3 of 4 top bookmakers favorites the Dolphins by 6 points. (1 bookmaker has the Dolphins giving up 7 points)
All four of the bookmakers share the CURRENT Under/Over points line of 41 1/2

THE MATCHUP
The 49ers are 5-8 overall, 2-4 on the road, 2-3 in the NFC West and 3-7 in the NFC
The Dolhpins are 8-5 overall, 4-3 at home, 3-2 in the AFC Eat and 6-4 in the AFC

LAST WEEK
The Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills by the score of 16-3.  The defeat of the Bills practically eliminated them from the post season with a record of 6-7.

The San Francisco 49ers beat the New York Jets 24-14.  An impressive win for the 49ers and their interim coach Mike Singletary. 

AGAINST THE SPREAD (ATS)
49ers
6-7 ATS Overall
3-3 ATS away
4-6 ATS as underdog
3-3 ATS as an away underdog

Dolphins
6-7 ATS Overall
2-5 ATS at home
0-4 ATS as favorite
0-3 ATS as a home favorite

PREVIEW
The San Francisco 49ers are playing hard for interim coach - Mike Singletary.  These last few games will make the difference in him backing back as the full-time coach next year.  The 49ers QB change to Shaun Hill has paid off.  It has made the offense more balanced. He has thrown for 11 touchdowns and with only 4 interceptions.

The Miami Dolphins are coming off a 1-15 season and have made a tremendous turnaround by acquiring QB Chad Pennington, who was released by the Jets after the signing of Bred Favre.  Both those teams are benefitting from the moves.  Miami’s the long misunderstood, ganja smoking, previously suspended running back Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown have led a successful running attack for the Dolphins this year.

KEYS TO THE GAME
The San Francisco 49ers are out of the post season but they are playing hard for Mike Singletary. Last week they beat the AFC East leading New York Jets 24-14.  They played tenacious defense and scored enough points to win.   This week the 49ers play another AFC East team in the Miami Dolphins.

If the 49ers Frank Gore is healthy and can run for a 100 yards, the Dolphins are in for a rough day. On the flip side, if Ricky Williams and Chad Pennington both have big games, the 49ers will fall short.
INJURIES (as of 12/12/08)
49ers
Arnax Battle WR (foot) is OUT
Frank Core RB (ankle) is QUESTIONABLE
Nate Clemens CB (thumb) and Josh Morgan WR (groin) are PROBABLE

Dolphins
No Injuries

PREDICTION
Miami Dolphins 21, San Francisco 49ers 17

We cannot believe that the current line favors the Miami Dolphins by 7 points.  The 49ers are playing for respect and believe in their coach - Mike Singletary.  Although the Dolphins are tied with the Jets and the Patriots, we just can’t see them winning by more than 7 points. We emphasize the point that both teams a little of 21 points a game.  

The QB situation is also a major reason for our prediction.  49ers QB Shaun Hill has thrown 10 TDS with only 4 interceptions while Dolphins QB, Chad Pennington has thrown for 8 TDS but thrown 11 interceptions - not good!

Finally, the Dolphins “reverse-perfect” record against the spread: ATS favorite (0-4) and a home ATS favorite (0-3) record make this an obvious best bet for the week.

But this is NFL football and anything can happpen (especially with the officiating these days).