Green Bay at San Francisco (-2.5)<\/p>\n
By far the hardest game to predict this weekend.\u00a0 The Machine has gone back and forth on this one.\u00a0 On the one hand, the Packers are red hot, and hot at the right time.\u00a0 Who cares if you can\u2019t name their starting running back?\u00a0 Over the last four games, Aaron Rodgers has 11 tds and 0 ints.\u00a0 Rodgers has quietly put together an MVP-like season, throwing for nearly 4,300 yards, 39 tds, and 8 ints, and that\u2019s not including the 274\/1\/0 he put up against the Vikes last week.\u00a0 Defense has been their weakness this year, but they are healthy and held Adrian Peterson to under 100 yards last week (after giving up over 400 yards to AP during the regular season).<\/p>\n
On the other hand, you have the 49ers.\u00a0 Hands down, the best D in the league.\u00a0 They are faster, nastier, and hit harder than any other team (and we all know defense wins championships).\u00a0 Their coach is the most intense man in the NFL (The Machine can\u2019t tell if he\u2019s smiling or dropping a deuce) and he clearly will do anything to win now (just ask Alex Smith).\u00a0 On offense, they run hard and run often, finishing 4th<\/sup> in the league at more than 155 yards a game.\u00a0 Coach Harbaugh made the gutsiest call of the year, handing the reigns over to Colin Kaepernick mid-season (check out The Machine\u2019s exclusive coverage of that here).\u00a0 And while it\u2019s easy to say the experiment worked out (the Niners won the NFC West and got a first round bye) the numbers aren\u2019t as clear.<\/p>\n Remarkably, Smith and Kaepernick each attempted 218 passes, which makes it ridiculously easy to compare them.\u00a0 Kaepernick went for 1,814\/10\/3 for a solid QB rating of 98.3 (and 9 fumbles).\u00a0 Smith was 1,737\/13\/5 and 4 fumbles, for a QB rating of 104.1.\u00a0 So who\u2019s better?\u00a0 While Smith has slightly better numbers this year, the answer is: it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 With a premier running game and defense, all you need is a QB with a decent arm and a heartbeat (similar to The Machine\u2019s taste in women\u2026sorry to all my female amputee fans).<\/p>\n And, these teams already played each other this year, with San Francisco winning 30-22 in Green Bay.\u00a0 But that was soooo Week 1.<\/p>\n With a match up this close, it all comes down to storylines, and there is no better storyline than this:\u00a0 Revenge.\u00a0 Who could forget 2005, when the Niners, holding the #1 pick in the draft, selected Alex Smith over Aaron Rodgers, a NoCal native whose favorite team growing up was San Francisco.\u00a0 Rodgers (painfully) sat in the green room and inexplicably fell all the way to 24.\u00a0 Obviously, Aaron Rodgers, with his Super Bowl ring, Super Bowl MVP, regular season MVP, Associated Press Athlete of the Year, and discount double-check, is the better quarterback than the now-backup Smith.\u00a0 So perhaps Aaron isn\u2019t mad anymore\u2026I mean, it was almost 8 years ago.\u00a0 But then The Machine stumbled upon this<\/a>, and this<\/a>, and realized this:<\/p>\n Aaron Rodgers has been waiting for this day since April 23, 2005.\u00a0 He has been biding his time, knowing, hoping, that this day would come.\u00a0 Where he could go back home, into the stadium where he wanted to play, in front of his family and friends and, more importantly, the front office executives of the Niners, and make those fuckers pay, and pay dearly.<\/p>\n Rodgers is going to come out fired up, like Ray Lewis out of the tunnel fired up.\u00a0 He will inspire his defense to play better.\u00a0 Although listed as probable, Justin Smith and his floppy triceps will prevent the Niners from getting the consistent up front pressure they\u2019ll need to contain Rodgers.\u00a0 This will give Aaron enough time in the pocket to find his healthy stable of receivers.\u00a0 It will also open up some running lanes for him as well (yes, we\u2019re calling a rushing td for him too).<\/p>\n While The Machine (at least Ginger King) has not done well picking against the Niners this year, the playoffs are all about who\u2019s hot, and right now, no one\u2019s hotter than the Packers and Aaron Rodgers.\u00a0 Add on top of that the powerful motivator of revenge, and this has upset written all over it.\u00a0 Take the Pack with points (and throw some on the money line too).<\/p>\n Green Bay 24, San Francisco 20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Green Bay at San Francisco (-2.5) By far the hardest game to predict this weekend.\u00a0 The Machine has gone back and forth on this one.\u00a0 On the one hand, the Packers are red hot, and hot at the right time.\u00a0 … Continue reading