A Sports Filled Weekend Ahead

Eight teams remain alive in the NFL playoffs. Four games this weekend will set up the conference championships. Some of our contestants – the New England Patriots, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons – all enjoyed a bye and now jump back into action.

This ought to be good. It ought to, but we are not in the guarantee business here. You just never know.

Please plop your heiner in the recliner and get ready for a couple of NFL doubleheaders, plus a few other events that may rattle your retinas. Let’s do football first.

Saturday brings us the Seattle Seahawks (11-5-1) at the Falcons (11-5). The Seahawks are a very different team on the road (3-4-1), where they do not enjoy the noise advantage their stadium provides. The Falcons were the NFL’s highest-scoring team. Fox has this one at 4:35 p.m. ET. Pick: Falcons.

In the evening, the Houston Texans (10-7) visit the Patriots (14-2). CBS shows this at 8:15 p.m. The Pats are favored by 15 ½ points. Seems about right. Pick: Patriots.

Sunday’s early game (NBC, 1:05 p.m.) matches the Pittsburgh Steelers (12-5) and Chiefs (12-4). The Chiefs won the regular-season meeting 23-13 but the Steelers are very different now. If QB Ben Roethlisberger’s foot is OK, then so is Pittsburgh. Pick: Steelers.

At 4:40 p.m., Fox gets the Green Bay Packers (11-6) at Cowboys (13-3). As good as the Cowboys have been, they’ve got a rookie QB in Dak Prescott going up against a hot and experienced Aaron Rodgers. Pick: Packers.

If you must enjoy some college basketball, try No. 7 Duke at No. 14 Louisville on Saturday (ESPN, 12 p.m.) Duke comes off a bad beating by Florida State.

For the West Coast hoop fans, No. 21 St. Mary’s meets No. 5 Gonzaga on Saturday night at 10 p.m. on ESPN2.

Bonus offering: The UConn women’s basketball team goes for a record 91st consecutive victory on Saturday at 3 p.m. (ESPN3) at SMU. The Huskies will get it…by a lot.

Watch responsibly. Eat irresponsibly (pizza and wings will allow you to get the remote good and greasy so that no one else will touch it).
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman