Sunday Divisional Playoffs Preview

Philadelphia will have to play their first meaningful game without Terrell Owens who was such a massive part of their offence throughout the regular season. There is also a concern with how the Eagles will play after losing the last two in the regular season having locked in the number one seed. Despite those losses in weeks 16 and 17, there have been plenty of examples of teams winning Super Bowl who have lost the final two of the regular season. The bigger concern is how the offence can score enough points without Owens. Scoring points will be necessary for the Eagles when they take on Minnesota, who earned their place in the divisional play-offs with a tremendous win at Lambeau Field. Last Sunday the offence came alive, and perhaps more crucially the defence turned up to play, picking off Brett Favre four times. When these two teams met back in week 2, the Eagles won 27-16. The game was though closer than the score would suggest, and had Daunte Culpepper not fumbled on the opposition goal line and instead gone in for six, the margin of victory might not have been so much. Even though Philadelphia are favourites to not only win this game, but also represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, I am not sold on this. Without Owens the offence won't be as potent, and the Vikings confidence will be sky high after beating the Packers.Try a small bet on Minnesota to come up with a second successive upset on the road at around 3/1. The slight concern with this is the health of Randy Moss who has a sprained ankle. Reports though do suggest the wide-receiver will play a part. The final divisional game of the weekend is arguably the best game of the weekend. Indianapolis Colts fresh off their crunching victory over Denver take on the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. There has been much talk of how Peyton Manning and his array of weapons are going to light up the Patriots defence which has been decimated by defence. This may well prove so but it is well worth noting the condition of the playing field, which has not been covered and exposed to the rain and snowThe muddy, slow track will make it harder for the Colts' to score at the pace they do normally. Of course the conditions are same for both teams, but the Patriots are more averse to playing in such conditions, and if anything will relish the prospect of taking the high powered Colts on a heavy pitch.With the above in mind, I am going to steer clear of my original plan to recommend backing Indianapolis, as well as dabbling on the overs market.