When I used to look up how to cook something online, I would just do a search and find a recipe.  Maybe there would be a few pictures or some brief descriptions, and I might compare a few different versions to see what I liked best, but the process was simple and straightforward.  Now when I look up a recipe online, I have to scroll through a 5,000-word, long-form article about how this particular recipe played a seminal role in shaping the author’s emotional growth during their formative years, followed by step by step instructions that include multiple paragraphs for each step with too many pictures and references to unrelated stories about pets or children.

Recipes and cooking shows used to focus on how to make delicious food, now they focus on life, travel stories and personality quirks while cooking something on the side.  I can’t hate on all of it because on some level I see the appeal, but what happened to people that would just tell you how to cook something?  How is food blogging this relevant?  Are any of these people actually making money off it? If so, how do I get in on this racket?  I can make up stories and then tell people to put 5 ingredients in a slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours.  You want pictures?  I can snap food pictures all day long to boot.

I am aware that my rant about unrelated and irrelevant passages in food articles is in itself unrelated and irrelevant to the rest of this article.  I guess human beings are funny creatures, and our lives are a rich tapestry of contradictions and inconsistencies.

The divisional round started with both home teams winning and covering the spread on Saturday.  That made it six straight playoff games without an upset or any real fourth quarter drama.  Not what most fans were hoping for.  On Sunday, we finally got to watch some exciting football games as the road dogs got their revenge.  The Packers and the Steelers earned the right to travel to Atlanta and New England respectively with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

The Patriots are still the Super Bowl favorites, with odds of 5-4, followed by the Falcons at 5-2, the Packers at 4-1 and the Steelers at 9-2.  The Pats are the deserved favorites, but the odds show that it won’t be a shocker if any of the four remaining teams take it down.

In Vegas, the sports books have been taking a bath for the past month as the wagering public is on a hot streak.  In theory, sports books set the point spread so that money comes in evenly on both sides.  That way they pay the winners with the losers and keep the juice.  In reality, the public typically takes a side and bookies set lines that compete for that action because the public is wrong more often than it is right.  That means that bookies can be exposed when the public forgets that it is supposed to lose.  After taking the favorites in the first 6 playoff games, the public switched to the underdogs on Sunday at the perfect time.  We will see how the ignorant masses do this weekend.  Either way, it’s nice to see the average Joe come out on top over the giant casinos once in awhile.

I have a Super Bowl bet on Atlanta from earlier in the season at odds of 18-1.  While I’m happy with that bet, if I were in a sports book today I would think about throwing a bet down on the Packers at 4-1.  With their 8 game win streak, they are starting to look like a team of destiny.  That’s not to say that I think Green Bay is the most likely remaining team to win their next two games, I think the Patriots are, but at 4-1, I need to be right less often to turn a profit, plus I hate cheering for New England.  But if all teams left offered the same odds, I’d bet the Pats and bank on Belichick employing a stealth way of cheating that won’t be discovered until the off-season.

Condolences to the fans of the teams that were eliminated last weekend.  It is always rough when your team is knocked out, but I imagine it is especially disappointing for Cowboys and Chiefs fans.  Their reward for a great regular season was a playoff bye and home field advantage, but their punishment was having to play a team that was getting hot at just the right time.  Those 2 and 3 point losses must sting. At least fans of the Seahawks and Texans got to see their team win one playoff game.  I’d take a win then a loss over a bye then a loss any time.

Packers at Falcons

The first game on Sunday has Atlanta favored by between 4 and 5 points over Green Bay. Both of these teams have been putting up points in bunches for most of the season.  Atlanta was the highest scoring team in the regular season, and Green Bay was the fourth highest scoring team.  The over/under is sitting at around 60 as I write this.  For some perspective, there hasn’t been a playoff over/under that high since the 1980’s and the highest total for any NFL game ever was 62 for a 2000 Rams/49ers game.  Vegas expects a shootout and these two teams typically don’t disappoint.  Atlanta has scored over 30 points in each of its last five games, and Green Bay has scored over 30 in each of its last six games.

In week 8, the Packers lost 33-32 in Atlanta.  This Sunday they hope to turn the tables while the Falcons would like to win more comfortably, but at this point in the postseason either team will take a win anyway they can get it.  It will be the last game played in the Georgia Dome, so the place should be rocking.  On a side note, whenever I think of the Georgia Dome, I think of Ludacris, and then I smile, because it is hard not to be happy when one of his early hits gets in your head.

In what may be one of the best groups of final four starting quarterbacks, Matt Ryan is the only one that has not yet won the Super Bowl.  I’m sure this will cause him to be labeled as not clutch compared to the other three, but I don’t really buy into that.  The other three quarterbacks made the playoffs last year and none made it to the Super Bowl, so their clutchness didn’t help them last year.  And if one quarterback’s receivers make tough catches on bad throws, does that make him more clutch than the quarterback whose receivers drop passes that hit them in the hands?

Each of these guys will have 10 other teammates on the field trying to help them score against 11 other opponents that are trying to stop them.  Others like to ignore most of that and just focus on the qb, but that ain’t me babe.  They can argue over who is more clutch, I’ll just say I think that all four are great quarterbacks, and I’d be happy to have any one of them on my team.  If you put any of them behind Dallas’s offensive line and had Belichick coach them up, they would each be an MVP favorite on a Super Bowl caliber team.

I’m already invested in this game, but I’m a bit befuddled as to how I would play it were I not.  Since the Packers only lost by 1 last time they played in Atlanta and the spread is over a field goal, I’d likely lean towards Green Bay.  My hope is that the combination of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman prove to be the difference in this one. Both teams have strong passing attacks, but Atlanta has had the more consistent and dynamic running game with two backs that run and catch well.  I’ll bet the over in this one and hope for a Falcons win on the strength of their backfield, but I’ll take an Atlanta win however I can get it.

Steelers at Patriots

This game has New England favored by 6.  In week 7, the Patriots beat the Steelers 27-16 in Pittsburgh.  But that was when Big Ben was out with an injury.  Roethlisberger is back, but now the game moves to Foxborough.  Each team hasn’t lost after week 11, but 5 of the Steeler wins were by 7 points or less while just 2 Patriot wins were by a score or less.  The Steelers have been winning mostly close ones, while the Pats’ closest game in that period was a by 5 points.

New England’s defense allowed the fifth fewest rushing yards in the regular season. On paper they have the best run defense of the remaining teams, but they will have to face the best running back that is still playing.  Le’Veon Bell has carried the ball 59 times over the Steelers’ first two playoff games and averaged 5.7 yards per carry.  He has yet to run for less than 167 yards this postseason.

The Pats held Bell to 81 yards in their first meeting, but he did catch 10 passes for 68 yards.  In that game, with Landry Jones under center, New England likely game planned to stop Bell.  This time, with Big Ben back, the Pats will have to pick their poison.  If they sell out to stop Bell, that will give Antonio Brown and other receivers more opportunities.  If they focus on Brown, that should open things up for Bell.  This dynamic was absent in their first meeting, and its existence makes it hard to compare this game with the last.

Last week, Pittsburgh held Kansas City to 16 points and squeaked out a 2 point victory.  Their offense will have to do a better job scoring this week, because I can’t envision New England failing to put up at least 20 points. Maybe the Steelers’ pass rush will be able to pressure Tom Brady into getting rid of the ball early and New England’s drives will sputter out.  Or maybe Big Ben, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown go wild and score in the 40’s.  While I’d like to see that happen, I don’t think either scenario is likely.  So I will revert to my default NFL playoff inclination of hoping the Patriots lose while expecting them to win.

As usual, the Pats look like the best team left.  But if they are 60% to win in each of the next two games, that still makes them just 36% to win them both.  If that is the case, I’m hoping we get the 64% of the time where New England falls short and another team hoists the Lombardi trophy.  My heart and wallet are with the Falcons, but I’ll be happy with 3 more compelling football games or any kind of Patriots loss.