-I'm not a Pete Carroll fan by any stretch but he had his team ready to play with a good game plan and excellent play-calling. 

-That's what I opened with last week after the Seahawks upset the defending Champions.  This week was the polar opposite; terrible call to punt on the Bears 40 on fourth and one.  Then Seattle kicks a FG in close range down 28 and punts with six minutes left?  Terrible in-game management by Pete Carroll helped lead Seattle to an early vacation. 

-If he's completely healthy and the Seahawks re-sign Matt Hasselbeck, where do you rank Mike Williams next year?  Top-20, maybe top-15 among wide receivers?

-Ok let's go back to Saturday.  The play-calling for the Ravens was horrible.  Cam Cameron should be fired, immediately, for the strange play-calling coming out of the locker in the second half.  They were comfortably up and yet decided to put the ball up in the air.  The Steelers couldn't have been happier and capitalized.  Am I the only one who thought Troy Polamalu looked rusty in this game?  Derrick Mason had a whopping one catch for 11 yards over Baltimore's two playoffs games.

-New, interesting show that's on my radar is "Shameless" on Showtime.  William H. Macy typically doesn't do worthless junk, so check it out now that Sunday Night Football is over.

-I'm slowly but surely getting back into baseball.  Someone I'll be more high on than most?  Justin Masterson.  Yes, he got shelled by left-handed hitting but he improved on both sides as the season went on.  In August he held a 3.28 ERA and in Sept/Oct it was 2.14.  The pedigree has been there although he had a strange Wandy Rodriguez-esque 3.28/6.23 home/away ERA split.  Don't be afraid to grab him in the late rounds or throw a buck or five on him in keeper/dynasty leagues.  I'll be posting some more baseball blogs as the season draws upon us.  A recent question I posted in Dave Regan's blog: would you rather have B.J. Upton or Drew Stubbs this year?  The answer is closer than one would expect…

-How disappointing were the Falcons?  Yes, most were spot-on in predicting that this team was not elite, to say the least.  They could have lost to the 49ers, the Bucs, etc.  The list goes on.  In fact, they won seven games by a touchdown or less.  I've been fading Matt Ryan since this season started; he's done nothing to counter this observation.  The YPA has gone in the wrong direction and he's lucky to have Roddy White to throw to and Michael Turner to back the running game.  Mike Smith is a terrific coach and I'd guess that the mediocre defense (at best) is the culprit here.

-If you're building an NFL team tomorrow and had to choose between Joe Flacco or Matt Ryan, who would you go with?

-I watched "Machete" late last week and got what I expected.  Danny Trejo isn't your typical lead role but when you have some nice, skin-a-matic shots of Jessica Alba and Lindsay Lohan (moreso the latter), the movie can be seen.  It's basically a mix of "From Dusk 'til Dawn" meets "Ninja Assassin". 

-I've been humble, but I can't resist anymore.  I said the Patriots wouldn't make the Super Bowl and apparently they won't.  Feel free to blast me in the comment section (some ammo to blast me - my friends called me "Payneis" in college; ass-clown would also suffice).  Not sure what the game plan was but Tom Brady didn't look comfortable in the pocket after getting hit a bunch of times.  This is the second year in a row that the Patriots are one-and-done in the playoffs.  The snap on the fake punt looked way too fast for a fake; it seemed like a normal snap to the punter, not to a player in shotgun waiting to run a fake.  The result was a disaster and the Jets took over.  Alge Crumpler should be rewarded/acknowledged for running down David Harris to prevent six (let's face it, seven) points.  Over/Under on Crumpler at 290 lbs.?  I'd go over easily.

-John Abraham, Chris Clemons, Deion Branch; take note.  You need to have a lead before talking trash.  Just sayin'.

-All four games this weekend went over with the point total, so I'd back the under in the first game next week and double up on the second if the first doesn't hit. 

-The Miami Heat lost their third game in a row on Saturday, losing the under on the O/U for a 2.5 game-losing streak for the season.  In fact, their not on pace to go over for their win total over/ under at 64.5 and the season-long winning streak is an over/under of 14.5 games (not met yet). 

-Speaking of wagers, this week I backed (ATS) Pitt, Atl, Chi and the Jets.  That brings me to a 6-2 record after advocating backing all the dogs in the Wild Card round.  For the Championship games, it comes down to a Steelers or Packers win.  Both at -3, I'll take the Steelers and think the Bears will pull it out somehow.

-You can hear more of my thoughts on Sirius 211 or XM 147 at 1:03 EST with Jeff Erickson and Chris Liss. I'm sure Liss and I will have something to argue about, although his Pats vs. my Falcons/Steelers wager is dead on his part (yes, I'm still sack-dancing).