By Ron Borges

If consistency is a key to playoff success no one was more consistent than the Pick 6 picks last weekend, which were 0-for-4.

This is typical of the kind of weekend it was. Take the Seahawks plus 8 and Seattle turns two early turnovers into touchdowns. What we had at that point was the Seahawks plus 22 points. Who wouldn’t have taken that bet? Only a Cheesehead.

So what happens? By halftime the Packers have that number covered on their way to a snow-filled blow out. That’s why they call it gambling.

That’s also why gaming stocks seem to do pretty well in a down stock market. And in an up stock market. And in a becalmed stock market. Those guys in Vegas don’t lose.

But we press on with a format change since we’re down to only two changes to be wrong.

UPSET SPECIAL: AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
NEW ENGLAND – 15 vs. San Diego – The Patriots are one of the greatest teams ever assembled. They are far healthier than the upstart Chargers, who few people thought would even be in this game. They are one win away from reaching the super Bowl for the fourth time in seven years and two wins away from immortality as the first team in NFL history to go 19-0. It is also going to be so cold some of these guys from San Diego will think they’re trapped in a documentary on the Discovery Channel about Antarctica.

So the choice is obvious right?

Yes it is. Take the Chargers and the points.

Why? Because it’s simply too many points to spot a team with a defense that has given up an average of only 13.1 points per game in the last eight weeks, all of which produced victories. It is too many points to give up to a team who’s defense leads the NFL in producing turnovers, which by the way is something that tends to occur in frigid weather.

Might the injured Chargers, whose top three offensive players are all freshly hurt, get blown out on Sunday? Yes, they might. But it is always unwise to bet against defense, especially the kind that produced 48 turnovers in the regular season, 26 during this winning streak and five in its first two playoff games. It is unwise because weather effects defense less than offense and the Patriots these days win with offense.

LOCKADINI: NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
GREEN BAY - 7 vs. NY Giants – Not much of a spread considering that the Packers at Lambeau Field in January are more difficult to deal with than seal blubber on the Barbie. Still, the Giants have been an impressive road team all season and they have shot through two upset playoff wins on the road in Tampa and Dallas by virtue of not asking more than young quarterback Eli Manning can deliver.

That may all change today because Brett Favre loves to play in the kind of weather the late Sir Edmund Hillary found exhilarating while becoming the first man to climb Mt. Everest. Favre, though from Mississippi, has become a Cheesehead after all those years in Green Bay. At 38, he’s also become Cinderella in a helmet after putting together the kind of remarkable storybook comeback season surrounded by mostly young kids who were barely in high school when Favre was the most feared quarterback in football.

The Giants do have a solid defense but so does Green Bay. The Giants also have a two-pronged running game made up of two battering ram backs, who have taken some of the heat off young Manning during this stretch run.

But the run ends for the G-men in Green Bay. The Packers are going to demand that Eli Manning beat them. He is going to try but, like his older brother, he is going to leave Green Bay with some extra time to do a few more TV commercials. Take the PACK and lay the points.

Last week: 0-4.
Playoff record: 3-4.
Regular season record: 20-32.
Lockadini: 4-6.
Upset special: 5-5.