Verducci Picks Yankees to Win AL East

He may still be on the Steinbrenner's shit list after his defense of Joe Torre in print, but Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci has picked the Yankees to win the American League's East division.

Two GMs told me this is the year the Yankees don't make the postseason, one of them going so far as to say they'll finish third, behind Boston and Toronto. I'm not buying it. The Yankees have so much talent it would take a multitude of worst-case scenarios to cut them low: Andy Pettitte breaks down, Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi, Hideki Matsui and, most critically, Jorge Posada all decline significantly because of age, and kid pitchers Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy aren't ready to carry a full season of New York's physical and psychological load. Is all of that going to happen? No.

Boston seems more prone to a fallback, if only because recent world champions seem to be handed a tax bill the following season -- and if it hits Josh Beckett, look out. Toronto is intriguing, but there's a huge difference between 87 wins and the 94 you need to play with the big boys in the East. The Jays are not in that weight class.

We like his thinking even though we don't agree with it completely. But that's a story for another day.

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Wild Card Weekend

The feeling about the Giants being a confident team after losing to the Pats is a bit absurd. While the offense played exceptionally well, the defense got torched, albeit by the league's best offense. But we don't know which Giants team will show up in Tampa this weekend, and that's why its difficult to have a positive feeling any time they play in the playoffs under Tom Coughlin.

We still think the Giants will win a tight one, 17-13. That also means take the 3 points.

Here's a look at the rest of the games.

Redskins -3.5 at Seahawks. We think this game is coming down to a field goal and the Redskins have an excellent chance to win the game. The Skins are on an adrenaline high right now and we don't trust the Seahawks. We don't particularly like a lot of the in-game decisions that Mike Holmgren makes either. All that being said, Seahawks 21 Redskins 20.

Jags -2.5 at Steelers. The Steelers are playing at home, which will help overcome the overrated status. But even though we never confuse Dave Garrard with Tom Brady, we think the Jags win this very physical game. Jaguars 27 Steelers 17.

Chargers -10 at Titans
We didn't think the Titans or Browns would stand a chance in this game, and we haven't changed our minds. Whether its Vince Young or Kerry Collins leading the Titans, they won't be able to match the offense output the Chargers put up. Phillip Rivers is struggling, but LaDanian Tomlinson is still the man. Chargers 34 Titans 20

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