Nurse the Hate: Wild Card Weekend Day 1 and Another Wasted MLK Weekend

Wild Card weekend being on a three day weekend is perhaps the greatest gift January could ever provide.  Of course, I always forget about MLK Day and have never been able to take advantage of the holiday in any travel savvy way.  This year I was supposed to be coming back from Austria from a wine conference.  That would have been a nice surprise to come back on Sunday with a day to re-set my clock as opposed to my normal immediate re-entry into work where I struggle to remember what it is I do and why it matters.  Instead of being in Austria, I instead was pummeled in my social media feed with envy inducing photos from the seminar.  For example, on the day the Cheval Blanc representatives swung by with six vintages, each of which cost about as much as a hot tub, I think I had a $16 Chianti in my glass. Ouch.  

No matter.  We trudge on.  In January in NE Ohio, you can wrap your head around the Neil Young lyric that "life goes on after the thrill of living is gone".  It will be months until I will need to locate my sunglasses.  It is pointless to wash a car until late Spring.  Grey clouds, 70% chance of rain, and temperatures now hovering between "sleet" and "ice pellet".  The vet just called for me to pick up the ashes of my basset.  It's not a great time.  I ask you, what else is there except irresponsible gambling on NFL Playoff football?   

This is the last week where there are obvious mismatches.  Tampa, Seattle and Miami have no business being in the Playoffs.  The question is not IF they will get eliminated from the Playoffs.  It is can they COVER?  I'll get into the rest of the weekend's games tomorrow, but for today that answer is "probably not".  I'm not going to pin all my hopes on SF rookie QB Brock Purdy who was the last man drafted to cover though.  The kid has played great though.  San Francisco should easily handle a fast fading Seattle team.  With a spread that I got into at SF -9.5, I did two things.  I teased SF to -2.5 and comboed that up with the Bengals at -1.5.  It is incomprehensible to me that those two teams will lose at home.  Baltimore is starting a third string undrafted rookie for fuck's sake.  Maybe the Baltimore defense will allow them to hang around, but they ain't winning.  Give me Joe Burrow all day long.  If that makes you queasy, I would also tie Buffalo in at -3.5 as it's hard to figure out how Miami with Skylar Thompson can go into Buffalo and hang around.  I'm going SF -2.5/Cincinnati -1.5 and San Francisco money line at -550 as I think Seattle wins that game 1 out of 10 times at best.

I am taking a position on Jacksonville against the Chargers.  I don't see any difference in these two teams right now except for the fact that the Chargers coach is a dope.  Staley gets Bosa hurt and Williams a fractured back playing in a totally meaningless game on a short week.  The Chargers played Sunday at 4p in Denver.  Jacksonville played last Saturday.  That an extra 1.5 days of rest, no travel, and no dipshit head coach for Jacksonville AND I'm getting 2.5 points.  Yes, I am concerned about hitching my wagon to Trevor Lawrence, a guy that seems as interested in football as Leo.  However, I think they have enough to win as the Chargers are an organization that finds a way... to lose.  Jacksonville +2.5