OK Patriots fans...how do you feel about the playoffs now?  

So, here I sit on a Sunday afternoon. At the moment, the Giants and the Eagles are about to duke it out to see which team will go on and which team will go home. Yesterday was a bit of a surprise seeing that Arizona took out Carolina. As well, I was a little surprised by the Titans/Ravens result.

So now it sits with the winner of the Giants/Eagles game going to face the Cardinals and the winner of the Chargers/Steelers game going to face the Ravens.

As a Patriots fan, I kind of need to decide upon the lesser of two evils as all of these teams (with the exception of perhaps the Cardinals) have had major showdowns with the Patriots. I have a hard time bringing myself to root for a team that I had once so vehemently wanted to lose.

While typing that last paragraph, I think that I have answered my own question... I think that I would like to see the Cardinals make to the Super Bowl and subsequently win it all. While it is true that they faced the Patriots this season and that the Patriots needed to win to have any hope at the playoffs AND that the Patriots squashed them in that game as the Cardinals seemed to have entered reserve-mode (e.g. not trying too hard to win and take the chance of injury to major players in order to improve their chance at running the playoff gauntlet), I was not too emotionally charged by that game. With all of the other teams, there was at least one instance of a do-or-die situation between them and the Patriots.

Personally, I have a soft spot for the Washington Redskins that stems from the years of John Riggins and Joe Theissman. Because of this, I have a really hard time rooting for any team from the NFC East, so that also rules out the Giants and the Eagles. However, I think that my desire to see the Giants lose is stronger than my desire to see the Eagles lose. So...Eagles beat the Giants and then lose to the Cardinals next week. Not a prediction, but my own personal hope for the outcome.

On the other side, I would rather see the Chargers beat the Steelers. Again, lesser of two evils. I am not sure if he will be playing, but I would rather see LaDanian Tomlinson have a good game and help his team win than to see the Steelers win ANYTHING. As to the following match-up, I would probably pull for the Ravens to beat the either the Chargers or the Steelers.

End result, my hope for the Super Bowl is to see the Cardinals beat the Ravens.

What would your preference be?