So far the home teams have by and large held serve, and it'll be interesting to see if the trend can be held today. There's an awful lot of black and gold in this bracket, with three Steeler incarnations going today, including two at home. We have a pretty stacked set of byes in this bracket as well, so there will be some fun next week as well.
We've had a fair amount of the games so far need the third simulation, which just means these teams are by and large evenly matched. Then again, there have been a few shutouts as well, which is a little unexpected. I'm sure that will go away as we eliminate more teams.This round, we're going to stick with the system that has worked thus far. All games will be simulated as a best-of-three, with the "clinching" game going into the system as the official result. I'll try to take accurate weather from each of the locations as best as I can. All simulations are once again provided by WhatIfSports.com. Let's play a little more football.
(XXXVI) '03 New England Patriots @ (XXIX) '78 Pittsburgh Steelers
Game 1: '03 NE 9, '78 PIT 3
Game 2: '78 PIT 17, '03 NE 3
Game 3: '78 PIT 12, '03 NE 10
The snow caused some problems in the passing game, as Tom Brady and Terry Bradshaw combined for three picks and no touchdowns. Franco Harris ran 17 times for 78 yards, including a 24 yard touchdown for Pittsburgh, while Antowain Smith had New England's lone touchdown. Jack Lambert had two sacks on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter, including what turned out to be the game's winning points with a safety.
(XLV) '07 New York Giants @ (XX) '92 Dallas Cowboys
Game 1: '92 DAL 14, '07 NYG 13
Game 2: '92 DAL 23, '07 NYG 9
Eli Manning was held to 13 of 30 passing for 158 yards and was picked three times. Three other times the Giants got into the red zone and had to settle for short field goals. Tony Tolbert had three sacks for the Cowboys to back up a slow offensive day. Troy Aikman was just 11 of 18 for 121 yards. Emmitt Smith ran for 70 yards, including a 29 yard touchdown.
(XXXVII) '74 Pittsburgh Steelers @ (XXVIII) '76 Oakland Raiders
Game 1: '76 OAK 17, '74 PIT 7
Game 2: '76 OAK 23, '74 PIT 10
Joe Gillam threw for 187 yards and a touchdown for the Steelers as they took an early 10-7 lead, but it was all Oakland from there. Clarence Davis ran 11 times for 182 yards (including 3 runs of at least 20 yards) and a touchdown, and also caught a touchdown pass from Ken Stabler.
(XLIV) '87 Washington Redskins @ (XXI) '08 Pittsburgh Steelers
Game 1: '08 PIT 24, '87 WAS 17
Game 2: '08 PIT 17, '87 WAS 9
The Redskins had success running the ball (171 yards on 38 carries as a team), but Jay Schroeder completed just 12 of 29 passes for 124 yards. Pittsburgh's defense kept Washington out of the end zone and picked Schroeder off twice, once by Lawrence Timmons who took it to the house. Ben Roethlisberger only completed 11 of 25 passes for 136 yards, but had a touchdown to Hines Ward.
To see the bracket so far, click here.
Home field advantage was definitely a factor again, considering it was snowing in Pittsburgh for these games. Overall, 15 of the 16 winners this week were playing at home. The other fun stat I've been keeping track of is for recency bias. So far, eight of the 16 teams that advanced are more recent, so I don't think the whole "today's teams are better, faster, and stronger" necessarily holds true. Of course, that home field advantage that was so dominant this weekend gets flipped on its head next week as we welcome in the top 16 seeds to tournament play. Candlestick Park gets a pair of games, as does Miami, but the exciting thing for me is to see three games being played at Lambeau in the next round.
Check back next weekend to see how the field gets narrowed from 32 teams to 16!
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