Raymond Berry To Present the Lombardi Trophy at Super Bowl 42. Raymond is best known as the first head coach to lead the New England Patriots to a Super Bowl (Squish The Fish & Berry The Bears) , and for his NFL Hall of Fame career as wide receiver with The Baltimore Colts.

Raymond Berry candidly discusses his thoughts as this week’s call-in guest for LeftRightAndCorrect.com with Dan Belforti & Friends. Topics include the 2011 Patriots, Tom Brady (”in a class by himself at QB” & “has that fire burning inside him”), Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez and Coach Belichick. Also, Raymond revisits his memories of the 1985 Bears vs. the Patriots in Super Bowl XX.

The archived interview can be heard at:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/belforti/Coach_Raymond_Berry_To_Present_Lombardi_Trophy_at_SB46_Belforti_Bros.mp3

Surprise, surprise, we Belforti Bros love ALL 4 favorites this weekend! Even tougher to beat the number by picking more favorites than underdogs historically, but we believe playoff football is a different game to handicap as it’s win or go home. That intensity separates the Great from the Good on the scoreboard more than in regular season games. Look for most of these 4 games to be BLOWOUTS as 4 Great teams are facing 4 Good/Average teams.

Baltimore -7.5 vs Houston – These teams played each other earlier this year with the Ravens winning 29-14 back on Oct 16th. In that matchup, Ray Rice had 161 yards while Arian Foster had 101 yards. Ravens are 8-0 at home this year and have won their last 10 home games in a row outscoring their opp. By 11.2 pts. Balt. has also won their last 3 opening playoff games on the road and this year are finally hosting a home playoff game for this first time since 2006. Houston made the playoffs for the first time in their history and had a nice 31-10 victory over Cincy last week but a home playoff game for Balt plus their great defense gets the win here. Ravens 23 Texans 6

New Orleans -3.5 at San Fran – New Orleans is on a roll having won 9 straight games. They beat Detroit last week 45-28 in New Orleans. Brees has gone over 300 yards last 8 games and the offense has gone over 435 yards the last 7 games including the playoffs. Their opponents have scored 20 or fewer points in 6 of their last 7 reg season games. Saints have struggled on the road in the playoffs going 0-4 and they only average 27 pts on the road vs over 41 at home. SF has had good year making the playoffs for the first time in years. They boast a 7-1 home record and have the #4 def. in the NFL allowing an average of 308.2 ypg. Their 26th ranked offense will be their undoing as they will not be able to trade points with Saints. Saints 27 49ers 10

Pats-13 vs Denver - New England simply has too much to lose to start THIS game late, as they did in their previous two historic comeback games vs Dolphins & Bills. God (Brady) and his teammates will score early and often while defense keeps Baby Jesus (Tebow) in check. Who wants it more?? Clearly the Patriots do as their season would be considered a nightmare if they were to lose their 3rd consecutive playoff game at home (Ravens in 2010 and Jets in 2011) and 4th in a row since their 2007 SB42 loss to GMen. Ain’t gonna happen. Broncos satisfied to have barely and luckily made playoffs and thrilled to have knocked out last years AFC Champion Steelers. The hungrier Patriot dogs will hunt best on Saturday night. Pats 46, Broncos 17.

Green Bay -7.5 vs NY Giants - Packers have been playing half heartedly since clinching the number 1 seed but now will be firing on all cylinders against the over-rated GMen. Although Manning and his WRs have the ability to put up points against the 32nd ranked defense, the GB offense is simply too explosive and will easily outscore any team other than Saints or Pats. Too bad for Packers as those are exactly the two teams they will have to beat to win SB46. Tall order. They’ll be fired up to destroy Giants at home in a blowout. Packers 38 Giants 17

Early thoughts/predictions:
Houston Texans -4 vs Cincinati Bengals
New Orleans -10.5 vs Detroit Lions
Atlanta Falcons +3 at NY Giants
Pittsburgh Steelers -8.5 at Denver Broncos

Next Round: Pats over Cinci/Pitt; Balt over Houston/Pitt; Packers over Falcons/GMen; Saints over 49ers

Atl -3 at Carolina - Atl is fighting for a playoff berth and is tied with Chicago and Detroit. Atl beat Car 31-17 in week 6. Atl has the 16th rush off vs Car 27th rush D. Falcons cannot afford a slipup here especially since they are behind Chi for NFC conference wins.

Pats -8 at Wash - Hopefully Pats will get a wakeup call with a slim victory last week vs Indy. Pats have never won in Wash and Brady is 1-5 vs Mike Shanahan. Pats also in tough battle for number 1 or 2 seed with Hou, Balt and Pitt. Pat can clinch AFC East with a win and Jets loss. Wash also lost two players to suspension TE Fred Davis and LT Trent Williams.

Best of the rest

Miami -3 vs Philly - Dolphins won 4 of 5 and outscored opn 139-54

Atlanta -3 at Hou - Huge mismatch at QB for Falcons who have Matt Ryan vs Ty Yates for Hou. Atl has won 5 of 6. Hou has nice streak going as well but Falcons are a more desperate team looking up at NO and fighting vs others for NFC Wilcard berth. Atl also has 2nd best run D in NFL.

Chi -7 vs KC - This is a battle of two backup QB’s but give edge to Chi who is battling Atl, Det and Giants for widcard berth. Chi D kept them in the game last wk vs Oak but should find sledding easier here with Matt Forte going up against KC 26th rush D. KC played tough vs Pitt but have only scored 25 pts in 4 game losing skid.

Baltimore -6.5 at Cleveland - Hopefully, Balt has learned its lesson of losing games after big wins such as beating Pitt and losing to Tenn and then beating Pitt and losing to Seattle. Balt beat SF 16-6 and had field day sacking Alex Smith. Colt McCoy is 0-6 with a 66.6 passer rating vs AFC North. Ravens #3 D and #3 rush D should shut down Clev running game. Joe Flaco and Ray Rice also have had success vs Browns.

TB -3 vs Car - Only pick if Josh Freeman shoulder is fine. TB back home after two tough rd losses to Tenn and GB. Bucs have lost 5 straight to very good teams and slim playoff hopes are on the line. TB should also expose Carolina’s 28th rush D