The 2011 – 12 NFL betting lines season has seemingly flown by, as it feels as though the regular season started yesterday, and already we are looking ahead to this coming weekend’s Championship round. What started out as a 32-team price per head race, has quickly dwindled down to four teams. Two weeks ago, 12 teams remained with an opportunity to be named Super Bowl 46 Champion. However, with only four teams remaining, we wonder if some of the eliminated participants underachieved. Today we’ll be looking at the biggest disappointments of the playoffs. At first glance at the name of this article, two teams automatically enter fans and handicappers minds, when they think of underachieving teams, the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers. Both teams lost during this weekend’s divisional round playoffs. Yet, we do not they were the most disappointing, as that unwelcome title goes to two teams that absolutely underachieved, with wild card round exits. Who are those two teams you ask? None other than the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons. Led by quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Matt Ryan, the Steelers and Falcons were projected by many bookie software websites, as being a potential Super Bowl Champion. Instead, the nine and seven New York Giants decimated the Falcons who finished the season with a record of 10 and six. Ryan and the Falcons offense couldn’t muster anything against the Giants, who also destroyed the defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers last night. In fact, the Falcons only two points of the game came on the defensive side of things, when Eli Manning was sacked in the end zone for a safety. The Falcons quickly have gone from a team that hadn’t made the playoffs in years, to a team that can’t win in the playoffs. For the reason that both of Matt Ryan’s NFL playoff games have ended in blowout defeats, many people, we included are wondering if he is the right quarterback to guide the Falcons to a championship. The other major disappointment of the playoffs was the Pittsburgh Steelers first round exit at the hands of the feel good story of the year, the Denver Broncos. On paper, the Steelers, led by Ben Roethlisberger should have destroyed the Broncos, as they were favorite by 13.5 points on the spread. Instead, not only did the Steelers lose the game, but also they trailed the entire game. What’s most astonishing about the Steelers defeat is that this was a 12 and four team during the regular season. In other words, it was one of the better Pittsburgh Steeler teams in the last five years, and that’s with three teams being in the Super Bowl in that same time frame. While many people are disappointed in the Atlanta Falcons, we are more alarmed at the collapse of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Similar to the Green Bay Packers, the Steelers were looking like a team destined for another run at the Super Bowl. Actually, in our personal opinion, this season had Super Bowl 45 rematch written all over it. Now, not only will that not happen, due to Pittsburgh and Green Bay being defeated early, but both teams may consider rebuilding because of their struggles.
