If ever I wanted to see two QBs squash my doubts it is the Ravens Joe Flacco and the 49ers Alex Smith pictured above. Smith will face a solid Giants defense.

Neither the Eagles or the Falcons made it to the playoffs (No that’s not a typo. The Falcons showed up to the stadium but that’s about it). So what is a fan with no team in the playoffs left to do? You can sit back and enjoy the games without any pressure or you can ratchet up the experience by rooting for somebody…ANYBODY!

If you’re into the latter (and, I am!) I say the Ravens and 49ers are great teams to root for to make it into the Super bowl. I have 4 specific reasons I am rooting for each of the Harbaugh brothers to take their teams all the way.

The Ravens Are So Relatable 

We all have goals we want to accomplish in a certain time period. We have things we want to do before we’re dead and even before we turn 30 (which if you’re me feels like the same thing). To see Ed Reed accomplish his goal of winning of Super Bowl before retiring would be a treat. There are just some players who are so good you begin to feel like you traveled this journey with them. Ray Lewis is one of those players as well and although he has won a Super Bowl before, it was toward the beginning of his career and with a different crop of players. When you see this current group of Ravens together you buy into Lewis’ sales pitch that they’re brothers. You root for Ray Rice, you root for Terrell Suggs and you root for camaraderie, humility, and hard work. Seeing the Ravens in the Super Bowl would be a triumph of those principles.

The 49ers Have Had a Rough Road

Poor Alex Smith. Poor Vernon Davis. When you see two guys do well when many had previously described them as busts it just makes you a little warm and fuzzy. I’m still not completely confident in Smith-and neither is that offense which accounts for their kicker David Akers’ record-breaking season. But I do realize that he’s been through several coaches and several OCs and there’s still a lot of time left for Smith to grow into a more complete QB if this team remains stable. A Super Bowl visit or win by the 49ers would feed into every great storyline I love: players redeeming themselves, the difference coaching makes, and the importance of great defense. On coaching: Jim Harbaugh might not be able to shake a hand right but that man damn sure knows how to coach a team. On redemption: As a resident of DC, I appreciate that Carlos Rogers is playing like he never heard of the capital. Like he never lived here, never played on the disastrous Skins, never voted or anything otherwise related Washington. Speaking of DC, I’m also glad that now I can say Davis is good for something beyond keeping our club scene hopping with his brother Vontae.

The Giants Are Annoying

There’s confidence and there’s “put a sock in it for God’s sakes.” A few of the Giants passed confidence and caused me to go rummaging through a sock drawer the moment they won over the pitiful and later combusted Jets. As Yahoo’s Doug Farrar said this morning “If Antrel Rolle played like Ed Reed he’d still be talking too much. And he doesn’t.” And that pretty much sums up how I feel about the Giants right now. They’re super super cocky for a team that has had the benefit of playing four straight games against teams that had complete melt downs. Not taking anything away from the fact that they’ve played better but perspective is necessary. And yes, Eli Manning has been awesome all season long. If anyone should be chatty it’s he and Hakeem Nicks, yet they are the main two that you can barely find near a microphone. WHERE IS THE JUSTICE IN THATt?  The only benefit of the Giants moving past the 49ers for me is seeing Eli get his due again. Bottom line: I’m a fan of guys that talk (see: Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs) but there’s a way to do it without making me want to pop a jalapeno in your mouth (I’m looking at you Victor Cruz). If over doing it gets the Giants motivated, that’s fine, but I don’t have to root for it.

The Patriots Are Annoying

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I have ZERO interest in finding out more about Tom Brady. I’m a fan of the man. I think he’s incredible, but quite frankly I’ve had enough. The build up to Super Bowl is two weeks and I simply cannot root for two weeks of  ”ZOMGGGGGGG HOW EFFING AWESOME IS TOM BRADY NOW, BEFORE, AND FOREVER!!!??” after I’ve sat through it for multiple full seasons barring this year’s temporary love affair the media had with Tim Tebow and, secondarily, Drew Brees. I certainly wouldn’t mind learning more about Gronk and Hernandez, but since they’re both like 15 years old and Brady wants to play 6 more years I suspect there will be other occasions to do that.  Plus, the Patriots in the Super bowl would just be more of pretending that the Patriots staff and coaches are all a bunch of geniuses when in reality the bulk of their success can be attributed to that man I just mentioned that I don’t want to hear anymore about.