NFL playoffs are upon us and the big journey towards the Lombardi Trophy is on! The top seeds are sitting at home this weekend, waiting to see who they will play in the divisional round, and we should be in line for some fantastic football as the wild card teams try to be the next surprise champ. Here we go!
Saturday Games:
Cincinnati at Houston:
Two teams heading in opposite directions. Houston spent most of the year at the top of the AFC, only to choke away one of the top two seeds in the final few weeks of the season. Cincinnati, on the other hand, overcame some midseason troubles to get into the wild card, defeating the Steelers in Pittsburgh for the first time in many, many years. The Bengals are brimming with confidence, while the Texans have been deflated and defeated.
It's really hard to saw which way this is going to go, so I have to just go with my gut. My gut tells me that Cincinnati is riding the right wave at the moment and can use all of their momentum to get past the Texans. Which Houston team shows up is really the thing that will determine it.
Minnesota at Green Bay:
This should be another fantastic game, a very heated divisional rivalry on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. The Packers have got to be mad about the fact that Minnesota put the final dagger in their hope for the second seed in the NFC and a first-week bye. Minnesota has shown that they are able to beat Green Bay, but it just doesn't seem like something that's going to come by this time around. The last time these two teams played in Green Bay, Adrian Peterson ran all over the Packers for more than 200 yards, but the Vikings still lost the game. I'll take the Packers.
Sundays Games:
Indianapolis at Baltimore:
Another very interesting matchup with two teams going in opposite directions. The Ravens have been in free-fall since they ran out to a 9-2 record. Now, of course, they are getting Ray Lewis back who has announced that he is retiring at the end of the year. So the Ravens have a bit of a "win one for the Gipper" movement going for them, but the Colts have been riding that same type of wave all season with Chuck Pagano. People generally assume that the Ravens' defense is going to carry them, but this year that is different. Even when Ray Lewis was in the lineup early in the season, the Ravens were struggling horribly to stop the run and were looking kind of old.
Now, the Colts don't exactly have the best rushing game, but they have been surprising people all year long. Still, I don't think they get by the Ravens in this one. It'll be a close game, with a lot of emotion going on each side, but the Ravens will barely manage to squeeze out of this one, despite Joe Flacco.
Seattle at Washington:
Washington is the only team that is hosting a playoff game this weekend that is an underdog, and that's quite interesting. Now Seattle has been going out like gangbusters on several teams over the past few weeks, but many of those games were at home where Seattle is nearly unbeatable. On the road, Seattle has struggled, and going into the hostile confines of FedEx Stadium (formerly RFK Stadium) they will have to deal with a lot of that.
This should be a very good game. Washington runs the ball fantastically, and Seattle stops the run very efficiently. Which of these two exciting rookie quarterbacks is able to make the most plays will be the thing that will decide this. Both have shown the ability to do so, but RGIII has more of the big game player in him right now, I think. Give me the Skins at home.
Meaning the Divisional matchups will look like this.
AFC:
Cincinnati at Denver
Baltimore at New England
NFC:
Washington at Atlanta
Green Bay at San Francisco
BRING IT!!
No comments:
Post a Comment