After a long 16 games the NFL playoffs start this weekend with the NFL Wild Card Round. There are a few surprises in the teams that made the playoff. Not because they are there but because of how they started the season or ended the season. Depends on your point of view. The NFL playoffs are always pretty exciting. Maybe the college football playoff should watch them and see how a post season tournament is run. Of course we know that they will not… But that is not what this post is about. This is about the NFL playoffs that are going to start this weekend. Every game is do or die. Win or your season is done till next year. I hope that the NFL does not expand the number of teams that make the playoffs. I know the lure of more money is strong but since the expansion to 12 teams the playoffs in the NFL have been fantastic.
In the wild card round we get 4 games. 4 division champions and 4 wild card teams. To the people that complain that a team with a worse record sometimes gets in over another team that may have had a better record. Get over it. If that team had won more then they would be in.
The Saturday schedule has two games.
The first game is the Chiefs(11-5) at the Texans (9-7)
After a miserable 1-5 start the Chiefs won 10 games in a row. They are one of the hottest teams in the NFL right now. Unfortunately for them they are in the same division as the Broncos and had to settle for second. As a wild card team they are forced to play their first playoff game on the road against the AFC South division winner the Texans. The Texans won their division almost by default. The Colts ended up with having to use a QB that did not make any team this year. Even with that the Texans only one the division by one game. It was not the best season for the Texans but they did enough. Even though the Chiefs are a hot team I don’t think that this is going to be a cake walk game for them. Could the Texans rip this one away from the Chiefs and move on in the playoffs? No I don’t see any way it happens unless J.J. Watt gets to play every position at the same time.
Chiefs 31 Texans 17
The second Saturday game is the Steelers (10-6) at the Bengals (12-4)
Being in the same division the Bengals and the Steeelers meet each other twice during the regular season. They split those game with the Bengals winning early in the season 16-10 and the Steelers winning the game later in season 33-20. With the loss of Dalton and the recent playoff history of the Bengals things do not on the surface look good for the Bengals to win this game. The Steelers are also hurting with the loss of their top two running backs. Ben Roethlisberger has not has had a pretty good year. He has playoff experience and success and has one of the best recievers in the NFL with Antonio Brown. The Bengals have a team that can win this game. Saying that I think that it will be a close game but the Steelers with their playoff experience will pull out a close one.
Steelers 24 Bengals 23
In the first Sunday game the Seahawks (10-6) are at the Vikings (11-5)
After the start to the Seahawks season another run through the playoffs looked a long way off. When they lost Lynch it looked again that they may have trouble getting to the playoffs. Russel Wilson has proved to most of the doubters out there that he is the real deal. He has been calm and cool and does enough on offense to give the Seahawks a chance in every game. Their defense is what carries this team and will continue to do so in the playoffs. The Vikings were expected to be better but winning the NFC North was a real surprise. They earned it but it took a massive collapse by the Packers for this to happen. The big X factor in this game will be the weather. With what is expected to be one of the coldest games ever played in the NFL I am not expecting either offense to do much. The defense will be huge in this game.
Seahawks 17 Vikings 10
In the final game of the weekend the Packers (10-6) are at the Redskins (9-7)
The Packers started the season out looking like the team to beat in the NFC. They had some huge wins early over several playoff teams. After the bye week the Packers limped to the finish line and just barely made the playoffs. The Redskins play in a division with some really bad teams. There was not much competition for them and they won the division relatively easily as the only team with a winning record. The surprise here has been Kirk Cousins He has put together a very decent year and shows signs that he could be a top half of the league QB. This game is a true toss up. With how the Packers finished the season there is no reason to believe that they could all of a sudden get it all put back together. The Redskins play very well at home but have a tendency to forget that they are playing football.
Packers 24 Redskins 23
It will be very interesting to see how the games play out this weekend. The NFL Wild Card Round is always exciting. At least one of the games will be a blow out. One will have a big come back. Who do you think will win these games this weekend?
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