So today (Saturday January 9th) is the start of the NFL playoffs. Anyone who has known me for some time knows that I am a huge NFL fan, and have followed professional football now since the 1990 season, 25 years ago.
I'm a regular and active participant in fantasy football... having been on a season long fantasy league through my church for five seasons between 2010 and 2014, and also a casual (not professional) player of daily fantasy.
Every year at this time, I normally spend countless hours analyzing the postseason and picking the teams I think have the best chance of winning. I seem to, usually, get my predictions right too! Well, about half the time! Maybe sometimes a little less than that.
Anyhow, I have made my picks for wildcard weekend. I usually wrap this up by the Friday before the wildcard weekend begins, but have had some other things going on this week... and as such, this is somewhat last minute and may appear to be hurried. Apologies in advance for any grammatical errors, not a lot of time to proofread.
Here we go...
Houston Texans vs Kansas City Chiefs... I'm going with Houston at home in this one, in a game I think will be higher scoring than expected, 27-24. Both Kansas City and Houston have enough weapons on offense in the passing game to move the ball downfield... and I'm giving the edge to the home team in what I think will be the closest game of the weekend.
Cincinnati Bengals vs Pittsburgh Steelers... The Bengals have not won a playoff game since the 1990 season, which as I mentioned above... was my first season following professional football. I think the long drought without a playoff win comes to an end tonight in Cincinnati. The Bengals are good enough on the defensive side of the ball to shut down the Steelers' high-powered offense, which will be forced to be one-dimensional with D. Williams being ruled out due to injury. I think they can score on defense too, and AJ McCarron at quarterback can make enough plays against a weak secondary to lead the Bengals to a 24-13 win.
Sunday's games...
Minnesota Vikings vs Seattle Seahawks... Seattle destroyed Minnesota just a month ago on this same field. That said, historically speaking, a team that gets blown out in the regular season tends to fare much better against the same opponent when a rematch takes place in the postseason. There's examples... I can't name them off the top of my head, but am pretty sure I can go back and look them up when I get more time, but anyway... in my upset of the week, I have Minnesota winning by a score of 23-17. The Seahawks are in a similar predicament that the Steelers find themselves in, their top running back being ruled out and as such they will be forced to take to the air more. Minnesota's defense is underrated but I think they can limit Seattle in the passing game, especially playing at home in what is projected to be one of the coldest games in NFL history. Vikings offense, led by Adrian Peterson in the run game, makes enough plays to lead them to the upset victory.
Washington Redskins vs Green Bay Packers... This one, I admit, was the hardest one of the weekend to pick. I could easily go both ways, making a case for either team. Washington has Kirk Cousins at quarterback and he has been playing lights out over the last several weeks, particularly at home. On the other hand... Redskins have not beaten a team with a winning record all season. Aaron Rodgers is a Super Bowl winning quarterback with a plethora of postseason experience, perhaps more so than the entire 53 man Washington roster. Rodgers is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time and is going up against a Washington secondary that is one of the last in the league in yards allowed. And yet... the rest of the Packers' offense is just, well.. bad! I'm going to give the advantage to the home team in this one, in what should be the highest scoring contest of the weekend... and pick Washington to win, 38-31. I would not be surprised, however, if this one went the other way... if Green Bay's defense steps up, and if they can get their running game going early and often.
Well, that's it. Enjoy the games... I will see you all back here this time next week for the divisional round!
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