After 17 weeks of regular season football, the playoffs finally begin with some great wildcard games. There's a little bit of a story line to satisfy every football fan this weekend. The Green Bay Minnesota game features two division rivals clashing for the third time, the Cincinnati Houston game promises playoff success for two franchises that haven't had much, the Indianapolis Baltimore game is rich in iconic football history, and the Seattle Washington game features a dream pairing of rookie quarterbacks that have turned their franchises around. What a weekend we have ahead of us.
The Cincinnati Bengals vs The Houston Texans
Houston seemed to have it made just a few weeks ago. It looked like they would have a bye week and maybe even home field advantage. Now they have to put their season on the line one week earlier than expected. I think the latest run for the Texans should wake them up a bit for this game. If Houston want to win, they need to exploit their superiority on both sides of the run game. RB Arian Foster should prove to be a valuable weapon on the offensive side of the ball. Foster should be able to make a sometimes shaky Bengal's run defense look bad with his play making ability. He's rushed for seven 100 yard games this season and can really beat up an offensive line. The Houston defense, with J.J. Watt, have stopped a lot of good rushing attacks this season. They give up an average of 97.5 rushing yards per game which is seventh best in the league. If the Bengals want to win, their defense must give them a chance. When the Bengals allow more than 20 points in a game, they are 2-5. When they hold a team to under 20 points, they are 8-1. The Bengal's offense has a lot of play makers, but they struggle moving the football consistently as well as scoring. If the defense can hold Foster and Andre Johnson back, I think Andy Dalton can get the job done for the Bengals.
The problem is that I don't have enough faith in the Bengal defense. I see Foster running his way to the 34-20 win.
The Minnesota Vikings vs The Green Bay Packers
One could say that we saw a preview of this game last week, but they would be missing the fact Green Bay was missing Randall Cobb and Charles Woodson. The interesting aspect of this game is that we got a good runner vs a bad run defense and a good passer against a bad passing defense. Minnesota RB Adrian Peterson is the best running back in the game right now. He tore up Green Bay's 17th ranked rush defense last week and he will do it again this week. Packers QB Aaron Rodgers also had a great week against the Vikings last week. His 365 yards and four touchdowns against the 24th ranked pass defense should be replicated again this week. In the end, one of these two teams is going to have to step up and stop the other team's strength or find a different way to win by improving on their weaknesses.
Last week's game came down to a field goal, so the best way to pick this game might be through a coin toss. I'll just bank on the home field advantage for the Packers. I have Green Bay winning 37-35.
The Indianapolis Colts vs The Baltimore Ravens
The NFL history is so rich in this one. I love when these two play just for that. Baltimore comes in with a pretty good offense and a defense that has been giving up a lot of yards, but still grinding against teams and getting wins. I think it will be interesting to see how this squad plays knowing that if they lose Ray Lewis' career in the NFL is over. It will also be interesting to see how they play Andrew Luck. I think RB Ray Rice is the key to the game for the Ravens. In the past few weeks he has struggled and the Ravens have lost. Now he gets a chance to make a big difference against the 29th ranked rush defense. If he can beat the Colts on the ground, I think it will give Joe Flacco some confidence which will make Baltimore a complete team. For the Colts to win, they need QB Andrew Luck to play one of the best games of his young career and have one of the best defensive performances of the year. Luck has taken a lot of pressure against good teams with good defenses. If he can escape a few sacks and take care of the ball, I think he can lead his team to victory. I just don't think the offensive line is up for the challenge.
I think the Raven's defense will be too much for the Colts offense which leads to a 24-19 victory for Baltimore.
The Seattle Seahawks vs The Washington Redskins
This is the game of the weekend. Rookie QBs Russel Wilson and Robert Griffin III are going to put on a show on Sunday Night. They key to this game is which team can limit the damage the other QB is going to do. Both QBs are dual threat and have great running backs to back them up. They can both make plays and both don't seem to fear a thing on the football field. Besides the QBs, both teams rank in the top five in the running game and have less than stellar passing offenses in terms of yards per game. The one thing that separates these two teams is their passing defenses. Seattle allows an average of 203.1 passing yards per game which puts them sixth in the league. Washington allows an average of 281.9 passing yards per game. I think that's what pushes this game in favor of the Seahawks. I think Seattle wins via Russel Wilson's arm 29-25.
Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment