The Divisional Round is here, and the games should be a little more competitive. Or maybe we’ll get another three blowouts.
Saturday (all times EST)
4:30 pm: 4 Cincinnati Bengals @ 1 Tennessee Titans (-3.5)
8:15 pm: 6 San Francisco 49ers @ 1 Green Bay Packers (-6)
Sunday
3:00 pm: 4 Los Angeles Rams @ 2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3)
6:30 pm: 3 Buffalo Bills @ 2 Kansas City Chiefs (-2)
I went 6-0 with my picks last week, so I feel obligated to try again. Regression to the mean says you should definitely not trust me this time around. For the Titans, Derrick Henry is expected to start after several months on the IR, so a questionable #1 seed should be slightly better than it would be otherwise. But the Bengals are still the Bengals, and the Titans handle them easily.
Nick Bosa is also expected back after spending a few days in the concussion protocol, but I don’t think he’ll be enough for the Niners. An away game, the forecasted cold weather, and Rodgers back on his game will doom them.
I think the Rams keep it close against the Bucs but fall in the end. For my one upset, I’m going with the Bills. Mahomes and the Chiefs rarely have played consistently well for an entire game this year, and I think Josh Allen will run and throw all over them.
I don’t have any detailed analysis to add. As a Lions fan/season ticket holder, I’d like to see Stafford and Rodgers throw a combined eight picks and both get knocked out of the playoffs. One of those is more likely than the other.
I think the Bengals upset Tennessee, wishful thinking aside the Pack beat the Niners, the playoff version of Stafford us Lions fans all remember returns as the Bucs beat the Rams by 10 in a shootout, and cold weather Josh Allen shows up and the Chiefs advance.
I’m also a long-suffering Lions fan, but I have nothing but good wishes for Stafford. After 13 long seasons of futility, he finally escaped the curse of the Lions and got his very first playoff win last week, ironically at the same time the Lions become the NFL team with the longest playoff drought. Stafford was barely out of diapers when the Lions beat the Cowboys in that long ago wild card round. More power to him. Brady has like 35 post-season wins, he’ll be fine with an early vacation.
I harbor no ill will against Stafford, I thank him for his time here. He was the greatest Lions QB in my lifetime.
Having said that, the sooner he gets knocked out, the higher our draft pick this year. It’s academic at this point when you’re talking about picking 29th vs 32nd, but still.
I wish Matthew all the success and Lombardi trophies he can imagine…starting in 2024 when the Lions don’t have a first round draft pick tied to the Rams for the Stafford trade.
Seriously, I’d love the wheels to come off next year and the Rams go 3-13, then follow up with Stafford winning a SB.
I didn’t know the Lion’s draft pick was tied to the Stanford trade. Or I may have known and since forgot.
Still, I’ll be rooting for the Rams tomorrow. As you say, the possibility of a slightly better draft pick for the Lions is pretty academic at this point. The Lions need a lot more help than that.
My guess – the Packers will have an early lead, then do absolutely nothing for 2 quarters, fall behind and either get ahead by two and then have to rely on a inconsistent defense to stop the 9ers from scoring and/or have to win in the last 45 seconds – something to overstress the average Packers fan already delicate heart muscle.
I’m going for the Bengals this game. So far they’ve gotten lucky, but the o-line seems like it just isn’t going to hold up. I think the Titans will end up winning despite being down right now and having to kick at the beginning of the second half.
If it wasn’t painfully obvious before, it is now: our offensive line, especially the right side, BLOWS without Reiff in there at RT. This also makes it more obvious what a gritty guy Burrow is. He was RELENTLESSLY sacked and hit. I can’t believe he didn’t fumble one of those times.
We need to draft o-line with our 32 pick in the 1st round for sure!
Burrow needs to learn to get the ball out quicker and trust his hot read more when facing pressure. He put a lot of pressure on his OLine.
Packers defense playing great. Packers offense moving the ball well, but then shooting themselves in the foot with turnovers and special teams. Heart attacks galore.
