The NFL Playoffs are here and it’ll be an exciting time as there will be four games in two days. Four teams; the Kansas City Chiefs, the New England Patriots, the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Rams will not play this weekend. That’s because they’re the highest two seeds in their conferences.
The Saturday match-ups will be pretty entertaining, as the first game will be on ESPN/ABC with a division rivalry between the Indianapolis Colts against the Houston Texans in the Lone Star State. The Colts started off 1-5, but have been scorching hot, and it started with a failed 4th Down gamble against the Texans in Indy months ago. The Texans got on a winning streak after that fluke in Indianapolis and never looked back. The Colts have been the better team on every side of the ball, and it showed when they won in Houston in the second game. The Colts will probably take this one, again by a three point win.
Another matchup on Saturday that features teams that played each other will be the Seahawks going to the northern part of Texas to take on the Dallas Cowboys. Seattle won handily the first time around, although they were at home and Dallas did not have Wide Receiver Amari Cooper. While Ezekiel Elliott is healthy as well as most of Dallas’ Offensive Line, Seattle will be playing with a mostly healthy Offensive Line and Secondary. Although Earl Thomas is not playing this time, the Seahawks’ Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright will be, and Dallas will have to make sure the running game can be a factor. I see Seattle taking the W here if their offensive line can hold up throughout this game, as Russell Wilson is better than Dak Prescott.
Sunday will have two games as well. The first one will be in Maryland, where the Baltimore Ravens play the Los Angeles Chargers for the second time this season, but this time at home (same situation in a lot of ways like Seattle and Dallas). The Ravens defense suffocated the Chargers’ offense in L.A. last time, and that gave the Ravens offense enough time to get a double-digit lead. It possibly could happen again, because the Chargers Offense had no answer for that Ravens D, and I don’t think they will this time around in the Ravens’ home.
The last matchup is on Sunday night in which two red-hot teams clash on NBC. The Philadelphia “Miracle” Eagles, led by one “Saint” Nick Foles will come to Soldier Field and play the Chicago Bears. The Bears defense is one of the best units in the NFL, and they can get pressure consistently to knock Nick Foles around? Foles has bruised ribs and may not be as mobile as many expect. However, a lot of people are unsure of Mitchell Trubisky, the Bears’ starting quarterback on what his performance will be, or if the kicker Cody Parkey will have issues kicking the ball to score points. I do think the veteran Eagles have enough in the tank to win one playoff game, but it will be very low-scoring and very close.
JD's Sportscorner 