January football is a bittersweet time of the year for many football fan. Post holiday blues paired with 20 disenchanted franchises who didn’t make the postseason cut. Wild Card Weekend tends to write the craziest headlines and fuel the path to the Super Bowl with ALL the drama.
Buffalo Bills vs. Houston Texans
The first matchup comes on Saturday afternoon between Buffalo and Houston. Both teams come in at 10-6 and don’t have the best history succeeding in the playoffs.
Houston is only favored by three points. This is likely due to a stifling Bills defense that could give Watson and company some trouble. Buffalo seeks their first playoff win since 1995, a streak they are determined to end and put behind them.
My head tells me to pick Houston, but my heart (and a 6-2 road record for Buffalo) tells me to go with Bills mafia. It will be a close game and I believe the first to score 20 will win it. This contest kicks off at 4:35PM EST.
Tennessee Titans vs. New England Patriots
In primetime Saturday night fashion, we will see a team that is typically home resting before Divisional weekend: the New England Patriots. When I say typically, I mean that the Patriots have not been a part of Wild Card Weekend since 2010- a whole decade prior!
The Pats will be hosting the Tennessee Titans at Gillette Stadium. Since Week 7, the league has marveled at the efficiency of Ryan Tannehill who replaced Mariota, once thought to be the Titans’ franchise guy.
Tannehill, acquired from Miami in a March 2019 trade, is appearing to pay off. Having completed 70.3 percent of his passes since Week 7, he looks to take down the Super Bowl champion Patriots. Stats are tough to ignore, but two decades of improbable wins by a franchise that does not always appear to be stacked is even tougher to ignore. Patriots will win this matchup. Kickoff is at 8:15PM EST.
Minnesota Vikings vs. New Orleans Saints
This Sunday is all about two NFC battles. The first comes between Vikings and Saints at 1:05PM EST. After a devastating blown PI call in the 2019 NFC Championship game that essentially cost the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl, Drew Brees looks to move forward and rewrite history for the city of New Orleans. Hopefully adding another Lombardi trophy to their arsenal.
With the Saints quite possibly being the biggest NFC threat with a complete team topped off with amazing coaching in Sean Payton, it is difficult to put much faith in the wavering Cousins. He has not shown up for his teams in big moments. Not to mention, the Superdome is not exactly an easy place to play on the road. The Saints are favored by 7.5 and I think they win by at least 10.
Seattle Seahawks vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The final game between Seattle and Philly (4:40PM EST) may be the most anticipated of the entire weekend based on the matchup. Though Seattle is coming off of a heartbreaking loss to their NFC West rivals, San Francisco, they have shown some fight as of late. Not to mention, storied running back Marshawn Lynch made his return last Sunday. He was able to put some life into 12th man and their faithful base.
The Eagles, NFC East champions, may not have had the prettiest season in the worst division in the league. But their woes were majorly due in part to a depleted depth chart with injury after injury to some key players: Darren Sproles (IR), Nelson Agholor, Zach Ertz, Alshon Jeffery (IR), DeSean Jackson (IR), Ronald Darby (IR), and a handful of others. The Eagles soared through their final game of the season over the Giants to seal up a wild card contest versus an experienced Seattle team.
Coach Pederson in conjunction with franchise QB Carson Wentz seem to always have some magic up their sleeves when it counts. So I am going to take the Eagles at home over the Seahawks.
Let’s all just appreciate the Wild Card Weekend games. They will be here in less than 24 hours and enjoy them as we may. Baltimore, Green Bay, Kansas City, and San Francisco all await their divisional opponents coming into their towns next weekend.
[…] Wildcard weekend definitely lived up to it’s name. The wildest part might be that we saw both Drew Brees and Tom Brady throw the last pass for their respective teams. Both quarterbacks, now in their 40’s, have decisions to make that could affect the entire league. […]