The NFL Wildcard Weekend wrapped up Monday night with the Buccaneer’s monumental 32-9 win over the Eagles. The first round of the playoffs lived up to it’s “wildcard” name. We saw the Cowboys get upset by the Packers, the Lions narrowly escape the Rams, the Texans blow out the Browns and perhaps the wildest game was the Chiefs vs Dolphins game in subzero temperatures. The Divisional round is set and I can’t wait. The matchups are as follows:
Houston Texans vs Baltimore Ravens on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 3:30 p.m.
Green Bay Packers vs San Francisco 49ers on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7:15 p.m.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Detroit Lions on Sunday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m.
Kansas City Chiefs vs Buffalo Bills on Sunday, Jan. 21 at 5:30 p.m.
Starting the weekend off with the Texans visiting the Ravens on Saturday January 20th, this game should be entertaining to say the least. CJ Stroud, the promising rookie QB for the Texans, lit up the Browns last weekend and is on fire. On the Ravens side, they are the AFC 1 seed with high expectations led by Lamar Jackson and Kyle Hamilton. This game will likely be a high scoring affair due to the powerful offenses.
Saturday night the 7th seed Packers will head to San Francisco to take on the NFC 1 seed 49ers. The Packers are coming off a massive upset in Dallas where they beat the Cowboys 48-32. The Packers have nothing to lose, they are just happy to be here. All the pressure is on the 49ers to not choke at home, so I think the Packers may have a decent shot at upsetting the 49ers this weekend and punching their ticket to the NFC Championship.
My beloved Tampa Bay Buccaneers find themselves in Detroit Saturday afternoon facing the Lions. The Bucs are a team who everyone thought would be one of the worst teams in the league coming into the season. To the critic’s dismay, QB Baker Mayfield has been on fire, leading the Bucs past the Eagles in the Wildcard round with
3 passing touchdowns and 337 passing yards. Baker was written off before the season and now he leads the Bucs into a divisional matchup against a hot lions team who just won their first playoff game in 32 years. I think this may be the best game of the weekend.
The final game of the divisional round has the Bills facing the Chiefs at home. These 2 teams have a lot of history with each other. Earlier in the season, the Bills went into Arrowhead stadium and won 20-17. This time around, I expect an explosive game from both offenses with everything on the line. Mahomes and Allen are 2 of the best Qbs in the league, and I genuinely have no idea who will win this one. The Bills and Chiefs have played each other a lot the past few years in both regular season and playoffs with the Chiefs taking a majority of the playoff wins. Either way, it will be a riveting weekend for football.