Divisional Round Weekend

[BigSoxFan]

Decent slate of games.

Sat
Texans at Ravens (4:30pm)
Packers at Niners (8:15pm)

Sun
Bucs at Lions (3:00pm)
Chiefs at Bills (6:30pm)

I expect both #1 seeds to take care of business on Sat against the young QBs. Lions should probably do the same at home against a mediocre Tampa team. Chiefs/Bills could be a classic and I am feeling Bills in this one but Mahomes may have some magic in him.

 

[jose melendez]

You know, there's a real recipe for this to be a terrible post season. Only one good game of the six last weekend, and I think there's a real risk of only one good game next week.

 

[wilked]

With Vegas lines:

Sat
Texans at Ravens (4:30pm) Ravens -9
Packers at Niners (8:15pm) Niners -10

Sun
Bucs at Lions (3:00pm) Lions -6
Chiefs at Bills (6:30pm) Bills -2.5

Saturday not competitive on paper though this past weekend shows that anything can happen.

Sunday looks fun, with Chiefs / Bills being the only real "Primetime" game of this weekend. That one will be must watch TV

 

[tims4wins]

You know, there's a real recipe for this to be a terrible post season. Only one good game of the six last weekend, and I think there's a real risk of only one good game next week.

Same thought. Out of 13 playoff games, we might only get 3 or 4 good ones.

Mid season, we probably thought that Dallas, Philly, SF in the NFC and Buffalo, KC, Baltimore, and Miami in the AFC were all legit title contenders. That list has whittled significantly already.

 

[trekfan55]

Holding the # 1 seed and the bye provides an enormous advantage. So having both # 1's play on Saturday is interesting.

I am not sure why but the super wild card weekend has not been that good since they went to 7 playoff teams per conference.

 

[Nator]

You know, there's a real recipe for this to be a terrible post season. Only one good game of the six last weekend, and I think there's a real risk of only one good game next week.

I am getting 2016 playoff vibes as well. Only one good playoff game leading up to the Superbowl.

I did however enjoy how that Superbowl ended.

 

[Awesome Fossum]

You know, there's a real recipe for this to be a terrible post season. Only one good game of the six last weekend, and I think there's a real risk of only one good game next week.

Already three upsets though.

 

[GPO Man]

With Vegas lines:

Sat
Texans at Ravens (4:30pm) Ravens -9
Packers at Niners (8:15pm) Niners -10

Sun
Bucs at Lions (3:00pm) Lions -6
Chiefs at Bills (6:30pm) Bills -2.5

Saturday not competitive on paper though this past weekend shows that anything can happen.

Sunday looks fun, with Chiefs / Bills being the only real "Primetime" game of this weekend. That one will be must watch TV

Bucs are playing well and it wouldn’t surprise me if they beat the Lions.

 

[Humphrey]

Holding the # 1 seed and the bye provides an enormous advantage. So having both # 1's play on Saturday is interesting.

I am not sure why but the super wild card weekend has not been that good since they went to 7 playoff teams per conference.

In this case, having two Monday games pretty much insured that the #1s would be playing on Saturday. Plus, the Sunday night game is the biggest ratings winner, right? Reserved for Mahomes. Just glad it's not another game at GEHA.

 

[Justthetippett]

I'm not going to be surprised if Texans/Ravens is a good game. Stroud is dealing. They have the weapons to challenge the Bal defense. How they stop Lamar running and improvising is going to be key.

KC/Buff should be great. I'm rooting for Allen in that one.

 

[cshea]

Holding the # 1 seed and the bye provides an enormous advantage. So having both # 1's play on Saturday is interesting.

I am not sure why but the super wild card weekend has not been that good since they went to 7 playoff teams per conference.

Bucs and Bills both played Monday so couldn't play on Saturday.

 

[Humphrey]

Bucs are playing well and it wouldn’t surprise me if they beat the Lions.

Who knows how bad the score would have been if the Bucs' receivers caught a few more balls. Never thought Philly was in the game.

 

[trekfan55]

Bucs and Bills both played Monday so couldn't play on Saturday.

I agree. It's not like the NFL did this on purpose. Just happens this way.

 

[Toe Nash]

Yeah...as someone who dislikes the Eagles and Cowboys I thought their games were pretty good!

 

[tims4wins]

I agree. It's not like the NFL did this on purpose. Just happens this way.

Well, they did it on purpose in the sense that when they added a 5th and 6th game to WC weekend, they decided to put one on Monday, instead of just playing at 1, 4:30, and 8 on both Saturday and Sunday.

 

[wilked]

Very practically, 4/6 games of Wild Card weekend were over at halftime with another done at end of 3rd Q. Really only one game was competitive into the 4th quarter. The upsets were fun / interesting, but for the most part you could turn the games off at halftime and move on.

 

[DanoooME]

Stat of the day: the Green Bay Packers have more playoff wins in Jerry's World's Largest Mausoleum than the Cowboys do (3-2).

 

[SemperFidelisSox]

Brady has more playoff wins as a Buccaneer than the Cowboys do since 1997.

 

[Mystic Merlin]

Stat of the day: the Green Bay Packers have more playoff wins in Jerry's World's Largest Mausoleum than the Cowboys do (3-2).

Not sure that’s true. From what I can gather, GB has two playoff wins in Jerry World; the third win v DAL in the Jerry World era was the 2014 divisional round game at Lambeau. Dallas has won three playoff games at Jerry World: 2009 wild card v PHI, 2014 wild card v DET, and the 2018 wild card v SEA.

 

[DanoooME]

Not sure that’s true. From what I can gather, GB has two playoff wins in Jerry World; the third win v DAL in the Jerry World era was the 2014 divisional round game at Lambeau. Dallas has won three playoff games at Jerry World: 2009 wild card v PHI, 2014 wild card v DET, and the 2018 wild card v SEA.

But, but... Yahoo wrote it, so it MUST be true!

 

[Mystic Merlin]

But, but... Yahoo wrote it, so it MUST be true!

It’s still funny as hell that the numbers are so close, of course.

EDIT - Ohhhh, the Packers SB win was at Jerry World, so it’s 3-3!

 

[cshea]

Stat of the day: the Green Bay Packers have more playoff wins in Jerry's World's Largest Mausoleum than the Cowboys do (3-2).

Funny either way but believe it is 3-3.

2009: Cowboys beat the Eagles 34-14 in the WC round
2010: Packers beat Steelers 31-25 in Super Bowl played in Jerry's World
2014: Cowboys beat the Lions 24-20 in the WC round;
2016: Packers beat Cowboys 31-14 in Divisional Round
2018: Cowboys beat Seahawks 24-22 in WC round
2023: Packers beat Cowboys 48-32 in WC round

 

[j-man]

all 4 couild be good games

Hou @ balt = balt has a history of playing down to their comp see Tenn and pitt 2 weeks ago i know they were resting guys but u still wanted to beat u rival
hou has a hot QB and a great young coach if hou can get a 7-10 pt lead early watch out

GB @ SF will be much tougher for GB to win BUT kyle gives me marty vibes esp as the playoffs go on

TB @ DET this is a pick em oh and if TB does not re-sign baker u need to i favor DET but TB has the better QB

KC @ Buff if Buff scores 24+ plus they win if not kc wins

 

[j-man]

i rate the teams like this

1 SF
2 Balt
3 buff
4 det
5 tb
6 kc
7 hou
8 gb

 

[ilol@u]

You know, there's a real recipe for this to be a terrible post season. Only one good game of the six last weekend, and I think there's a real risk of only one good game next week.

Agreed. KC/Buffalo is the only marque matchup. Everything else has a strong likelihood of being one sided games. The upsets (GB over DAL, and TB over PHL) were fun, but they made the NFC divisional round lame.

 

[103mph Screwball]

I mentioned in the Wild Card thread, the Bills defense is REALLY hurting right now. I'm feeling really good about the offense, but Mahomes will tear up these practice squad guys on D if they can't get some of the starters back. Even with the receiving issues they've had this year.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

It's going to be interesting how Baltimore and San Francisco come out with the layover while the other teams have played and won big games.

Both the Packers and the Texans (and Bucs even) might very well want to play tonight if you offered it. Football traditionally has not been like baseball where the team that gets the layover has much trouble with the upstart who won the week before. Momentum is just not as much a thing in football, but the 7 teams thing is kind of new. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of the two one seeds loses, notwithstanding that both 1 seeds are 9 to 10 point favorites.

The line that surprises me the most is Buffalo/KC. I thought Buffalo should be a bigger favorite than -142/+120. Whenever I have that feeling though -- like Vegas has mispriced a line -- I'm always 180 degrees off. So, KC must really have a good chance in this one.

 

[scott bankheadcase]

View: https://twitter.com/nwagoner/status/1747343082369204577

 

[luckiestman]

Regardless of what happens in the games this weekend I think the committee has to select

Ravens
Niners
Bills
Chiefs

 

[OurF'ingCity]

Green Bay strikes me as a live dog. I think because people are so focused on Dallas “choking” they are ignoring or downplaying the fact that the Packers put up a huge amount of points on the road against a top 5 defense by DVOA.

The issue of course is that San Fran also has a great defense, and I certainly wouldn’t expect Green Bay to blow out the Niners, but the Packers do seem to be one of those teams that seems to be getting hot and finding their stride at exactly the right time.

 

[jose melendez]

Agreed. KC/Buffalo is the only marque matchup. Everything else has a strong likelihood of being one sided games. The upsets (GB over DAL, and TB over PHL) were fun, but they made the NFC divisional round lame.

I could see Green Bay San Fran being good. I don’t want to read too much into Green Bay’s win, but they’ve been trending really positive, and while Purdy has been really good, he needs to show something at this level.

 

[scott bankheadcase]

I could see Green Bay San Fran being good. I don’t want to read too much into Green Bay’s win, but they’ve been trending really positive, and while Purdy has been really good, he needs to show something at this level.

People keep saying this about Purdy, but he beat the Seahawks and the Cowboys back to back last year in the playoffs. And was incapacitated on the 1st quarter of the Eagles game.

He’s more playoff tested than Love, Baker and Goff.

 

[jose melendez]

People keep saying this about Purdy, but he beat the Seahawks and the Cowboys back to back last year in the playoffs. And was incapacitated on the 1st quarter of the Eagles game.

He’s more playoff tested than Love, Baker and Goff.

Goff did go to a Super Bowl, even if he played like crap in it.

 

[scott bankheadcase]

Goff did go to a Super Bowl, even if he played like crap in it.

Good point, for some reason I thought that was Stafford in my head.

Point still remains, Purdy has proven he can win playoff games.

 

[Cellar-Door]

View: https://twitter.com/nwagoner/status/1747343082369204577

Some fun shade, but also clearly a lie. They started prep for GB the minute the seeds were set, DAL too.

 

[scott bankheadcase]

Some fun shade, but also clearly a lie. They started prep for GB the minute the seeds were set, DAL too.

He did add this. I’m sure they were looking at all teams all week:

View: https://twitter.com/nwagoner/status/1747389193633026052

 

[johnmd20]

Some fun shade, but also clearly a lie. They started prep for GB the minute the seeds were set, DAL too.

Clearly.

 

[Dan Murfman]

Reporter asks how Tampa will prepare for the cold weather in Detroit.

View: https://twitter.com/daveconnellysg/status/1747402989680078901?s=61&t=mLlSRkfq4VtgCm4CvSpAPg

 

[SemperFidelisSox]

The Bills/Chiefs game feels a lot like the 2006 AFCCG. Buffalo finally gets Mahomes and the Chiefs at their place. This seasons version of KC isn’t as dangerous as the recent Super Bowl teams. Buffalo has been knocking on the door for a few years now. All teams deal with injuries. Really no excuses for Josh Allen and the team this time.

 

[BigSoxFan]

The Bills/Chiefs game feels a lot like the 2006 AFCCG. Buffalo finally gets Mahomes and the Chiefs at their place. This seasons version of KC isn’t as dangerous as the recent Super Bowl teams. Buffalo has been knocking on the door for a few years now. All teams deal with injuries. Really no excuses for Josh Allen and the team this time.

Not a bad analogy because there are a lot of Reche Caldwell candidates on this Chiefs team.

 

[brienc]

I’m still assuming the 49ers would have been the late game on Sunday until Dallas lost, and it was assured that they wouldn’t be playing the winner of the Eagles/Bucs game last Monday night. Having 13 and then 8 days off if they move on is a bigger advantage for San Francisco than 14 and 7 days between games, so it all worked out for the Niners.

 

[DJnVa]

 

[scott bankheadcase]

49ers going red on red for the end zone colors. Obviously this means they're going to win by 50, bet the house:

View: https://twitter.com/49ers/status/1748187158631022754

 

[Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt]

I get that they pay these people, and maybe there's a fun "community" vibe to it, but it starts to read a bit like "support our school with this bake sale" for a team owned by a billionaire. You have an outdoor stadium in Buffalo, NY, and you own a football team. Is there no better way for an NFL team to prepare for a snowstorm?

 

[wilked]

View: https://twitter.com/joepompliano/status/1748424034906169476

 

[Jim Ed Rice in HOF]

I get that they pay these people, and maybe there's a fun "community" vibe to it, but it starts to read a bit like "support our school with this bake sale" for a team owned by a billionaire. You have an outdoor stadium in Buffalo, NY, and you own a football team. Is there no better way for an NFL team to prepare for a snowstorm?

Other than MEGATARP!, what is really the option here? I guess they could have a temp agency on retainer that guarantees X number of employees at $X/hour if called upon for snow clearing but in either case you're basically just looking for a whole bunch of day laborers to do a one day task. They're not trying to get free labor for the experience of getting to come out to the stadium for a day. On the plus side for them is there is some of that experiential novelty of it that will get more people showing up with shovels than if Joe's excavation company put out the same request to come dig a massive ditch.

 

[cornwalls@6]

I hope they at least also get a standing room ticket to the game if they want to go.

 

[DJnVa]

View: https://twitter.com/joepompliano/status/1748424034906169476

I mean, I think that's the point the complaints are making---it's a bit of taking advantage of the fans. But, I mean, if you got the time, I can see how it would be a fun thing to do.

 

[103mph Screwball]

I get that they pay these people, and maybe there's a fun "community" vibe to it, but it starts to read a bit like "support our school with this bake sale" for a team owned by a billionaire. You have an outdoor stadium in Buffalo, NY, and you own a football team. Is there no better way for an NFL team to prepare for a snowstorm?

This is why I've been Team Dome since they announced the new stadium. I'm as big a Bills fan as there is out there, but as a NY resident, it's already ridiculous that I'm paying for the new stadium (I get that it's how these things work now). But give me a break, it was "cute" the first few times they did this, but you'd think a multi-billion dollar organization would have a better plan by now considering it's one of the snowiest places in the US.

 

[Hoya81]

I think it also helps that the stadium is right in the middle of a residential area and within walking distance of several neighborhoods, so they can count on a pretty decent showing when they put out the call.