NFL Playoff Predictions pt. 1

The most wonderful time of the year is upon us. No not Christmas, the NFL Playoffs! Every year around this time we begin to get the games that matter more to NFL fans than any other games. The good teams have separated themselves from the bad ones, and we are left with the cream of the crop… sort of. In the NFL’s ever-present wisdom (or greed), they have gifted us with an extra game this wildcard weekend. They are calling it Super Wildcard Weekend which is just patently ridiculous, however, it does feel quite special it being the first time this has happened so I can’t blame them. 

This article isn’t going to be a particularly long one, as I went over most of this on my podcast the JRJV Sports Report, however, I felt it a good idea to recap those thoughts here. I will be doing this every week so I will only be predicting the Wildcard round of the playoffs in this article. That being said I will also be giving score predictions so this will be fairly in-depth as far as analysis goes. With that, let's get to the not so hot takes. 

Indianapolis Colts @ Buffalo Bills

The Buffalo Bills have been on an absolute tear to end the season. Their last loss came against the Arizona Cardinals on that last-second touchdown grab from DeAndre Hopkins. That happened in week 10. Since then they have won every game by ten or more points. Including winning their last three games by differentials of twenty-nine, twenty-nine, and thirty points. That last win came against a Dolphins team that was fighting for their playoff lives. The offense has looked impeccable, and the defense has looked stellar too. Week 17 was the first time the defense had given up more than twenty points since week 13. The Bills are the second-best team in the NFL in my opinion and that’s why this entire entry has been about the Bills. The Colts are a solid team with a very good defense, a very good offensive line, and an overall fine offense. They are walking into a pit of despair with this game and it will not be a close game. 

Prediction: Colts 17 - Bills 41

Los Angeles Rams @ Seattle Seahawks

This game is a weird one to predict. Not least of which is because the Rams may not have their starting quarterback and that may actually be a positive for them. The Rams have statistically the best defense in the NFL with two of its top ten players spearheading the attack. However, the offense has had its struggles. The defense tends to give up more points than you would expect but that usually comes more from the offense turning the ball over in the worst places than it does with the defense making mistakes. As for the Seahawks, the offense has been struggling for a while now, though the defense has picked up the slack. That being said, we saw this matchup two weeks ago and the Rams looked awful in that one. John Wolford does not make up the major gap that we saw in the 20 - 9 game from week 16. This game has the potential to go either way because the NFC West is ridiculous like that. I do believe this should be a relatively close game, but I refuse to bet against Russell Wilson this early in the playoffs. 

Prediction: Rams 15 - Seahawks 20

Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ Washington Football Team 

In the battle of two teams with three words in their names, not much interesting is going to happen. I don’t fully believe in the Bucs as a title contender as they have made a living decimating bad teams and the Packers. However, they are a good football team that has a lot of talent on both sides of the ball. The Football Team scraped their way to a 7-9 season and probably shouldn’t be in the playoffs. This game will likely not be close and that's where the smart money lies. 

Prediction: Buccaneers 38 - Football Team 13

Baltimore Ravens @ Tennessee Titans

This is easily the most competitive game of the wildcard round of the playoffs. The Ravens seem to have found themselves and are making a strong push towards the end of the season with multiple blow-out wins over decent competition. Meanwhile, the Titans have continued their trend of looking like a team no one can get a grasp on. Derrick Henry led the league in rushing by well over 400 yards, and the combination of AJ Brown and Corey Davis has been giving opposing defenses fits. The big question for me boils down to how well the Ravens’ defense can keep the lid on the Titans offense. The Ravens are going to score and probably in bunches. The way they run the ball is unlike any team we have seen in a long time and the Tennessee defense is not good enough to stop them. That being said, the Titans’ offense is one of the better ones in the league and can score as well as nearly any team. If Baltimore can limit them just a little, I see Baltimore coming away with the win in this game. 

Prediction: Baltimore 31 - Tennessee 27

Chicago Bears @ New Orleans Saints

I am a Bears fan and I don’t even want to watch this game. The flip of the coin as to which version of both teams we are going to get is as annoying a coin flip as there has ever been. The Saints have had moments where they look awful, like losing to the Philadelphia Eagles, and moments where they have looked like world-beaters, like beating the Tampa Bay Bucs by thirty-five points. The Bears, on the other hand, started the season 5-1 then lost six straight games. That should tell you all you need to know about their identity crisis. The Bears will need their defense to step up big if they want to capture this win, but the Saints are big favorites, as they should be. They have genuine Super Bowl winning talent on their roster and if they didn’t win this game it would be seen as an utter travesty. The Bears have pushed the Saints to overtime this year in their week 8 matchup so I see this as being a relatively close game, but the Saints are just the better team. 

Prediction: Bears 24 - Saints 29

Cleveland Browns @ Pittsburgh Steelers

I am still pissed that this game is the Sunday night game. The Steelers have been so up and down all season and the Browns are still the Browns. Los Angeles and Chicago both have games being played. The markets should matter. I just really did not want to watch this game in full and now I absolutely have to. The Steelers should win as they have the better defense and they will have their head coach on the sideline. That being said, Big Ben has looked atrocious all season and James Connor looks broken. The wide receivers cannot stop dropping balls and they are still pretty beat up. I think this game is easily one of the most competitive games of the weekend but I also think it is one of the two or three least interesting games. The Browns just aren’t ready to compete on this level in my eyes. Give them one more year to grow and mature. This team is young and with an actual competent head coach they should be able to start building something great in Cleveland. 

Prediction: Browns 23 - Steelers 24