Friday, January 3, 2014

NFL Wildcard Weekend

The NFL regular season has ended and the playoffs will be beginning tomorrow! Unfortunately for the Atlanta Falcons and their fans, both will be watching from home after a less-than-terrific season finishing at 4-12. This weekend should provide some good football games. Let's take a look at them.

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Indianapolis Colts
Two teams that have held the last two top overall picks in the NFL draft, KC and Indy will be having a rematch of the week 16 matchup between the two, in which Indy won 23-7. The Colts are returning to the playoffs for the second year under Chuck Pagano while the Chiefs will be making their first appearance with Andy Reid at the helm. Both teams enter the game with 11-5 records, but have thrived in two different ways this season. The Chiefs have had one of the top defenses in the entire country this year, while the Colts got to the playoffs behind the arm of Andrew Luck. Expect the Chiefs to come out with a chip on their shoulder after losing to the Colts in week 16, but in the end the Colts' offensive firepower will prove to much for the Chiefs' defense to handle. Indy wins 31-21.

New Orleans Saints vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Sean Payton's return to the playoffs against Chip Kelly's first trip to them. This looks to be an offensive explosion with the minds of Payton and Kelly. Rob Ryan and the Ain'ts (er Saints) defense will try to do something that no defense has had very much success in doing: making Nick Foles look bad. Nick Foles has thrived under Chip Kelly's offense. Look for him to continue his success and Lesean McCoy to have a big day running the football in the snow. Eagles win 38-31

San Diego Chargers vs. Cincinnati Bengals
With Pittsburgh and Baltimore both missing the playoffs, the Bengals quietly won the AFC north this year with an 11-5 record. San Diego, under first year head coach Mike McCoy snuck into the playoffs with a 9-7 record. Biggest matchup in this game to watch will be how San Diego will be able to move the ball against a good Bengals defense in what is looking to be snowy conditions. In the snow, Cincinnati wins a close one 28-24

San Francisco 49ers vs. Green Bay Packers
Here's the best matchup of wildcard weekend. The 9ers are trying to return to the Super Bowl for the second year in a row, but they will have to go through a very good Green Bay team that has Aaron Rodgers back in his second week since his injury. One more factor against the 9ers is that this game will be played in the snowy confines of Lambeau Field. Even though everything is seemingly going against the 9ers, I still expect them to win with running the football with Frank Gore and Collin Kaepernick. 9ers win 28-27

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