What a heck of a wildcard weekend last weekend. Kansas City vs. Indianapolis easily ended up being the best game of the week, with KC losing Jamal Charles early and still being able to jump to a huge lead. Apparently, KC forgot who they were playing though. Since coming into the league last year, Andrew Luck came into the game with seven career fourth quarter comebacks. This would be number eight as Luck put the Colts on his back and carried them to victory, finishing with 443 yards through the air and four touchdowns. He also had a fumble recovery that he dove in for a touchdown, which was rewarded by being number one on Sportscenter's Top Ten Plays. Unfortunately for my picks, the Philadelphia vs. New Orleans game did not quite turn out like I wanted it to. Rob Ryan definitely had that Ain'ts defense prepared to stop Chip Kelly's dynamic offensive attack, limiting Lesean McCoy to only 77 yards on 21 carries. Shane Graham kicked a last second field goal to give New Orleans the victory. On Sunday, there were two more great games. San Diego came out and surprised everybody by beating the Cincinnati Bengals. San Diego did not win, as much as Cincinnati just lost due to multiple turnovers and untimely sacks. They turned the ball over four times and had another fumble they recovered. San Francisco played Green Bay about as close as I had predicted, winning 23-20. The best thing San Francisco did against the Packers, was holding Aaron Rodgers under 200 yards passing. It also did not hurt that Collin Kaepernick had an amazing game, passing for over 200 yards and rushing for almost 100. After an amazing wildcard weekend, I expect to see similar fireworks in the great match-ups this week in the divisional round. Let's take a look at them.
New Orleans Saints vs. Seattle Seahawks
I am fairly certain that most, if not all, of you remember the last time these two met in the playoffs. If not, watch this and it should jog your memory. That run has become so famous that it now has its own Wikipedia page. This time around, I am expecting another great game. New Orleans is coming off of a very close victory over Chip Kelly's Eagles. Seattle is coming off a bye after clinching the number one seed. Both teams have performed very well on both sides of the ball this year. The biggest match-up for this game will be how the Seahawks front seven does against Drew Brees, Darren Sproles, and the Saints screen game. If New Orleans gets the screen game going today, it should be a fairly easy victory for them. I expect the Seahawks defense to come into this game well-rested and disciplined. Seahawks win 31-20.
Bold Prediction: Seattle's defense holds Darren Sproles under 75 total offensive yards.
Indianapolis Colts vs. New England Patriots
I always love it when two rival teams meet in the playoffs. It always makes for a much better game, since you have the intensity of a playoff game AND a rivalry game. Andrew Luck may still have an adrenaline rush from the game last week against the Chiefs. Tom Brady and the Patriots have had an interesting season to say the least. From losing Wes Welker in free agency to losing Aaron Hernandez to prison, Tom Brady has been reduced to throwing to the oft-injured Rob Gronkowski and numerous inexperienced receivers. Fortunately, the Patriots brought in Lagarrette Blount, who has had a good season, averaging five yards a rush and scoring seven touchdowns on the ground. I expect to see a great game that will go back and forth all the way to the end of the game. The Match-up to watch is Andrew Luck going head to head with Tom Brady. Two great quarterbacks going at it. It should be a great match-up. Colts win 48-42.
Bold Prediction: Andrew Luck scores the last touchdown with under 30 seconds left to clinch a trip the the AFC championship game.
San Francisco 49ers vs. Carolina Panthers
Collin Kaepernick versus Cam Newton. Two fairly similar quarterbacks going head to head. Carolina surprised a lot of people by winning the NFC South this year, behind the arm of Cam Newton and the defense. As impressive as Newton has been this season, he has not even been the most impressive player on his team. That title should belong to impending free agent DE Greg Hardy. Going into this season, Greg Hardy had been solid, but not spectacular. The Ole Miss product only had 18 sacks spread out over three seasons coming into the season. Last year held a lot of hope for him, though, with 11 of those 18 coming last year. He had three big games this year: against the New York Giants, against the New Orleans Saints (the second time), and against the Atlanta Falcons (the second time). In those three games alone, he totaled 10 of his 15 sacks. The match-up to watch in this game will be how this fantastic defensive line, that also includes UGA product Charles Johnson, performs against an equally impressive 49ers offensive line. Carolina wins a very close game 28-25.
Bold Prediction: Greg Hardy and Charles Johnson combine for five sacks.
San Diego Chargers vs. Denver Broncos
Two rivalry games in the playoffs? I must be dreaming. San Diego surprised everybody with first year HC, and former Denver Broncos OC, Mike McCoy, by sneaking into the playoffs, going 1-1 against the Broncos in the regular season, and then upsetting the Bengals in the wildcard round. Denver has not missed Mike McCoy one bit. After bringing in Wes Welker in the offseason, the Denver Broncos had one of the best offensive seasons ever. They were easily the best offense in the NFL this year, finishing first in points, total offense, and passing offense. Peyton Manning also had a record setting year, throwing for 5,477 yards (surpassing Drew Brees' record by one yard) and 55 touchdown passes (surpassing Tom Brady's record by five touchdowns). Needless to say, the Chargers are going to have to find some way to slow down Peyton Manning if they want any chance at winning this game, which is why this is the match-up to watch: Chargers defense against Peyton Manning. I have not really picked an upset game yet in the playoffs, so why not. I will take the Chargers going into Denver and escaping with a narrow victory 35-31.
Bold Prediction: As if a Chargers victory was not enough, I will also predict that the Chargers defense hold Peyton under 250 yards passing and 2 touchdowns.
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