In Washington, the Redskins won’t be expected to win, and their fans will be happy no matter what happens because the team has already overachieved.
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They’re a solid tandem to ride against the Packers, as cupcake matchups are mostly off the table post-Week 17. Playing in Houston will help the Texans some, but not enough, the Chiefs get their 11th straight win, 28-13. Meanwhile they have wins against the Chiefs, Seahawks and Steelers. The Denver Broncos and New England Patriots are the top two seeds.
Both teams are riding momentum, but one team’s momentum will come to a crashing halt Saturday afternoon.
It only got them the fifth seed, but it also got them an opponent they have defeated. Seattle is a good defense, and when these two teams played in the regular season, Seattle mopped the floor with the Vikings. However, the Chiefs’ biggest mistake would be to overlook the Texans.
The Kansas City Chiefs are the hottest team in football right now, with 10 wins in a row to end the year, an fantastic turnaround after the 1-5 start to the season. It’s last postseason victory: January 6, 1991. That number will becomes nine on Saturday.
The NFL has warned both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals against any fights or altercations before Saturday night’s Wild Card game, according to Bleacher Report.
On the surface, the Packers got a decent consolation prize for losing to the Vikings with a game against Washington, the champions of the weak NFC East. The Packers had the same record on the road (5-3) as they did at Lambeau Field. If you want to see old school football with power running, defense, and frost temperatures, that’s the game for you. The offense is electric and the receiving corps led by Antonio Brown is arguably the best in the league.
It looks as though the Bengals will not get Andy Dalton back in time to take on their division rivals. He’s been quiet the past two games, but he has still gotten his playing time and some deep shots from Wilson. The way to beat the Steelers is to stop the pass and the run in their multi-dimensional offense.
Williams was the lone player to be ruled out by the Steelers on this week’s injury report after suffering a right foot injury in the Sunday regular season finale against the Cleveland Browns.
If I know the Steelers like I think I do, they’ll definitely bring the blitz early and often regardless of the quarterback.
If the Bengals had Dalton, this would be a different story. And yet their paths have crossed to produce a rematch of the game that took place on December 6, with Seattle dismantling Minnesota in a 38-7 walkover that was representative of Seattle’s dominant second half.
There are, by my calculations, several hundreds of thousands of ways to go about picking these games, and none is necessarily smarter than any other.
This season was eerily similar to last year for Seattle, who started a mediocre 4-5 before turning things around and going 6-1 to close out the year. They’ll host the red-hot Seahawks, who are 5-point favorites to beat Minnesota for the second time in less than a month. Luckily for them, Marshawn Lynch, who has missed several weeks recovering from sports hernia surgery, is slated to play on Sunday. Take that Green Bay. The first priority against the Vikings always is to slow down the league’s top rusher, Adrian Peterson. However, the root of the team’s success is the defense. They’ve had the same offensive struggles all year long. Many players are just getting their feet wet in the playoffs, while the Seahawks are comprised of most of their Super Bowl team from the past two seasons. This will be a great test of playoff experience.
In the end, I think the line is just a tad high and not showing any respect for the Vikings. The highlight of the Packers’ last 10 games was Rodgers’ Hail Mary touchdown against the Detroit Lions.
The Seahawks are 4-0 SU in their last four wildcard games.
The total has gone over in the Redskins’ last four games. Jordan Reed had 11 touchdowns and Cousins distributed a very balanced attack with Reed, Pierre Garcon, DeSean Jackson, and rookie Jamison Crowder all recording over 500 receiving yards. Conversely, Rodgers is bereft of weapons with the absence of his home-run threat, Jordy Nelson (out all year with a knee injury) and playing behind a leaky offensive line. Ryan Kerrigan led the team with 9.5 sacks and safety Dashon Goldson had a comeback year in his first year in D.C., leading the team with 71 tackles.
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We’ve seen McCarron for a month now. While the Redskins go into the game with a 4-0 streak, the Packers lost by 30 to Arizona and then lost the division title at home with Rodgers being harassed constantly. The Packers’ offensive line is in shambles, which will make Rodgers’ day very hard. The Redskins are at home, which gives them a 58 percent chance. But in the end, the Redskins offense has been humming down the stretch and should be able to consistently move the ball and score against the Packers.
