Kansas City at New England (Saturday 3:30)- The Chiefs are the hottest team in the league, and have not lost since mid-october. They also are not coming into the game with momentum where the Chiefs are. Cardinals never had playoff bye before this season….
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Has a Cincinnati Bengal handed Denver a ticket to the AFC title game? DE Chandler Jones (team-high 12½ sacks) caused a distraction but is expected to suit up…. The offense had some flow for the first time in many weeks, as they got some big plays from Rodgers and the running game got some momentum in the second half. The return of LT Sebastian Vollmer would help. We break down game time, TV schedule, odds, streaming info and more for wild card weekend.
Of the eight quarterbacks remaining, four of them – New England’s Tom Brady, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson – have all won Super Bowls.
Green Bay will fly out to much warmer climes, heading to Arizona to face the Cardinals. Arizona is 3-0 in playoff games at University of Phoenix Stadium, which has been a house of horrors for the Packers. Cardinals 25-6 under coach Bruce Arians in games against teams outside NFC West….
– If the Patriots win Saturday, Robert Kraft will move out of a third-place tie with the Mara family (Giants) for most victories by an ownership group.
They will miss Tyrann Matthieu, out for the year with a torn ACL, but their defense has coped well in his absence and quarterback Carson Palmer continues to play at an elite level.
The Kansas City Chiefs come into the divisional round riding high on an 11-game win streak that took them from a 1-5 team in the cellar of the AFC West to red-hot playoff team that has the chance to represent the AFC in the Superbowl. Also, I think Seattle will have a tough time rebounding from playing in brutal weather conditions in one of the most physical games I’ve seen in a long time.
When it comes to Alex Smith, people throw the term “game manager” around to slight him. He’s probable to return…. That is, of course, if Brown manages to recover to take the field following a heavy hit last weekend that saw him leave the game with concussion. The Panthers will come in confident, knowing they won at Seattle 27-23 in Week 6 on a last-minute touchdown pass from Newton to Greg Olsen. The big news for the Patriots is that Julian Edelman is practicing. Of the seven teams that have won at least 15 regular-season games, only three reached the Super Bowl, and just two (1984 49ers, 1985 Bears) won it….
Impact on the playoffs: The Panthers posted the best regular season record in the NFL in 2015, during which they became the sixth team in league history to finish a season 15-1. Look for the Panthers to try and isolate TE Greg Olsen, who caught the game-winning TD in the Week 6 meeting, against Seattle SS Kam Chancellor.
It seems the team is optimistic that he’ll be able to play against the Chiefs, but he’s definitely questionable. Can the Steelers overcome those injuries and win?
Story lines: The Steelers won’t have two of their top three offensive weapons.
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As for Antonio Brown, he was out of action yesterday, which isn’t really much of a surprise. I don’t know if there are any gamblers out there reading this, but let’s just say you’re money is safe if you go by my picks. He’s the most sure-handed receiver on the Broncos and should be targeted often by Denver quarterback Peyton Manning. The Panthers quarterback threw 35 touchdown passes this season and tossed just 10 interceptions. Wilson’s total QBR for the regular season was 74.9 compared to Newton’s 66.1, both are in the top ten in the NFL. The five-time MVP is also 0-5 in playoff starts when the temperature is 40 degrees or lower…. Denver’s defense led the National Football League with 52 sacks this season and should put a ton of pressure on Roethlisberger.
