With the calendar turning over to the new year it can only mean one thing, the postseason in the National Football League.
This Wild Card Weekend, the NFL will feature four games with the Indianapolis Colts taking on the Houston Texans Saturday afternoon and the Seattle Seahawks heading to Big D to match up against the Dallas Cowboys at the Death Star in Arlington.
Sunday afternoon, the Los Angeles Chargers will head to the east coast to face-off against the Baltimore Ravens while the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles will cap off the weekend in a Windy City showdown with the Chicago Bears.
In any sense this Wild Card weekend should prove to be an interesting one to say the least with three of the four games seeing a spread of less than a field goal. Likewise while scouring the internet, a general consensus on winners was pretty hard to come by.
Either way though, he’s our selections for this weekend.
Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans (4:35 p.m. ET Saturday, ESPN/ABC)
This is a game that very well could be won in the trenches with one-on-one battles between Jadeveon Clowney and Anthony Castonzo while J.J. Watt will likely see plenty of action against Braden Smith.
Now you shouldn’t count out Deshaun Watson despite him never playing in an NFL postseason game, the Colts have the offensive line to mitigate any offense Watson is able to muster. Likewise, Indy has already proven they can go out on the road and win what was essentially a playoff game last weekend against the Titans.
Winner: Indianapolis Colts
Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys (8:15 p.m. ET Saturday, Fox)
I’m not a fan of Dak Prescott who I believe is more of a liability than an asset to an offense. However, the Cowboys do have the better defense and have home field so I’ll go ahead and take Dallas in a lose one.
Winner: Dallas Cowboys
Los Angeles Chargers at Baltimore Ravens (1:05 p.m. ET Sunday, CBS)
Off-hand you’d think having to travel across the country could play into a huge disadvantage for the visiting team. Especially considering how good Lamar Jackson has been for the Ravens this season. However aside from Jackson there’s really nothing else that’s truly spectacular about the Ravens’ offense and since 1990 only five rookie QBs have gone onto win a Wild Card game.
Winner: Chargers
Philadelphia Eagles at Chicago Bears (4:40 p.m. ET Sunday, NBC)
After winning the Super Bowl last season as the perennial underdog throughout the playoffs, the Eagles get to do it all over again with almost a carbon copy of last postseason, complete with Carson Wentz on the shelf and Nick Foles under center
Can the Eagles catch lightning in a bottle once again?
Sure anything is possible but unlikely. We’ve seen this season how much the Eagles have struggled on offense with a better quarterback magic aside there’s no reason to believe things will change Sunday night. This is especially considering the Bears are playing at home and have one of the best defense of any team in the playoffs.
Winner: Chicago Bears
