Sunday, January 10, 2021

NFL Wildcard Weekend Predictions (Sunday Edition)

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NFL Predictions -

Ravens at Titans -

One of the three games on Sunday, this is easily the game that I am looking forward to! Two of the league's most high powered rushing offenses will square off! A month and a half ago, people were wondering if the Ravens would even make the playoffs and now they might be one of the most dangerous teams in the postseason! Seriously, this team is playing excellent football and could easily make a deep postseason run. Lamar Jackson is playing more like he was last season and the defense is coming very big too. In the Ravens' past 5 games, they have reached at least 34 points in 4 of those games. In that other game? They scored 27 points. They are putting points up in the hurry and I think that is where they will have a big advantage over the Titans. In the Titans' last two of the regular season, they gave up 38 and 40 points. They also gave up 40 and 41 in the last two games vs playoffs' team. 

The Titans won their division, but honestly I don't feel great about them overall. They got beat pretty bad by Green Bay in week 16 and had to comeback to beat the Texans in week 17. I think they can go blow for blow with the Ravens for awhile, but I am very worried about the Titans' defense. And I feel like the Ravens' defense can get some stops vs the Titans. And I think that could be the real difference in this game. 

Prediction - I don't love the Titans in this one. They have enough offense to win this game, but they are stoppable vs the Ravens' defense. On the flip side, I don't think the Titans' defense is good enough to get enough stops vs the Ravens. With the way that the Ravens are playing, I am going with the Ravens in this game!

Bears at Saints -

This game will decide how the divisional round will look like in the NFC! A win by the Saints and that would set up a 3rd matchup with the Bucs! A upset win by the Chicago Bears would send them to Green Bay for a 3rd matchup with the Packers. Both would be a very good matchup, but I feel like a win by the Bears would be a massive upset here. Even though, the Bears are playing pretty well. Prior to scoring just 16 points vs Green Bay, they have scored 30 points in 4 straight games and 25 or more in 5 straight games. In Chicago's defense, the Packers defense played excellent in the month of December. So I won't fault them too much for that stinker. The problem is they are missing several players for this matchup with the Saints. They are missing CB Johnson, WR Mooney and LB Smith. All three players are key players for the Bears and I feel like Smith is the biggest blow because how active he is on the Bears' defense. They would had probably kept that Packers' game a lot closer, if Smith didn't exit in the first half of that game. With a matchup vs Karama, I think missing him is going to be huge. The Bears need to get some stops to win this game and i think missing multiple starters on defense is just huge!

The Saints are heavy favorites in this one and they should be! The Saints are healthiest that they been all season long! They will get back both of their playmakers and will face a less than 100% healthy Bears' team. I feel like the Saints have most complete roster in the NFC overall and have good enough defense to keep the Bears at bay! I think the biggest difference between these two offenses is the Saints can get production out several different players on offense. While the Bears really don't have a lot talent on offense side of the ball. The Bears only hope is to get some turnovers vs the Saints, if not I don't think they have much of a shot in this game!

Prediction - I want to go with the Bears in this one, but I just don't think that they will do enough to win this game. The Saints have the most complete roster in the NFL playoffs and it will be tough to beat them at full strength. I have the Saints by 8 points in this one!

Browns at Steelers -

This is probably the game that I am looking forward to the least, to be honest. I don't know there's nothing that really excite about this game. I think this game is going to be a lot different than what we saw in week 17. I think the Steelers are the favorites in this one, especially with having all their starters back for this one. I don't think the Steelers are best team in the playoffs, but I think the Browns are missing a lot of players because of covid and have had missed a lot of practice over the last few weeks. I think the thing that is lacking from the Steelers is they really aren't that explosive overall and that is crazy considering all of the offensive weapons that they have!

The Browns will undoubtedly try to get the run going early and take over this game. If they can take over this game, I think they can win it. But I also think the Steelers could easily take the run game out of it and make Baker Mayfield pass it more. I think that would be worrisome for Browns fans because they are missing their best offensive lineman and their playcaller. I think the Browns can still win this game without them, but I think it will be much more challenging than it originally was going to be! 

Prediction - I am going with the Steelers in this game because I think they have a better overall roster and they have the better defense. The Browns' defense is still questionable and I think the Steelers will put together enough offense to win this game. I am going with the Steelers by 6 points and it will come down to the 4th quarter I think! 

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