This is the greatest weekend of the year for pure football fans. Often, there are mismatches in the Wildcard Round. That wasn't the case this year, but the Divisional Round almost always has good matchups w/very good teams. Last year's Divisional Round was the greatest weekend ever and it featured the epic Bills vs Chiefs game that was the greatest game I ever watched. Let's take a look at this week's games.

***Note: A lot of you seemed to really like tracking the win/loss records of individual posters predictions in the Wildcard thread. I did not intend for it to be a prediction thread, but instead a chance to talk about football. However, it's cool if you want to predict games. I won't be participating in that because I just like analyzing things and then commenting on them, but by all means....make your predictions. I would appreciate it if some of you who follow other teams add analysis.


Saturday's Games:

Jacksonville Jaguars at Kansas City Chiefs---------4:30 p.m. ET | NBC

The Chiefs are an 8.5 pt favorite, which is somewhat rare for the Divisional Round. They are loaded on offense. The best qb in the league. Best TE in the league. Good enough WRs. Excellent OL. Improving defense. Very good HC. Jax sucked last year and I think Pit is the only dude on here to pick Jax as a sleeper team before the year. Pederson has done a very good job and the FO spent a ton of money in FA last year. Lawrence is developing. They have a scrappy defense. I hope the Jags can keep it close. KC is fun to watch no matter what.




New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles----------8:15 p.m. ET | FOX

Eagles opened as 7 pt favorites. They won both games against the Giants this year, although NY rested their starters in the last game of the year because the game had no bearing on their playoff seeding, which was a much different strategy than Staley in LA, who lost Mike Williams to an injury. The Eagles have far more talent. I think both teams have really good HCs. The question for the Eagles is Hurts healthy and/or will the time off be an issue? The Giants are not that talented, but man, they have something about them. Very gritty team.


Sunday's Games:


Cincinnati Bengals at Buffalo Bills----------3 p.m. ET | FOX

Bills are a 5 pt favorite. This game is tricky because we all know what happened just a couple of weeks ago when Hamlin went into Cardiac Arrest. That game was in Cincy while this one is n Buffalo----home to the greatest fans in the NFL---the Bills Mafia. LOL I wonder if there will be an emotional impact on either or both teams? Impossible to call. Both teams have elite qbs, outstanding WRs, and Cinci has a really good RB. Both lines struggled in pass pro last week and the Bengals OL is devastated by injuries. I think the Bills have become home run happy and I think that is a mistake. They are putting way too much pressure on Allen to make plays out of nothing. It's great to have a qb who can do that, but it seems stupid to ask him to do it on almost every play. On paper, this is the best match-up of the weekend, but I have a lot of questions about both teams right now.


Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers-----------6:30 p.m. ET | CBS

I admit to being biased here. I despise the Cowboys. Not so much the team, but I hate all the attention they get. I also really like SF. Both teams have a plethora of talent. I can't believe how many weapons SF has accumulated. Run CMC, Deebo, Kittle, Aiyuk, Mitchell, etc. They have the league's best defense that is loaded w/stars. They have the best HC [my opinion] in the entire NFL. Their qb is playing great, but I would not be surprised if he totally loses it. He's a rookie and makes some wild decisions. I hope he continues to play out of his mind, but there is concern there. Dallas has very good RBs, a defense that creates turnovers, a very good WR in Lamb, and a qb who can play well at times. They will probably get the calls in this game. One thing to note is how SF came into Dallas last year after they were the last seed in the NFC and Dallas was flying high and they beat the Cowboys after Dak choked it away in the final seconds. This time, the game is in SF.

Chiefs
Giants (Upset special)
Bills
Niners

Chiefs, Eagles, Bills, Niners

I think, IF there is an upset, it will be Jax; but I don't see that against the Chiefs.

My picks as well... pulling for the Jags, but can't see them beating a rested Chiefs team at their place... Giants are playing great and I think Hurts is still Hurt.... Cincy/Bills should be great.... but I think Bills pull off a close shoot out..... and Niners / Cowboys could be great, but Niners look like the best team in football this past weekend...

Your summary of the match ups seems to convey my feelings on them as well.

I'm happy to see that the Jags lived up to my expectations but I think this will be where the dream ends. The Chiefs overpowering O will just be too much. With Lawrence having another year of experience under his belt and with the team having another year with Pederson in charge they could be a contender to win it all next season. But I don't see this being the year. But then again anything can happen in the playoffs.

Chiefs.

The Eagles have the team and the giants have the momentum. The time off for Hurts might be of some concern but it's not as if he's playing with a different team, a different HC or in a different system. So while I could see the possibility of a somewhat slow start, as far as the big picture of the entire game I'm just not feeling it.

Eagles

The Bengals are certainly capable of winning in a talent contest with the Bills. And I agree that both teams have had trouble in pass protection. But unlike yourself I liked that the bills have been running more. It keeps the opposition off balance. The pressure that's been being applied to Josh Allen, as it will do with most all QB's, has impacted him negatively. It's caused him not to look like quite the same miracle man he is when the OL has given him protection. As I said, that's to be expected. So relying more on the run game really helps in that department. When they wush to pass it should help give Allen more time because the opposing D has to account for the run game.

That Bengals OL is devastated. The pressures and sacks we saw last week aren't going away and the Bills have a much better O than a Ravens team playing Huntley at QB.

Eagles

I too am a huge fan of Shanahan and despise the Cowboys. The thing about Dak is you never know which Dak is going to show up on any given week. If anyone can game plan to stop Dak it's Shanahan and yes I'm bias too. lol

49'ers.

Good football post, in my opinion.

I slightly disagree w/you about Allen. I think Dorsey is calling way too many home run shots. Pass after pass is way down the field. That puts pressure on the OL and on Allen. I think Dorsey needs to mix in more short and intermediate passes and throw just a few bombs during the game. I realize it's tempting when you have Allen a terrific set of WRs, but it's not sound football.

The Bills live and die with josh Allen, with his legs or his arm. I watch a lot of Bills games because a good friend has been a Buffalo fan since the late 80s - four straight SB losses so it’s like being a Browns fan but maybe worse. If Allen can refrain from turnovers Buffalo’s D will win it for them. I hate the Bengals so I’m a buffalo fan on Sunday. Buffalo’s run game is not that good.

I think Dallas can pull the upset. If Dak gets rolling they can hang with them. Rooting for 49ers, I will be.

I hope we we see some great games this weekend, fun time of the year if you like football.

I see you picked the wrong week to try to cut out the Yoda-isms.

I was 5-1 in the wild card round here are Picks for the Divisional Round:

Chiefs over Jags
Eagles over Giants
Bills over Bengals
Niners over Cowboys

Chiefs beat the Jags

Heart wants bills over Bengals, but my head is telling me Bengals beat the Bills.

I think the Giants pull this weekend's big upset and beat the Eagles.

Niners beat the Cowboys.

I like the Jags over the Chiefs
The Chiefs are under pressure to get to the SB. Yet no
One has brought it up. The Chiefs simply don't intimidate
Teams anymore with their offense
The Jags have the firepower on offense to win
A shootout with Mahomes.

Bengals over the Bills.
The Bengals defense is playing at a higher level than the Bills
Both have the best red zone defenses in the NFL.
But Joe Burrow isn't a turnover machine like Josh Allen
In the red zone
This will be a high scoring game. But Burrow is the better QB

49ers over the Cowboys
Brock Purdy is playing like a 5th year pro.
The Niners defense tackles well at all levels
Shanahan will out scheme the Cowboys

Eagles over the Giants
This game will be Super physical
Can Dexter Lawrence create chaos vs the
Middle of the Eagles oline ?
The Giants WRs don't match up well
With the Eagles secondary

I don’t usually gamble but 10 bucks on each game w/a friend of mine. But suppose a genie told me that I had a million dollars to bet on each game and I could only keep the games that I picked correctly.

Straight up winners, no point considerations..

Giants over Philly

Dallas over SF

Cincy over Buffalo

KC over Jacksonville

Not sure if it is because they had a bye and are now playing Jax, but KC is flying under the radar.

I was 5-1 too.

I like your picks, we'll be tied again after this weekend.

Chiefs
Eagles
Bengals
49ers

Chiefs
Giants
Bills
49ers

Nobody likes the Jaguars? oh, Xs does.

There's a difference in who you like and who you think will win. I think Pederson has done a great job with the Jags. They are certainly a team on the rise. But at some point I feel they will hit that wall. I don't think they're advanced enough to make it to a SB.... yet. That doesn't mean I won't be rooting for them and I hope I'm wrong. They would make a great Cinderella story.

I like it.

There was a time when muni had little but a drizzle of cold water, filthy floors and questionable hygienic conditions for visiting teams. This is old school football intimidation.

No video games, social media diversions or contact with families. Get the opposing team gutted with desperation before they even take the field.

Obviously I have a fondness for the 70s - 80s Browns. Nostalgia is a real thing. Besides that, the bathroom urine troughs for ticket holders were probably worse than anything the visiting team endured.

Will it be a fairly officiated game or will one team, probably the non Hollywood one, get screwed?
edit: I think everyone would agree KC is the Hollywood/California/new York favorite.

I think, that pass attempt by Jax, ... all it needed was Rashard Higgins.

Watch how T. Eteinne scored about a thousand TDs in college, injured last year, but, before the draft was, if he is the guy, if you get that one in a generation RB you can't pass them up, Alvin Kamara, that guy in San Diego, and now that play by Eteinne you really have to watch those crazy productive Rbs coming out of drafts.
b/c they do those things in the post season.

This Jaguar KC game is supporting the 23 point times reached = a teams win total rule. As it is nearing the end and the winner will likely reach 23+ and hold the other team below it.

son of a gun the rule of 23 held up. What can be learned from game #? Jaxoville at KC?

I hope the Browns sit every one of their offensive players in a meeting and go over that fumble after the catch by the Jax WR, and how a ball security failure in a playoff game contributed so much to ending their teams year.

Pfft. maybe.
sound football? and, championships, and the Brady @uinn type Browns years and dump off Larrys > ish, come to mind. I say, Swing for the Fences sometimes. It's the Playoffs you miss every shot you don't take, 3 point line in basketball all of that stuff.
Pressure??? In the NFL? It IS the NFL it is not Bingo or Canasta at the rec. center.

It is a Joke to hear former Cincy announcer call out an appreciation of the Camera operators and behind the scenes directors,
? are they, are you kidding me?
Did the camera operator union or whatever the case hold the broadcast hostage again with their self important stuff?

They should all be Humble, thankful, privileged and ... that they don't have to get Real Jobs/careers.
Of all the people?
What is next, will wedding photographers need a shout out every time they manage to simply SHOW UP.

Looks like I may have severely over-estimated the Giants ........

I think D Jones, and I don't watch him much, appears about as good as he ever has.
Now?
Compare Daniel Jones' gamplay today/this year, to Tim Couch in his 2nd year, way back in 00' and I'd take Tim Couch.

Danny Dimes my **#*.

Giants got robbed on that spot, and the TV ref explanation about not completeing the catch yet was nonsense, he had the Ist both before and after and they give that play a thousand times a year, and even after all of that, if they'd spotted the ball correctly after the final wrap up it would still be with the ball half way across the line to gain, so.

Or under-estimated the Eagles and their OL. I think there is every chance they beat 49ers (or the Cowboys). Every chance the Eagles will beat the Chiefs, Bengals or Bills. They are very very good.

That was a bad game to watch unless you wanted the Eagles to win. I just wanted a good game to watch. It was too lopsided, but that's football sometimes.

The Divisional Round is almost always great. Yesterday, not so much. The first game wasn't bad, but it wasn't dramatic enough. The second game was a trouncing.

Jags @ Chiefs: Mahomes was brilliant early. Then he gets sacked. I have heard no one talk about this, but I think #49 intentionally fell forward w/his legs out front to land on Mahomes legs. That was not a natural move. You almost always fall w/your upper torso out front, not your legs. That same guy got a roughing penalty on Henne not long afterwards when he hit him in the face/neck area w/his helmet. Speaking of Henne, that 98 TD drive was fairly incredible. Reed called a pass play on first down from the 2 yd. line. Mahomes gutted it out and showed what a leader he is. Kelsey had a great game. I think he had 15 catches or so. The KC OL was very good. Lawrence is still developing, but he is showing promise. The Jags fought hard and Pederson did a great job. The FO deserves credit, as well. They spent a ton of money in FA to improve the roster.

Giants @ Eagles: Complete mismatch. Philly has a ton of weapons on both sides of the ball, but what really stood out was their OL. They dominated a very good Giant front. They have the league's best OL right now. Their DL was also dominant. Maybe we can nab one of those guys in free agency? Gardner-Johnson would be another nice get if we decide we need a FS. Giants had a very good year under Daboll, but they were outmatched against a loaded Eagle team.

Two dud games yesterday. I think today will make up for it

I don't think they were bad games yesterday.
They were much better than all of that last second nonsense.
I was glad to see at least one blowout.
Hope today can repeat.

I think what we saw were two teams that are on the rise but just not quite ready for prime time yet in both the Jags and the Giants. Their FO's and coaching staffs have turned things around and helped install a different culture. As you stated, Lawrence is still developing and still has a ways to go. If he continues on the trajectory he did from season one to season two, by season four he will be dangerous. That's still to be determined. I'm a little less optimistic about Jones. His numbers look good on paper it just doesn't always match up with what I see with my own eyes. Next year will be season five for Jones so I'm still in a wait and see mode with him.

I just got a 2nd look at todays games cowboys, niners, bengals and bills.

What could be better than to see One of those teams lose by 50.

I'll tell ya; To see TWO of them Lose by 50.

If I wanted to take a nap starting at half time that would be great.

I thought Joe Burrow was a dink and dunk passer according
To football expert WSU Willie.

Bengals looking good thus far. Weather playing a factor with Bills D

That Joe Burrow guy is pretty good.

That PI will put a fork in this one. Man, I hate the Bengals.

Consistent pressure on Allen disrupting him all day. That is the mark.of a great Defense. Very anti-Woods. So glad we got rid on him and got someone who likes to disrupt the QB with his schemes.

Romo thinks so as well. Absolute love fest for the Bungles. The Willies are not playing well IMO, but Cincitucky is getting adored today.

Bengals dominated all day

for many years to come, for a long time to come, for many years, this is a duo for many years ... Give me a break

Yeah, the Browns have played well against the Bengals with Burrows at QB.

Which is irrelevant.

The Bengals are far ahead of the Browns.

We need a Reader soooo badly

Glad Cincy won. Got to pull for the division.

According to the oline experts on here I thought Cincys oline
Sucked

Chris Rock said, if you get caught cheating on a woman and you break up, Run you got off easy
you don't want to hear, "work it out", because the first part of work it out is you ain't going to get no loving/sex."
" you ain't gonna get no sex until the Bills win the Super Bowl"

He said that back in I995 and well, the Bills still aren't winning it again this year.

Nahhh it only looks that way, it's coaching, it's coaching, I believe it's coaching
the coaching makes it look that way, might make it look like Reader is doing that much, but;
the Browns fix what might not be broken and
try new ideas every single year, and a first year plan is a first time plan for a reason.

The Browns had nose tackles, 2 of them in consecutive years 20 and 2I, it's not an end all be all.

What can we learn from the Cincy and Buffalo game?
Cincy, established the basics of football, and got their turnover near the end when the home team got desperate, but they wouldn't have been desperate except for the scoreboard, which read what it read, because Cincy did the basics first. create the run, get / got 30 Ist downs, played hard to understand on defense. Attrition that added up. I'd bet you could expect the same when you play them.

Cincy set a tone from the get go. They punched the Bills
In the mouth and never let up.
And their OC Said " screw it we are gonna come out throwing "
Despite the snow

That cowboy player, might not have a fake injury, but when you see a fake injury, it looks an awful lot like that.

I'm rooting for this Purdy kid. What a good story.

We are as well.

j/c...

Incredible. This is awesome.

Shanny's Niners put on a clinic in closing out the game. Purdy is going to the Division title game. I would like to see him take it all. lmao. Imagine going from Mr. Irrelevant to Super Bowl Champ QB in one year... wow.

Whatever it takes to put out the Bungles.

49er D is dominant, they might beat Philadelphia. Go Chiefs.
My buddy is hurting tonight , a Bills fan who thought this could be the year.

Cheering for the niners!

And they played without 3 Oline starters, I believe. They dominated in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Their coaches on both sides of the ball called a great game. Browns should take notes.

the two best NFC teams are definitely in the final

and probably the two best AFC teams. Buffalo was very disappointing

Cinci @ Buffalo: The Bengals came out strong. Marched right down the field to score a TD on their first drive. Forced a 3 and out and then scored again to go up 14-0 just like that. The Bills OL got destroyed. Surprisingly, the injured Bengal OL played good. Joe Burrow played like a wise, experienced vet. What really stood out to me was how much better the Bengal DC was than Dorsey, the Bills' OC. This is the same guy who shut down Mahomes in the second half of the AFC Championship game last year.

One thing of note. The Browns are the last team to beat the Bengals. Cinci had won 2 straight before playing the Browns on Halloween. The Browns hammered them 32-13 and the Bengals have won 10 straight since.


Dallas @ SF: Personally, I am thrilled the Cowboys and their disgusting fan base lost. I also really like SF because Shanny is their coach. A coach that Browns fans wanted gone while he was Cleveland.

Both defenses were dominant. Dallas did a very good job of stopping the 49er running game for most of the night. They are fast. I think SF wore them down a bit in the 4th quarter. Dak was terrible once again. His fans will blame the coach, but Dak stunk. The 49ers are loaded w/talent on both sides of the ball. Man, their fans should be fretting over the salary cap.



Should be two excellent games in the Conference Championship round.

Before the season began I thought this is the year for the Bills. They have been so close. They are well coached and talented.

I respect the Bengals and have a very high opinion of Joe Burrow. I did not think they would travel to Buffalo and win this game.

They beat the Bills and it was bully ball. I was stunned by the Bills defense. The field was slippery. The Bengals are third and seven. The Bills are playing off man on Chase. That is giving the Bengals a first down. Automatic. The Bills played zone most of the game. I thought it was a huge mistake. In conditions like this game when you play zone. The secondary and linebackers are watching quarterback. The footing works against playing zone. Receivers get to much of advantage because reacting in zone they are late to recover from the receivers moves. Burrow kept looking off guys and going into the the soft spots in the zone. In addition the Bengals played more physical. Their injured OL drove the Bills off the LOS on run plays to Mixon. The Bengals flat beat the Bills.

Now what for Dallas? Where do they go from hear? What other excuses? Dak against Purdy. Experience against non experience. Purdy won.
Dallas is a leaky boat and Jerry is the captain. All the constant BS about Dallas. They have done little. Next year they could be worse. I love it.

The four best teams are left. They should be great games.

Dallas seems like a wallowing team. Good enough to get there, not good enough to win. Tough spot for them

SF is a really good team (with a great defense)
Philly is a really great team (with a great defense)

Cincy over KC is my pick with Mahomes injured
Philly over SF is my pick in a close game

The Bengals took the game to the Bills and the Bills seemed to have no answer. I think everyone knows that Josh Allen is a high quality QB, but he hasn't shown quite the highlight reel type of play the last half of this season as we have seen before. Yesterday was another example of that. We saw it in glimpses but not in bunches. It was amazing seeing the turnaround in how the Bengals OL played from last week to this week. Burrows was under pressure on a regular basis last week and it certainly seemed to be cause for concern. But somehow, even with all of those backups they managed to turn that around. I have to attribute that to coaching. A job well done. This game belonged to the Bengals from beginning to end. For those claiming that Burrows is nothing but a dink and dunk QB, as much as it may pain you, I hope you were taking notes.

The San Fran game came out with the team I was rooting for winning the game. Purdy is a great story. It's hard not to root for the kid. But up until yesterday it was hard to see the chinks in his armor. Of course being drafted as the last pick in the draft and with only six starts you knew some chinks had to be there somewhere. What Dallas managed to do was apply pressure and when Purdey was able to escape the pressure they made it so he could only escape by going to his left. That certainly exposed where his weaknesses were and I'd be willing to bet that Philly was taking notes. Dallas has a great D. To say I was somewhat concerned with San Fran only being up by 3 at half time with Dak gifting them the ball twice would be an understatement.

I'm a huge Shanahan fan of love this Purdy story. But Dak is no Jalen Hurts. To say I'm more than a little nervous about next weeks game would be accurate.

I wish ravens would have won last week, they would have gotten killed yesterday

I would never root for the team that was stolen from Cleveland to win anything, ever.

The Bengals DC Anarumo had Josh Allen perplexed from the
Get go. Rush 4. Rush 3. Show blitz but it's not a blitz.
And it didn't hurt the Bengals starting CBs locked Stefan Diggs
The whole game and forced Allen to really go through
His progressions.
The Bills were scared of Higgins and Chase getting behind
Their secondary they played in a zone .

The Niners defense was on point last vs Dallas. Fre tod Warner
Was unblockable. And Dak could never get into a rhythm
I bet Dallas could have used Cooper.
Purdy continues to be unflappable. Composed and confident

The Bengals punched them in the mouth, made it 14-0 and the bills never recovered

The Bengals are going to win it all this year. I think Burrow is going to win more than one Lombardi before he retires. I hate rooting against him but I have to because of that scab of a team he plays for. Sucks that he ended up there.

Burrow is the real deal. Their defense plays hungry and confident. I thought this might have happened to the Browns, but silly me. I root for Burrow since I saw him play HS football. The kid is a winner. I hope he wins it all.

Purdy will not be denied!

I would certainly like to believe that but I'm pretty sure the 49'ers will have to score more than 19 points to beat the Eagles. And the Cowboys gave the Eagles a road map that if you apply pressure and force him to roll out to his left, his ability to put points on the board decreases.

LOL

So, the $5 parlay bet turned into $72K?

Correct. Pretty good day for that guy.

That last play by the Cowboys was comedy gold...

Lots of distraught Bills/Cowboys fans the last few days. both teams really underwhelmed

Willies didn't look really ready to play and dialed in to me, extremely so in first half. More QB runs in first half may have helped a lot.