The Wild Card Round is over and now there are only 8 teams left. The path to the biggest stage in sports is still going to be hard, but before we get ahead of ourselves, first we have to get through the Divisional Round
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AFC Divisonal Round
1st Seed New England Patriots vs 5th Seed Tennessee Titans(9-7)
ESPN.com
The Titans came back from a 21-3 lead to beat the Chiefs. Reminds you of something? Maybe, Super Bowl 51, where the Patriots were down 28-3 in the 3rd quarter and came back to win the Super Bowl. The Titans may have came back to beat the Chiefs, but the question is if they can win against the Reigning Super Bowl Champs?
The answer is Plain and Simple. Not a chance.
The Titans may have come back to beat the Chiefs, but the Pats are a completely different team. With arguably the best coaching staff in the NFL and arguably the greatest player of all time the Patriots are not losing this game.
Pick: Patriots
2nd Seed Pittsburgh Steelers(13-3) vs 3rd Seed Jacksonville Jaguars(10-6)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Jaguars beat the Bills 10-3. All game they came up with big plays on the defensive side. Blake Bortles had more running yards than passing yards! Fittingly the game ended with a Jalen Ramsey interception.
And that is what the game is going to come up to this week too.
The Jaguars Defense.
If you recall, in Week 5 when the Jaguars ended up blowing out the Steelers 29-9 the Jaguars had 5 interceptions. That is not saying Big Ben is going to throw 5 INTs again. He won't, but the result of this game is going to depend on the Jaguars defense.
That being said I don't believe Roethlisberger is going to have that bad of a game again. Antonio Brown will be active and the Steelers will be motivated after that blowout in Week 1
Pick: Steelers
NFC Divisonal Round
1st Seed Philadelphia Eagles(13-3) vs 6th Seed Atlanta Falcons(10-6)
Philadelphia Magazine
If Carson Wentz was active in this game this pick would be easy for me. I would go with the Eagles. Problem is Carson Wentz tore his ACL and won't be playing.
Which means Nick Foles will be the starting quarterback. Nick Foles is no Carson Wentz, so the rest of the Eagles offense will have to carry the load. Problem is they have suffered many other injuries too. Some examples are Darren Sproles, Jason Peters, Jordan Hicks, etc.
Although the Falcons are the 6th seed they are a strong Super Bowl contender. In the game last week against the Rams where they won 26-13 the Falcons finally looked like the dominant team that we have been waiting for them all year to be.
I'm going to end with the Quarterback Matchup.
Matt Ryan vs Nick Foles
Pick: Falcons
2nd Seed Minnesota Vikings(13-3) vs 4th Seed New Orleans Saints(9-7)
USA Today
This pick for me is perhaps the hardest one I have had to make all year.
On one hand there is The Minnesota Vikings lead by the red hot Case Keenum. He gets to throw to Stefon Diggs and Adam Theilen. And to add on they also have arguably the best defense in the NFL, led by arguably the best safety in all of football, in Harrison Smith.
And on the other hand there is The New Orleans Saints carried by their high-powered offense led by the seemingly never-aging Drew Brees. Who is complimented with his talented wide receivers in Michael Thomas, Willie Snead, and Ted Ginn. He also has something that every Quarterback would love to have. Two running backs who can catch and run the ball.
This game is going to be a classic game of Defense vs Offense. For me this game is really just a coin toss, but I am going to go with the team with the better record.
Pick: Vikings