Las Vegas Raiders (10-7) at the Cincinnati Bengals (10-7)
The Las Vegas Raiders travel over to Cincinnati to play the Bengals in the first playoff game of the 2021 NFL season. An early Saturday afternoon game, this game looks to be explosive with both teams evenly matched up. The Bengals offence has been red-hot for the last two weeks star sophomore quarterback Joe Burrow has been in, throwing for 8 TDs in addition to nearly 1000 yards with 0 interceptions. I cannot skip over rookie Bengals receiver Ja’marr Chase, who put up 3 Tds and 250+ yards against Kansas City, the AFC’s second seed. They are up against the Raiders defence, led by Maxx Crosby, who, as of recent, has been gaining insane amounts of quarterback pressures. On the other side of both teams is more of a coin flip. The Bengals defence has been consistently inconsistent. In their game against Kansas City, the Bengals D gave up 3 TDs in the first half while only allowing 1 in the second. The Raiders offence has been similar in that regard but a recent clutch performance against their division rivals gives them the slight edge over the Bengals D. Still, 31-28 Bengals with their explosive offense.
New England Patriots (10-7) at Buffalo Bills (11-6)
The Patriots face off against their division rival the Buffalo Bills in one of the weekend’s most anticipated matchups. The main highlight of this game will be the Bills offence vs the Patriots defence. Last time these two teams met up the Bills secured a solid victory due to their offensive performance against a stout Patriots led D. The patriots have been arguably the strongest defensive team in the league this year, and their execution on the field is of utmost importance against a consistently good Josh Allen led offence. The other side of the field is more evenly matched, with the Patriots chipping and churning away with their run heavy offence with consistently mediocre points. Though the Bills have won the last matchup, I still give the edge to the playoff Patriots, 21-17.
Philadelphia Eagles (9-8) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (13-4)
The Eagles travel down south to Tampa Bay to face off against the Buccaneers. This matchup looks to be smooth sailing for the Florida squad with most of their starting line up still fairly healthy. They should have great confidence going in on both sides of the ball, recently beating Carolina 41-17 and the Jets 28-24. On the other side of the ball does not appear to be as good for the Eagles. Their recent game against the playoff caliber Cowboys turned out to be a one-sided affair, being dominated 51-26. Their few wins have been against statistically poor or middling teams with many of those being one score teams despite weak opponents. Look for this game to be a flat out roll, Buccaneers 35-13
San Francisco 49ers (10-7) at Dallas Cowboys (12-5)
The 49ers travel East to play the Cowboys on Texan soil. One of the longest tenure rivalries of the NFL, this matchup appears to be a coinflip, being based on which team can execute. Even though the 49ers have a subpar record compared to the Cowboys, their recent performances have been excellent. They are coming off a 5 game win streak and have beat 3 playoff teams out of those 5 with consistent and excellent play from both sides of the ball. The Cowboys, on the other hand, while still winning games, have been doing it in a sloppy manner. Losing an easily winnable game against the playoff Cardinals and only being very weak NFC East division rivals has not helped to boost their stock in addition to losing wide receiver Michael Gallup. Because of their inconsistency I predict a 27-17 win for the 49ers.
Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7-1) at Kansas City Chiefs (12-5)
This week’s Sunday night matchup presents arguably the most lopsided match of this year’s Wild Card weekend. With an aging quarterback and poor offensive line play, the Steelers will be lucky if they even manage to break the double digit barrier against a hungry Kansas City defense. The only shining pieces of the Steelers are running back Najee Harris and edge rusher TJ Watt. While both have been excellent in their own regard, the team around them pales in comparison to the defence and the offence of Kansas City. With three big name stars in Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Tyreek Hill, Kansas City looks hopeful of making the big explosive plays that have led them to the super bowl in consecutive years. The only knock on the Chiefs is the possibility of Kelce and Hill not being at 100% due to minor injuries sustained during last week’s game. Still, this game should be a walk in the park for KC, prediction 35-10
Arizona Cardinals (11-6) at Los Angeles Rams (12-5)
The Cardinals travel west to Los Anglees to play the Rams in LA. An interesting matchup with both teams having a seemingly strong offence and defence. The Rams have stars of Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Donald, Odell Beckham Jr, Matthew Stafford, and receiving yard leader Cooper Kupp while the Cardinals have stars over their own such as Kyler Murray, Deandre Hopkins, Chandler Jones, amongst many other consistently good performers. The knock on both teams however is their inconsistency, with Murray often making irresponsible decisions at QB and Stafford constantly throwing interceptions in game critical situations. I still would give the slight edge to Rams because of their ability to close out close games. 30-27 Rams.
Hey Justin, I was surprised when I found out that you wrote your article on football. Ive known you for a little through mutual friends but never knew you were into this sport. I guess this is just another thing for us to talk about in class then. Obviously as I read your post now, I already know the actual scores. The big games that surprised me were the bengals and the bills. Im surprised that the Bengals managed to pull off the win because that ending was absolute chaos, however I still enjoyed the game as it was fun to watch. The other one is the bills. I’m surprised you picked the patriots since they never seemed like that strong of a team to me. I guess they were riding the momentum wave but they couldn’t ride it for long enough. Great, fun post though, I look forward to reading more as the playoffs progress!