It’s on to the NFL Divisional round where one of the four referees doing the games will get the Super Bowl gig. Which teams will join him there? Here’s what I think.
It was a mixed bag on Wild Card Weekend. My selections went 2-2, but I didn’t feel bad about one of the losses. Why? Nobody outside of Minneapolis had the Vikings winning. But I did believe the Patriots had one more playoff win left in them. They didn’t.
So, let’s try a new set of four games.
SATURDAY’S GAMES
(1) San Francisco 27, (6) Minnesota 13 (Saturday afternoon, NBC): Well, for one week at least, it looks as though Kirk Cousins got the big-game monkey off his back. Congratulations, Kirk! Now here’s the door.
The Saints used to be the picture of a complete, well-balanced team, but as the NFC is concerned, San Francisco carries that mantle now.
What’s more, the 49ers are at home, they are rested, and they are much better equipped defensively to deal with upstarts like the Vikings. Cousins won’t have time to throw as he did in New Orleans, which means that weapons like Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, and Kyle Rudolph won’t do him much good. Meanwhile, George Kittle (the league’s best tight end), should be more than able to find seams in the defense and open things up for a potent ground game.
(1)Baltimore 31, (6) Tennessee 16 (Saturday night, CBS): Playoff matchups between these two franchises have been nothing short of amazing with the road team winning all three prior meetings. That won’t happen this time because Baltimore is more well-rounded than it has been at any time in its 24-season history.
And while the Titans deserve a lot of credit for going up to New England and winning a Wild-Card game, they won’t be able to possess the ball long enough against the Ravens’ ball-control-oriented schemes to make a difference.
Plus, the Baltimore defense should remind Ryan Tannehill of who he is: a quarterback who’s been playing over his head all year.
SUNDAY’S GAMES
(2) Kansas City 33, (4) Houston 20 (Sunday afternoon, CBS): The Texans indeed beat the Chiefs earlier this year, and it’s also true that Kansas City hasn’t played nearly as well at home as it usually does. But this is January when the best teams put their best feet forward and (to mix metaphors) the cream rises to the top. Even the much-maligned Chiefs’ defense has been playing better of late. So, given Houston’s schizophrenic nature, I like the more consistent, healthier Chiefs to win and advance to the AFC title-game matchup in Baltimore. I know, I know!
Houston teases you into thinking that it’s better than it is, but these Texans will almost always let you down.
(2) Green Bay 23, (5) Seattle 19 (Sunday night, NBC). The Seahawks have put together a pretty good run over the past decade. They’ve gotten to this stage of the playoffs in seven of the last ten years with two Super Bowl appearances and one championship. That’s an excellent record.
But, despite having the league’s fourth-best run game, their depleted running back corps gained only 19 yards in the Wild-Card round against banged-up Philadelphia.
Even though Seattle is 8-2 on the road this year, let’s not forget that this game is at Lambeau Field in January. The key for Green Bay is to keep Rodgers upright. Seattle got seven sacks on Philadelphia Sunday. Can they repeat that feat? It’s not likely.
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About Joe Platania
Veteran Ravens correspondent Joe Platania is in his 45th year in sports media (including two CFL seasons when Batlimore had a CFL team) in a career that extends across parts of six decades. Platania covers sports with insight, humor, and a highly prescient eye, and that is why he has made his mark on television, radio, print, online, and in the podcast world. He can be heard frequently on WJZ-FM’s “Vinny And Haynie” show, alongside ex-Washington general manager Vinny Cerrato and Bob Haynie. A former longtime member in good standing of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and the Pro Football Writers of America, Platania manned the CFL Stallions beat for The Avenue Newspaper Group of Essex (1994 and ’95) and the Ravens beat since the team’s inception — one of only three local writers to do so — for PressBox, The Avenue, and other local publications and radio stations. A sought-after contributor and host on talk radio and TV, he made numerous appearances on “Inside PressBox” (10:30 a.m. Sundays), and he was heard weekly for eight seasons on the “Purple Pride Report,” WQLL-AM (1370). He has also appeared on WMAR-TV’s “Good Morning Maryland” (2009), Comcast SportsNet’s “Washington Post Live” (2004-06), and WJZ-TV’s “Football Talk” postgame show — with legend Marty Bass (2002-04). Platania is the only sports journalist in Maryland history to have been a finalist for both the annual Sportscaster of the Year award (1998, which he won) and Sportswriter of the Year (2010). He is also a four-time Maryland-Delaware-District of Columbia Press Association award winner. Platania is a graduate of St. Joseph’s (Cockeysville), Calvert Hall College High School, and Towson University, where he earned a degree in Mass Communications. He lives in Cockeysville, MD.
