NFL Division round preview

Due to the Seahawks upset last week, Green Bay will host the Rams instead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Los Angeles Rams had three key players injured last week. John Wolford is day to day with a neck injury, defensive tackle Aaron Donald is expected to play despite a rib injury, and Cooper Kupp should play with bursitis in his knee. Again, the question is, who will be the Rams starting quarterback. Will it be Jared Goff, recovering from recent thumb surgery, or John Wolford, who didn’t make it out of the first quarter last week? Despite the Rams’ injuries at quarterback, their elite defense makes this a difficult game for Green Bay. At age thirty-seven, Aaron Rodgers is still one of the top quarterbacks in the league. He led the NFL in touchdowns with forty-eight and threw only five interceptions on the year. Expect a low scoring game with Green Bay coming out on top.

The other big upset last week has the Cleveland Browns facing the Kansas City Chiefs. The Browns won their first playoff game in twenty-six years after beating the Steelers in Pittsburg. It is likely their last playoff-win this season. The Browns’ schedule outside of their division was weak this year. Coming into the 2020 season, Cleveland’s strength of schedule was 29th out of 32 teams. By contrast, Kansas City has had wins over the Ravens, Bills, Buccaneers, and Saints all on the road.

Tampa Bay travels to New Orleans this week in what will be billed as Brees vs. Brady. Drew Brees is now 42-years old, and Tom Brady is 43, so this is likely the last time you will see these quarterbacks face each other. It’s because of that matchup that this is the Sunday night game. New Orleans is getting healthy at the right time. Michael Thomas and Deonte Harris are back at wide receiver, and top running back Alvin Kamala is now off the COVID-19 list. Brees himself is now a month removed from having eleven broken ribs and a punctured lung. For Brady, it was another good year. He finished tied for second with Russell Wilson with forty touchdowns and was third in total yards passing with 4,633. The Buccaneers have now won the last five games in a row. However, two of those wins were against the Atlanta Falcons. Four of the five Buccaneers losses on the season have come to playoff teams, and two of those were against the Saints. Brady has thrown five interceptions against the Saints this season and will have to do better than that to have a chance to win this game. Expect the Saints to pull away in the second half.

That leaves the best game of this round of the playoffs—the Baltimore Ravens vs. the Buffalo Bills. Josh Allen had a breakout season for the Bills this year, his third in the NFL. He set career marks for completions, yards, touchdowns, and completion percentage. Except for Zack Moss, who is out for the season with an ankle injury at running back, the Bills are at full strength. The Ravens are led by Lamar Jackson, also in his third year in the NFL. Jackson took a bit of a step back this year, throwing ten fewer touchdowns than last year. He still managed over one thousand yards rushing for the second year in a row to go with 2,757 yards passing. The Ravens as a team are also healthy, so this should be an excellent game to watch with two twenty-four-year-old quarterbacks with different styles battling it out. A slight edge goes to Buffalo since they are playing at home.