Most football aficionados consider the divisional round the best weekend of the NFL season. It is not the regular season where some teams are tanking to get the top draft pick. The divisional round is better than the wild-card round because some teams sneak into the playoffs and lose lopsided games. The best teams make it into the divisional round and will now be fighting for the chance to hoist the Lombardi trophy. In this article, we preview the four matchups in the highly-anticipated divisional round.
Last week: 5-1
Regular Season 63-27
1. Jacksonville Jaguars at Kansas City-Saturday, 4:30 p.m., CBS
This game has a lot of subplots, and the first is that these teams are on a roll because they ended their seasons on a five-game winning streak. The matchup will also involve two coaches familiar with each other as Andy Reid faces his former Eagles staffer Doug Patterson. The two teams also met on November 13, where the Chiefs beat the Jaguars 27-17 at home. The Jaguars will be hoping the Trevor Lawrence from the second half will carry over to this matchup. The team should be relaxed because they were able to pull off a huge comeback in the wild-card round, and are now considered underdogs in this matchup. Kansas City enters this matchup well-rested after their bye, and Patrick Mahomes will be looking to whip his home crowd into a frenzy. He will have a good opportunity to do just that because the Jaguars’ defense struggled to put pressure on quarterbacks during the regular season. A young team rarely makes it to the Superbowl in their first playoff appearance, the growing pains will result in a road loss. I think Lawrence will keep his team in the game, but a key interception late will lead to a Chiefs victory.
Chiefs 30-Jaguars 23
2. New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles- Saturday, 8:15 p.m. ET-Fox
The Giants pulled off the biggest upset of the wild-card round in defeating the Vikings. Daniel Jones had his best performance in the NFL given the stage and the pressure to deliver on the road. This matchup against the Eagles will be the third game of the season against the said opponents. The Week 14 matchup ended in a 48-22 blowout, while the week 18 matchup ended 22-16. However, the Giants should feel good about the matchup based on their competitive game at the end of the regular season because they rested most of their starters. However, the Eagles played to win the number 1 seed and did not impress on offense. I am picking the upset for this game based on the uncertainty surrounding Jalen Hurts, and the absence of All-Pro Lane Johnson to protect him.
Giants 27-Eagles 24
3. Cincinnati Bengals at Buffalo Bills-Sunday, 3 p.m. ET CBS
I think this will be the game of the weekend. These two teams will get a second crack in this matchup after the first game had to be canceled after Damar Hamlin suffered a heart attack on the field. Despite the decision to cancel the game being the right one, the Bengals are upset they are not hosting this game instead of a visit to Orchard Park. Interestingly, both teams struggled last week against their opponents in the wild-card round. The teams perhaps played down to the competition, and likely felt they would have won easily. I think both teams will elevate their play to produce a classic. It will be interesting to see whether the Bills’ defense can exploit the Bengals’ inability to protect Joe Burrow with three offensive linemen injured. On the other side, the Bengals’ defense will be looking to pounce on Josh Allen’s recent errant throws into tight coverage, and the offense will want to run the ball in punishing the Bills’ defense. I think it will be a close finish that may come down to who has the ball last.
Bengals 28-Bills 27
1. Dallas Cowboys at San Francisco 49ers-Sunday, 6:30 p.m., FOX
The Dallas Cowboys looked like a Super Bowl team by demolishing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The result avenged a 19-3 loss from week 1 of the regular season. This week they will be looking to avenge the loss to the 49ers in the wild-card round last season. The intriguing matchup will be the Cowboys’ offense versus the 49ers’ defense. Can the Cowboys run the ball against the 49ers? Can Dak avoid the back-breaking interceptions and play mistake-free football? I think the 49ers will be able to exploit the run defense deficiency of the Cowboys through Christian McCaffery and Deebo Samuels. As the stakes get to hire, Brock Purdy has played exceptionally, and I think he will be able to handle the pressure as it ratches up. I have the 49ers winning at home in a fantastic game.
49ers 31-Cowboys 28
Enjoy those Games!