Only Four Teams Remain

The NFC and AFC Championships have been determined and we are down to the final four teams in the NFL Playoffs for a chance at the Super Bowl. Both championships feature the #3 seeds taking on the #1 seeds. 

In the NFC, the Lions after beating the Buccaneers at home head to Santa Clara to face the 49ers who just narrowly defeated the Packers in the divisional round. The Lions have had their best season in over three decades and they are looking to reach their first ever Super Bowl in the history of the franchise. 

The 49ers have been dominant all season on their way to the number 1 seed, but stumbled a bit in the divisional round against the Packers. Early in the game, Deebo Samuel went down with an injury and after the Niners lost him they did not look like their normal selves. Whether Deebo can play or not will have a huge impact in determining the outcome of this one. 

In the AFC, the Chiefs after just escaping Buffalo with a thrilling victory will head to Baltimore to take on the #1 seeded Ravens. The Ravens trounced the Texans in the Divisional Round and people across the NFL are continuing to say that it is the Ravens year. But they will have to face Patrick Mahomes for a chance to go to Vegas for the Super Bowl. 

Mahomes, who just played in his first true road playoff game, will play in his first road AFC Championship game after making it for the sixth consecutive year. The Chiefs have not looked like their dominant teams of the past this season, but they looked scary in their win in Buffalo. There are many people that you can never doubt or bet against in the sport and Patrick Mahomes is definitely one of those guys. 

Both of these games should be great with major storylines coming into them. I think that the Ravens will put an end to the Chiefs run and advance to the Super Bowl and if everyone is healthy for the 49ers, I predict them to advance as well. If my predictions are correct, we will have a rematch of Super Bowl 47 in which the Ravens took down the 49ers in New Orleans. Will history repeat itself? We will see this weekend. 

A Rematch of Chiefs vs Bills

 

For the third time in the past four seasons, the Chiefs will take on the Bills in the playoffs, but this time in Buffalo. This will be Patrick Mahomes' first ever road playoff game and it will take place in front of Bills Mafia in upstate New York. 

The Chiefs took the first two playoff matchups in both 2020 and 2022 at Arrowhead. We will once again get to see a rematch between two of the best quarterbacks in the sport: Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. 

These two teams faced off earlier in the season in one of the most highly criticized games the entire year. It resulted in a Bills victory in Arrowhead, but only due to an offsides call on Chiefs that negated a game-winning touchdown for them. The Chiefs were furious because it had nothing to do with the play on the field, but the referees made the right call. 

That win for the Bills allowed them not only to just make the playoffs, but also get the #2 seed and home-field advantage in this matchup as well. The ripple effect that the outcome of that game played was humongous for the Bills. 

The Bills will be riding a 7-game winning streak into this highly-contested matchup, being arguably the hottest team in the NFL. The Chiefs, on the other hand, have not looked like their normal selves on the offensive side of the ball all season, but in their wild card matchup against the Dolphins, they seemed to have flipped a switch. 

The rivalry between Mahomes and Allen has been compared and very similar to the rivalry that used to be between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Always meeting in the later rounds of the AFC Playoffs and Brady like Mahomes usually came out with the victory. Josh Allen has the chance to flip this script on Sunday with a massive win at Orchard Park. 

The Bills have been fun to watch and are my favorite to win this game, but there is just something about Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs where you just can't ever count him out. Will Allen get his first playoff win over the Chiefs on Sunday, or will Mahomes continue to dominate this so far one-sided rivalry?

Packers Move Onto San Francisco

 

Just a couple of days ago, the Packers stormed into AT&T Stadium and demolished the Dallas Cowboys in a huge upset. They now move onto San Francisco to take on the 49ers in the Divisional Round of the NFC Playoffs. 

Everyone had very low expectations for the Packers coming into this season as it would be their first year in over a decade and a half without Aaron Rodgers as their starting quarterback. It would be Jordan Love taking over the helm and that came with a bunch of critics. 

Love has taken over the job with ease, leading the Packers to a postseason appearance and a huge upset over Dallas in the first round. Love has shown that he has the potential to be the next great Packers quarterback like the ones before him. 

This year was supposed to be a "rebuild" for the Packers after losing Aaron Rodgers and also being the youngest team in the league. In fact, the Packers are one of the youngest teams of all time to ever make the playoffs. They also made history as the first ever #7 seed to win a playoff game in the NFL Playoffs. 

Jordan Love has been proving his doubters wrong left and right but he also has developed a really good supporting staff as well, most notably Aaron Jones. Jones returned to his home state of Texas and put up three touchdowns against the Cowboys to propel the Pack to a huge victory. 

Outside of Jones, there are really no other household names on this young Packers offense and most of the guys that are surrounding Jordan Love are either rookies or second year players. The way that the Packers have been built and what competition they have been faced with makes their achievements even better. 

They will have a tough task of heading to Santa Clara this weekend to take on the 49ers, but they just marched into Dallas and shocked a lot of people, so what's stopping them from doing it again? As their star cornerback, Jaire Alexander, said, "the Pack is back."

Preview of Dolphins vs Chiefs

The Miami Dolphins head over to Kansas City this weekend to take on the Chiefs in what might be one of the coldest games in NFL history. The Dolphins are used to playing in warm, sunny weather down in South Florida, so this may play a huge factor in determining the outcome of this game. 

Adding onto the weather conditions, the Dolphins are 0-10 in the last 10 games they have played where the weather is 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less, once again not doing them any favors. 

This game is a rematch from earlier in the season when these two teams matched up across the pond in Germany. The Chiefs took down the Dolphins by a score of 21-14 in Tyreek Hill's first game taking on his former team. He will have another chance to face them Saturday Night, but this time its in Arrowhead. 

The Dolphins finished the season in horrible fashion after losing the division to the Buffalo Bills. With just five weeks left in the regular season, the Dolphins lead the division by three games and controlled their own destiny to the #2 seed. 

But with some brutal losses down the stretch, they were unable to wrap up their first division title since 2008 and now have to head to one of the worst environments to play in as a road team in sports. And to add onto all of this, they will have to face Patrick Mahomes as well. 

This will be the first time in the playoffs where Mahomes and the Chiefs did not secure home-field advantage throughout the entire playoffs. The Chiefs had a bit of a down year with their offense taking a huge plummet from their Super Bowl season a year ago, but it was their defense that was very impressive. 

The defense lead by Chris Jones put up some phenomenal numbers this season and bailed out the struggling offense at some critical points. The Chiefs defense will have the tough job of trying to contain Tyreek Hill, but at the same time the rest of the Dolphins offense is far from healthy. 

There are still question marks on the status of Raheem Mostert and Jaylen Waddle for Saturday, and Tyreek Hill himself is not even 100 percent healthy it seems like as well. Miami is very banged up on both sides of the ball, losing a lot of key players on the defense to season-ending injuries. 

It seems like all signs are pointing to the Chiefs advancing to the next round in this one. I believe they will come out of this tundra of a game with the victory but in close fashion. I don't understand how these players will be able to sustain themselves in this weather but I'm looking forward to seeing how this game turns out come Saturday Night. 

 

Preview of Rams vs Lions

 

The most headlined playoff matchup going into Super Wild Card Weekend is the matchup taking place at Ford Field between the Los Angeles Rams and the Detroit Lions. The headlines in this game are endless and we truly will be "waiting all day for Sunday Night."

Lets talk about the quarterbacks first. Both of them will matchup against their former teams, trying to eliminate them from the playoffs. Jared Goff took the Rams to the Super Bowl during his tenure in LA and Matt Stafford is arguably one of the best Lions in the history of the franchise although he did not have much success. 

The two quarterbacks were traded for each other just a couple of offseason's ago and if Goff continues to be successful with Detroit, it could go down as one of the most even trades in NFL history. Stafford already won a Super Bowl for LA in his first year with the team. 

The Lions are not a familiar face when it comes to the playoffs as they make their first appearance in the dance since 2017. On top of this, the Lions have not won a singular playoff game in 32 years. The Lions won the NFC North this season for the first time in 30 years. It is definitely a new era taking shape in Detroit. 

These two teams both had great seasons in order to get here, but took very different routes. For the Lions, they basically breezed their way through the competition and the NFC North in capturing their first division title in 30 years. For the Rams, after suffering a couple of injuries earlier in the season, as the team got healthier, they became a much better team and were one of the hottest teams throughout the past few weeks to end the season. 

Looking more at the game now, these two teams are some of the most balanced teams in the National Football League. Both have superb offenses with weapons such as Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua for the Rams or Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs for the Lions, that can be explosive whenever they are called upon. 

On the defensive side they are also solid as both teams are headlined by their defensive line lead by Aaron Donald for the Rams and Aidan Hutchinson for the Lions. I really like watching both of these teams and it is bittersweet that one of them will have to go home come late Sunday Night. 

My pick for this game is that the Lions will win a close game down the stretch and get to the Divisional Round and have a highly anticipated rematch with the Cowboys. These teams are built very similarly and this matchup should be one for the ages taking place on Sunday Night. 

The Texans Win the AFC South!

 

The Houston Texans have done the improbable by wrapping up the AFC South division title this past weekend. The Texans go from having the second overall pick in the NFL Draft a year ago and then 365 days later, clinching a playoff berth, nonetheless winning their division as well. 

The Texans were in a deep hole last season as they had just traded away their franchise quarterback in Deshaun Watson to the Cleveland Browns and were left with Davis Mills to head the team. Obviously another change was going to need to be made at that position in the offseason. 

The NFL Draft did wonders for the Texans as they drafted CJ Stroud with the second overall pick. Stroud had one of the most impressive rookie seasons in the history of the NFL and should be the unanimous pick for Offensive Rookie of the Year as well. They also hired a new head coach in DeMeco Ryans, coming from the 49ers who is up for the NFL Coach of the Year Award. 

They have overcame difficult obstacles all season and will have to overcome yet another one in the first round of the playoffs facing the Cleveland Browns. The headlines would have been much larger if Deshaun Watson was healthy, but he will be on the sideline for this one. In my opinion, these two teams overcame the most adversity out of any other teams in the National Football League. 

This team came into the NFL as one of the youngest and least experienced teams in the league but still were able to not only make the playoffs but win their division! This team's turnaround is one of the quickest turnarounds from one season to another that I have ever witnessed. 

All the critics said they are way ahead of schedule and need a couple of years. The Texans ignored all of the nonsense and showed the NFL that they are here and here to stay for the foreseeable future with CJ Stroud at the helm. 

My Thoughts on the Knicks

 

Just under a week ago, the Knicks made a trade to acquire OG Anunoby and shocked many across the NBA. In order to get Anunoby, the Knicks had to give up RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, two players that had played their entire careers with the Knicks until just a couple of days ago.

At first, I was a bit confused with the trade. Seeing two guys that I had grown to love and hate at some points over the years, traded away to a division rival stung quite a bit. But the thing that I needed to focus on was what we were getting back for them in this deal. 

OG Anunoby is the exact guy that Tom Thibodeau wants on his basketball team. He is the definition of a 3 and D player, being both an efficient scorer and suffocating defender as well. The Knicks weren't getting further than they got last season with the same exact team, so obviously they needed to switch something up. 

Trading Immanuel Quickley was a little bittersweet because we all know the player that he can and will pan out to be, but at the end of the day it just had to be elsewhere. He is also on an expiring contract and will be a free agent in the offseason, so at least the Knicks got some value out of him judging if they were unable to re-sign him. 

Barrett was drafted by the Knicks in 2019 and everyone thought he was going to really become a star in New York. Statistically, Barrett had good numbers, but he was very inconsistent and this is what really drove him out of New York. Most athletes do not last very long in New York with the amount of success that the Knicks had with RJ Barrett and now he gets to return home to Canada in Toronto. 

Barrett was also taking on a deal that involved paying him $30 million per year. For the Knicks to get out of that contract I think is a good step in the right direction for them. In Anunoby's first two games with the Knicks, he's looked everything like the player that Thibs wants to coach and more. 

The message that I believe was sent is that after making this deal, the Knicks are not done yet with making deals and this team will experience more changes as we get closer to the trade deadline. I hope OG is very successful with the Knicks and that they are able to extend him and keep him in the Big Apple long term.