NFL Wild Card Round Predictions Day Two
The race to Super Bowl LV continues today as we head into our Sunday slate of games during Wild Card Weekend.
Yesterday, we went 1-2 with the game picks. The Tampa Bay Bucs, the sole safe pick, eliminated the Football Team to no one’s surprise but the Buffalo Bills and L.A. Rams prove victorious with their defenses making key stops. Now, we head into Sunday where we have a bit of a grudge match between the Tennessee Titans and the Baltimore Ravens, who met each other in last year’s playoffs. The Bears return to the playoffs to face the New Orleans Saints for the first time since the double doink game that broke all Bears’ fan’s hearts and the Steelers look to get revenge for their Week 17 loss against the opponent they basically chose in the Cleveland Browns. Let’s see if I have better luck today.
Here is a look at the Wild Card round matchups for today and my predictions for the slate of games:
Baltimore Ravens vs. Tennessee Titans, 1:05 PM ET
I said this was a bit of a grudge match but that might have been underselling this matchup. THIS IS A RIVALRY. The Titans took the high-powered Ravens’ heart last playoffs in dominating fashion behind King Henry. This season they rode that high horse into M&T Bank Stadium during a Week 11 matchup where they almost came to blows with Ravens player and coach Harbough before the game. These teams hate each other and they want to disrespect each other, respectfully. So who will win this much-anticipated matchup?
The Titans come in this game with the third-best offense in the league and a 2,000-yard rusher in Henry. As physical and opposing they are on offense, they are the complete opposite on defense, ranking 28th in yards allowed. They have given up 30 plus points eight times this season and I believe that will be the case again today. I said yesterday the Bills were the hottest team right now but the Ravens might be the second hottest. Lamar is playing back to his MVP level during this five-game winning streak and the defense also has been playing better since that Week 11 loss to these Titans. And watch out for J.K. Dobbins in this game, he could very well be the X-Factor in this game. As long as Harbough coaches within himself and Lamar plays his game, I believe they will win. No need to play for the media and try and make Lamar something he’s not yet as a passer. Game Pick: Ravens
Chicago Bears vs New Orleans Saints, 4:40 PM ET
This matchup could be an interesting one but like the WFT/Bucs game, this outcome is almost guaranteed. The Saints have been, for most of the season, the best team in the NFC even without Drew Brees for some weeks thanks to the greatness of Sean Payton and the defense playing out of its mind. The Saints finished with a top defense in yards allowed which will be a challenge for the Mitch Trubisky led Bears. And for people that are trying to give the Bears a chance because of Trubisky's better play of late, I will remind you it was against bad teams. They proceeded to get smacked by the Green Bay Packers in Week 17 when their season was on the line but lucked into the playoffs with a loss by the Cardinals.
I will say this game will probably be close up until the Saints breakaway late in the fourth quarter. The Bears defense is still a special unit, a Super Bowl level defense, in fact, while the explosion we normally get from a Saints offense hasn’t been there all season due to the health of Brees and quite frankly him just being old. Trubisky has a lot to play for, basically, his future with the Bears is on the line. But that motivation won’t be enough in a should be win for the Saints. Game Pick: Saints
Cleveland Browns vs. Pittsburg Steelers, 8:15 PM ET
via Action Network
The Browns come into this game at a bit of a disadvantage with COVID’s latest toll. They will be without their stud head coach Kevin Stefanski who has been a revelation to this Browns team, getting them to the playoffs for the first time in forever. But as they say, the show goes on and they are in for a match against the Steelers. Now the Browns did beat the Steelers in Week 17 to make it into the playoffs but that was against a team that rested Big Ben and most of their starters. This game will be much different.
In their first matchup, the Steelers beat the brakes off the Browns. So bad, they had to bench Baker Mayfield in the game. But as we come to find out, the Steelers we've seen to end the season is completely different from whom we saw at the beginning. Their defense has suffered heavily with the loss of their linebackers and teams just run all over them. Worse than that, they have no run game to even speak of for themselves and Big Ben has progressively gotten worse as the season went on. He had a fiery comeback against the Colts in Week 16 but other than that he hasn’t been anything great, while on the other hand, Baker has been playing dare I say, great? Oh and don’t forget Boo Boo Smith-Schuester has given the Browns all the bulletin board material that they need. You would think he learned his lesson after that Bengals game.
The only thing that gives me pause is the fact that the Browns haven’t been able to practice all week and they will be without one of their leaders on defense in Olivier Vernon tonight, a big hit to a struggling defense. If the Browns can get a lead though, I expect them to ground and pound themselves into a close victory. Game Pick: Browns
Stay tuned for more coverage of the NFL Playoffs.
