Big 3 Sports Blog

What a Wild Card weekend!  All 4 games going down to the wire, including 2 overtime games, and a couple pretty big upsets.  So what is in store for the Divisional Weekend?  Let’s have a look.

Last weekend’s picks – 2-2

Vikings @ 49ers
Now that Kirk Cousins has the “big-game” monkey off his back, we can focus on just how balanced this Vikings team is.  Their defense completely neutralized Drew Brees and the potent Saints offense this past weekend, limiting them to just 20 points.  Cousins wasn’t spectacular, but played good enough and made no mistakes.  The return of Dalvin Cook was huge for Minnesota, and he could be a major factor against the 49ers.  San Francisco was 8^th in scoring defense this season, but ranked in the bottom half of the league against the run.  Minnesota’s defense ranked 5^th in scoring this season, but the 49ers offense was 2^nd, scoring 30 points per game.  The question will be, can Jimmy Garoppolo be this good in the Playoffs?  He has proven how good he is in the regular season, but has yet to play in the postseason.  Is he ready?  On paper, the 49ers are the better team, but…and I never thought I’d say this...I actually think Cousins gives the Vikings a slight advantage.  I will take the Vikings to win in a very close game.  It hurts saying that.

Titans @ Ravens
I’ll be honest, this is not the preview I was expecting to do.  Analyzing the Divisional Weekend without the Patriots in the mix is, well, just weird.  I didn’t think the Titans had a shot against the Patriots, and boy was I wrong.  On a related note – Derrick Henry is really good.  Ryan Tannehill was held to just 72 yards passing, but Henry made up for it by rushing for 182 yards.  Will he be able to do that against the Ravens defense?  I didn’t think anyone could do that against the Patriots, so who knows.  The Ravens defense was 3^rd in scoring this season, and 5^th against the run.  With their high-powered offense (1^st in the NFL in points), the Titans will need to score close to 30 points, which doesn’t seem realistic.  Wild card in this game is Lamar Jackson though, which is ironic because he’s going to be the MVP this year.  Will he be able to shake his historically bad Playoff performance (1^st 3 quarters at least) from last year?  Assuming he does, I will take the Ravens to win big.

Texans @ Chiefs
The Texans snuck out a tough one against the Bills this past weekend, winning 22-19 in overtime.  Trailing 16-0 with 6 minutes left in the 3^rd quarter, their offense looked very stale.  Once they turned it on though, they looked very tough, tough enough to win another Playoff game actually.  Which Texans offense will show up though?  If they take basically half the game off against the Chiefs, that will not be good enough.  The Chiefs came within a few plays of the Super Bowl last year, and are one of the favorites to go there this year.  With their high powered offense and vastly improved defense, the Texans have to be close to perfect to beat them.  And even if they are, Patrick Mahomes and company might still be too much for them to handle.  Chiefs were 5^th in the NFL in passing yards…the Texans were 28^th against the pass.  Not a good scenario for Houston.  I will take the Chiefs to win in a shootout.

Seahawks @ Packers
This game features the most experienced QBs remaining in the Playoffs.  The first 3 games this coming weekend, the 6 starting QBs have 1 Playoff win (Mahomes) coming into this postseason.  Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers…18 Playoff wins (9 each).  This is why I think this will be the best game of the weekend.  Both QBs are capable of putting their team on their back, and both are capable of taking their team down the field in the final minute to win it.  And the odd part is, both of these team’s defenses are playing better than their offenses.  The Seahawks played good enough to win this past weekend, albeit it against a backup QB.  As for the Packers, which version will show up?  When their offense is clicking, they are as good as anybody…but it hasn’t clicked for much of the season.  I think Green Bay will set the tone, and good or bad, Seattle will follow suit as they tend to play up or down to their competition.  This game has all the makings of a back and forth 4^th quarter battle.  I think the Packers have a slight advantage with the game being in Green Bay, so with that, I will take the Packers to win a nailbiter.

Last week I picked all favorites, and I told you I would do better this week.  And I did, I picked 1 underdog!

Now, tell me what you think!!!

Like this article?  Share it on Twitter or Facebook.  Like us?  Follow us on Twitter (@big3sportsblog1) or like our Facebook page (@big3sportsblog).  Not a fan?  Tell us why!