Last Week's Record: 4-0
Baltimore Ravens over New England Patriots: For the fourth time in the past seven years, the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots will be squaring off in the playoffs at Gillette Stadium. Much has been made this week that the John Harbaugh-led Ravens are the only team to beat the Patriots multiple times at home in the playoffs in the Bill Belichick era. If the Ravens come out and contain this high-flying Patriots offense, I believe they will pick up their third victory in Foxboro. The Ravens are one of the few teams in the league that matchup well against the Patriots. They have one of the strongest front sevens in the league with a pair of excellent pass rushers in Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil, their defensive coordinator Dean Pees-who worked under Belichick for years in New England before going to Baltimore- knows a lot of their offensive tendencies and they play with a toughness that gives them a chance to beat anyone on any given day. However, the Patriots are not going to be an easy out. Tom Brady is an animal (or as he said himself earlier this week "a fucking machine") in the cold, especially at home, and their defense is going to make sure Joe Flacco and co. don't get comfortable with the running game and their trademark deep passes. The Patriots are without question a better overall team than they were in their previous losses to the Ravens, but as long as the Ravens can consistently apply pressure to Brady so he can't burn their below-average secondary, contain Rob Gronkowski and Flacco continues to deliver in the playoffs, they should be able to take out the Patriots in what is poised to be a tight, hard-fought contest.
Seattle Seahawks over Carolina Panthers: Yes, the Panthers finished the regular season below .500. Yes this game is in Seattle, where the Seahawks have only lost twice since 2012. Yes, the Panthers looked terrible offensively in their victory last week against the Cardinals. Even with all these factors pointing to the Panthers getting blown out by the defending champs, I don't think that will be the case. The Panthers and Seahawks are two teams that just play each other close in every single meeting. Even when the Panthers were in the midst of a massive slump earlier this season, they only lost to the Seahawks by four points. These are two physical, defensive-minded football teams with nearly identical strengths and I expect yet another low-scoring, hard-fought battle to occur when these two square off at CenturyLink Field tonight. Though the Panthers should keep it close, I expect the Seahawks to come out on top. This game is going to come down to the running attack and defense, and the Seahawks have the edge in both of those. The Panthers defense and running back Jonathan Stewart have been excellent over the past month or so, but even with the hot streak they're on at the moment, they can't top this Seahawks defense and the inhuman behemoth that is Marshawn Lynch. The Seahawks are just an incredibly tough out at home and are playing better than any team in the league right now, which gives them a slight advantage in this matchup.
Green Bay Packers over Dallas Cowboys: This game is being hyped to all hell and deservedly so. It's the first ever playoff meeting between teams that finished the regular season 8-0 at home and 8-0 on the road respectively. One of these highly impressive streaks is going to come to an end on Sunday, and I believe that's going to be the Cowboys string of road victories. The Cowboys have played excellent for a vast majority of the season and proved their naysayers repeatedly wrong along the way, I just don't think they have a strong enough secondary to stop the Packers' absurdly stacked receiving corps. Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb have decimated just about every secondary they've faced this season and considering Orlando Scandrick is the only cornerback the Cowboys have that has had any success against a top-tier receivers this season, this trend should continue without much difficulty. DeMarco Murray going up against this horrid Packers rush defense and Tony Romo's excellent play on the road should keep the 'Boys very much in the game, I just can't pick against this high-powered Packers offense, even with a not fully healthy Aaron Rodgers, in the extremely cold confines of Lambeau Field at the moment.
Denver Broncos over Indianapolis Colts: To be honest, I don't have a lot of faith in the Broncos or Colts right now. Peyton Manning has looked like absolute trash of late and Andrew Luck has been horrid in his two career road playoff games (50.4 CMP %, 2 TD's, 5 INT's, 56.4 QBR). Of course someone has to win this game and based on the supporting casts around them, I have to go with the Broncos to win this battle of the two sloppiest teams still alive in the playoffs. The Broncos have a strong defense with a great pass rush and loaded secondary that is completely capable of making sure Luck has another terrible road playoff outing and running back C.J. Anderson should continue to save this squad from Manning's recent woes. Unless they buck all their recent trends, the Colts just don't have enough firepower on either side of the ball to take out the Broncos.
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