Wild Record Record: 4-2 (Correct: Bills, Buccaneers, Ravens, Saints Incorrect: Seahawks, Steelers)
Green Bay Packers over Los Angeles Rams: Make no mistake, there's a clear path for the Rams to win this game. Their terrific defense can wreck games with their strong pass coverage/takeway/pass rush combo, they have a trio of strong covers (Jalen Ramsey, Darious Williams, Troy Hill) that could slow down Davante Adams wherever he lines up-which could expose the Packers lack of secondary playmakers in a way that basically no other team has this year and despite recent improvements, the Packers still have a vulnerable run D that Cam Akers-who is coming off a career-best performance against a strong Seahawks front that ranked 5th best against the run during the regular season-could feast against. However, a warm weather team traveling into a cold weather environment with a quarterback in Jared Goff who is gutting it out with a pretty much just surgically repaired thumb on his throwing hand and Aaron Donald potentially making less of an impact upfront as he deals with his own potentially bad rib injury should put the Packers in a good spot to eek out a victory.
Baltimore Ravens over Buffalo Bills: Last week could prove to be a fluke for both sides, but I love the grit the Ravens showed in their victory over the Titans and the Bills were extremely fortunate that Frank Reich's boneheaded decisionmaking in key situations prevented the Colts from flipping the outcome of the shootout they engaged in. Plus the Ravens have a physical corner group that could give the Bills talented receiver group just enough problems to prevent Josh Allen from completely taking over the game and I'm not convinced the Bills D will be able to stop the Ravens multi-faceted rushing attack or splash play ability of their passing game-particularly if they target the middle of the field where Matt Milano and Tremaine Edmunds got gashed by Michael Pittman, Jack Doyle and Mo-Allie Cox last week.
Kansas City Chiefs over Cleveland Browns: An undermanned, head coach-less Browns team going into Pittsburgh and beating up on the Steelers was the best story of Wild Card Weekend as well as a beautiful feel good moment for a franchise that has done nothing but suffer since they last made the playoffs in 2002. As confident and excited as the Browns locker room has to be right now, their fairy tale 2020 season is likely going to come to a bitter end at the hands of the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. While the Browns should be able to keep it competitive with their superb ball control offense driven by a strong running and play action pass game, the Chiefs unreal ability to put points on the board in an instant-particularly against defenses with a back end that's as easily burnable as the Browns-significantly weakens that typically very useful asset and thus tanks their odds of picking up another road W.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers over New Orleans Saints: Both regular season meetings between the Saints and Buccaneers were bloodbaths where the Bucs looked like the NFL equivalent of the New York Nationals. When one divisional rival dominates another to a truly eye-popping degree during their prior showdowns, they should be the easy favorites to win again right? Not so fast. As I outlined last week, I do not trust this Saints one bit against a legitimate opponent (hell, they struggled for roughly 2.5 quarters against an illegitimate one during Wild Card Weekend) when the bright lights are on and Tom Brady should be supremely motivated to not lose to the same team 3 times in 1 season.
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