NFL Divisional Round Predictions

Wild Card Record: 5-1 (Correct: 49ers, Jaguars, Bills, Giants, Bengals Incorrect: Buccaneers)

Kansas City Chiefs over Jacksonville Jaguars:

No other team in the playoff bracket in either conference could've or would've coughed up a 27-point lead in the way that the Chargers did to the Jaguars last week. That type of victory spawned by luck (Trevor Lawrence recovered nicely in the 2nd half after a nightmarish 1st half where he chucked 4 picks and failed to complete a pass of consequence until their momentum-shifting final drive right before halftime and Doug Pederson made some terrific play calls, but the Chargers' pitiful execution on both sides of the ball was ultimately the driving force behind their comeback) has a tendency to be followed up by a loss. Not to mention, the Chiefs are a better team than the Jags in nearly every area and Arrowhead Stadium is a brutal place for a youth-driven team to play this time of year.

Philadelphia Eagles over New York Giants:

Anything can happen in a divisional matchup between archrivals, especially with the level of heart that Brian Daboll has the Giants playing with right now. However, this is the kind of high leverage stage where experience and talent often dictate outcomes and that's the area where the Eagles have the biggest advantage over the Giants. Jalen Hurts getting another week to heal from his shoulder injury should be huge for the functionality of the Eagle offense and the Eagles defense is well-rounded enough to prevent Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley from wreaking havoc in the same way they did against the Vikings last week.

Buffalo Bills over Cincinnati Bengals:

Both of these teams are lucky to be here after they performed very poorly in Wild Card matchups that they were heavily favored in. While the Bills turnover woes continue to be a crippling problem that are due to actually cost them a game one of these days, they did come out of last week's game unscathed on the injury front. The Bengals weren't as fortunate as they lost their left tackle Jonah Williams to a dislocated kneecap in the 3rd quarter of their win over the Ravens. With Williams now out and Alex Cappa missing a 2nd straight game with an ankle injury, the Bengals are now down 3 of their 5 regular starters on the offensive line (right tackle La'el Collins suffered a torn ACL during the Week 16 matchup with the Patriots) and have the dream team of 2nd year pro Jackson Carman (left tackle), journeyman Max Scharping (right guard) and Hakeem Adeniji (right tackle)-who is best known for getting his lunch money taken by every member of the Rams defensive front in the Super Bowl last year-stepping in as replacements. Now, Buffalo's pass rush might not be the same without Von Miller and their #5 ranking in rush defense is deceiving as they've benefitted from winning a lot of lopsided games (their #14 ranking in YPC allowed feels more accurate), but this group still has more than enough talent along their front 7 to stuff the run and make life difficult for Joe Burrow when they have such a deeply compromised offensive line. Would it be at all shocking if Burrow powered through shit blocking yet again and made some magic happen or the Bengals takeaway-happy defense won a 2nd straight game for them against an offense that has been very prone to turning the ball over for the bulk of the season? Not at all, but there's not a worse spot to have injuries at this time of year outside of quarterback this time of year than o-line and I simply can't overlook the advantage the Bills now have without Williams and Cappa out there.  

San Francisco 49ers over Dallas Cowboys:

The Cowboys are riding high right now after winning their 1st road playoff game since 1993 and 1st playoff game period since 2018 in dominant fashion on Monday night against the Buccaneers. Going into San Francisco to play the scorching hot 49ers is going to be a little bit more of a challenge. The 49ers elite defense doesn't have the same coverage deficiencies for Dak Prescott to consistently exploit and their front is more than stout enough to keep both Ezkiel Eliott and Tony Pollard completely bottled up (a performance like the one Titans front put up in Week 17 when they held them to 87 YDS on 32 carries could easily be in the cards), and their offense isn't as stagnant or one-dimensional as the Bucs group. Plus, Kyle Shanahan is a crafty enough coach to scheme around the Cowboys biggest defensive asset (their league-best pass rush) and attack their below average ability to stop the run or pass when they're not generating pressure at a high rate. And if their offense isn't humming, the pass-rush can't get to rookie Brock Purdy and the 49ers can get their rushing attack going, it's hard to see anyway the Cowboys can come out of Santa Clara with a win.