Now that the NFL Wildcard games are out of the way, we’re now down to the last eight as the Divisional Playoffs begin this weekend.
AFC top seed, the Baltimore Ravens kick things off as they host the Houston Texans on Saturday night. Attention then turns to Sunday, as the San Francisco 49ers take on the Green Bay Packers in the early hours, before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers travel to the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills host the Kansas City Chiefs.
It’s set to be a jam-packed weekend, filled with fascinating games and we can’t wait for it to begin. Here, we’ll take a closer look at each game in the hopes we can pick out the winners and losers. Want to know who we think will progress?
Rested Ravens to turnover Texans
The Baltimore Ravens finally get to step out in this year’s Playoffs having received a bye in the previous round for finishing top of the AFC Division. Their reward was an extended break and they now enter the fray to take on the Houston Texans, who were massively impressive in their 45-14 win over the Cleveland Browns in the Wildcard round last weekend.
When these two last met in September during the regular season, the first half was very competitive. The Ravens spread their wings in the second half though and ran away with it thanks to a couple of touchdowns and good kicking. Baltimore continued as they meant to go on and dominated the AFC, losing just four games to land top seed in the Playoffs here.
Green Bay to be sent packing
Similar to the Ravens, the San Francisco 49ers come into this round as the top NFC seed. They too enjoyed a break during the Wildcard round, but they’ll be ready for business now as they host the Green Bay Packers. The visitors are the lowest seeded team left in the competition, but have already beaten the odds by getting past the Dallas Cowboys in the previous round.
Interestingly, the Cowboys finished the regular NFC season with the exact same win percentage as the 49ers, so the Packers could fancy their chances again here. San Francisco hasn’t been formidable on home soil and Green Bay has a decent record on the road. Home advantage should come into play here though and the hosts should progress.
Lions and Bills to move on
After a narrow victory over the Los Angeles Rams last week, the Detroit Lions welcome the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Ford Field. The Lions are strong at home and won the last meeting between these sides back in October. They should be too good for the visitors in this one.
The final game of the weekend sees the Buffalo Bills host the Kansas City Chiefs in the standout tie of the round. The Bills have won their last two against the Chiefs and have a long and storied history in the Playoffs. We’re backing the home team to make it a clean sweep.
