And just like that, we’re left with eight.
It’s officially offseason for three quarters of the NFL, including six teams that were freshly dispatched over Wild Card Weekend. I’ll take a peek at what’s next for those half-dozen organizations, with a few really interesting quarterback situations among the topics of conversation.
But the real meat and potatoes is the upcoming Divisional Round. Pound for pound, this is the best football weekend, I say. And after five of the six wild-card games were decided by two or more scores, getting four bangers in this round would really hit the spot.
On paper, the matchups look pretty terrific, simmering to a full-on boil by Sunday night.
The Texans kick off the weekend, coming off their best showing in at least a month. Can they go back to Arrowhead and catch the Chiefs sluggish off their extended break?
Commanders-Lions is our Saturday night special, as fascinating of a matchup as you could hope for at this stage. Jayden Daniels vs. the injury-riddled-yet-resilient Lions defense.
The fearless, fighting Rams will be flying into Philadelphia on emotion, having just taken out the 14-win Vikings with relative ease. Are the Eagles on upset watch in Sunday’s opener?
Capping it all off is the presumed centerpiece of the weekend: Ravens at Bills. You know the storylines, headlined by arguably the two most dangerous quarterbacks in the NFL right now. It just feels like a true toss-up game, so much so that I bumped the Ravens up in these rankings, putting them right on the Bills’ heels. Had Buffalo not rallied after an opening haymaker by Denver to ultimately blow out the Broncos, I probably would have jumped the Ravens ahead of the Bills. Sunday night will determine whether I made the right call or not. The way Baltimore is playing, I’m prepared to look bad.
In addition to obsessively following the Chicago Bears’ search for a new head coach, I am also keeping tabs on what is happening around the league.
Micah Parsons has spoken.The Cowboys linebacker, whose podcast habit has made waves in the locker room in the past, chimed
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner made a great impression in his first appearance as an NFL analyst on ESPN during Wild Card weekend, leaving ESP
Ravens, Bills put on A+ performance, Commanders stun BucsUSA TODAY Sports' Mackenzie Salmon breaks down all the games from Wild Card Weekend.Sports SeriouslyA P