NFC Divisional Previews by Matt Durburg

Giants vs. Eagles (-7.5)

Saturday @7:15

Giants

The Giants put up an amazing fight against the Vikings in the wild card round. Daniel Jones was lights out on Sunday. He went 24/35 with 301 yards and 2 touchdowns. There is definitely a reason he is called “Danny Dimes.” The rushing game was also very strong for the Giants last week. Jones led the team with 78 yards and Saquon trailed him with 53 yards and 2 touchdowns. The run game will have to be their rock for this game if they want to win. The Giants are going to need to be perfect on offense this week. Saquon will probably be around 70-80 yards. That alone will be a hard task against the eagles near perfect front 7. Look for Daboll and Jones to keep the ball in the air for a short amount of time as well. Daniel Jones will most likely not be throwing for 300 yards against the 12th ranked secondary.

Eagles

The Eagles have yet to play in the playoffs. Coming off of a bye week can have its ups and downs. For the Eagles however, it should not be a problem. The Eagles offensive efficiency has been like no other this season. They have outdone their opponents in almost every category (yards, 1st downs, etc.). Not only that, but the Eagles defense has been amazing all year too. Ranked #1 in the league, they have been unstoppable the entire year. Jalen Hurts is their guy with 3,701 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. Not much more needs to be said about these guys because they beat the Giants in just about every category except rushing. If the Giants secondary performs and if the Eagles defense doesn’t come out firing, they could be in trouble. That has yet to be seen this season so if it does happen, it will be one crazy divisional round. 

Cowboys vs. 49ers (-4)

Sunday @5:30

Cowboys

Playoff Tom was no match for the Cowboys on Monday night. Dak Prescott DESTROYED the Bucs defense. It was boys amongst men on Monday Night Football. Prescott was 25/33 with 305 yards and 5 total touchdowns. Like I had said last week, if you give Dak time, he will tear up defenses. That will not be the case this week. The 49ers front 7 will put a lot of pressure on Prescott and the entire Cowboys offensive line. The 49ers are tied for 1st in their front 7 efficiency. Dak with no time = a bad quarterback. He leads the league in interceptions with 15. If the Cowboys want to win this game, Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliot will have to be their answer. They played well against the Bucs, combining for 104 yards with 0 touchdowns. It is an uphill battle for the Cowboys offense against the 49ers defense. Can’t forget about the 4 missed PAT’s either…

49ers

Brock Purdy. 18/30, 332 yards, and 4 total touchdowns. I’m no talent evaluator, but a rookie? Brock Purdy was the last pick in the draft last year and he is now leading the 49ers to an amazing playoff run. They smoked the Seahawks 41-23. If your team is not in the playoffs, I recommend rooting for these guys. They are near perfect in every position group. However, Kyle Shanahan doesn’t have anything to show for it. The 49ers are always stacked but can never put it all together to win a Super Bowl. If anybody can get lucky, it’s the Cowboys. Christian McCaffery did run for 119 yards and Deebo Samuel had 133 yards receiving. They have incredible weapons and all they need to do is play an average game to win it. Purdy looked shaky in the 1st half but something clicked for him in the 2nd and he lit it up. The 49ers lead the league in opponent points allowed at 16.7 per game. They also lead the league in offensive points per game since week 8. If they keep this streak, it should be an easy win. If they can’t put pressure on Dak, it will be a nail biter. 

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AFC Divisional Previews by Brady Goodman

Jaguars vs. Chiefs (-8.5)

Saturday @3:30

Jaguars

The Jacksonville Jaguars won in epic comeback fashion this past Saturday over the Chargers. Trevor Lawrence threw for 288 yards and 4 touchdowns to 4 different receivers. Lawrence’s impeccable second half stats make his 4 first half interceptions almost forgettable. Almost. Against a team like the Kansas City Chiefs, though, there will not be a window for them to go on a 31-3 run. The Chiefs have scored the most points in the NFL this season and scarcely give up a lead. Since Patrick Mahomes rarely turns the ball over, the only way for the Jaguars to stay in this game with the league’s best is to score a lot of points. The Chiefs’ defense allows 21.7 points per game, which is not terrible but also not that great. With a high powered offense like the Jaguars, as long as they don’t turn the ball over, we could see a fun shootout game.

Chiefs

The Kansas City Chiefs have been the most dominant team in the NFL over the past half decade, making it to at least the AFC Championship in each of the last 4 seasons. This year’s #1 seed will look to make that 5 straight trips. Many people thought that the Chiefs would digress this year, especially after losing their top receiver Tyreek Hill in a trade to the Miami Dolphins. The Chiefs not only proved these claims wrong, but even outperformed last year’s team, fielding more points and total yards. Being 8 and a half point favorites at home, the Chiefs should not have too much trouble handling the Jaguars. In their first matchup, the Chiefs handled the Jaguars, winning by 10 in week 10 of the regular season. The only way I could see the Chiefs losing this game is if Patrick Mahomes throws multiple interceptions, which is highly unlikely. Look for Trevor Lawrence’s undefeated Saturdays to come to an end this weekend.

Bengals vs. Bills (-5)

Sunday @2:00

Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals struggled in their 7 point home win versus the Ravens last weekend. Joe Burrow didn’t seem to have that ‘cool’ feel in the pocket, going into the game missing two starting offensive linemen and losing a third during the game. Burrow only threw for 209 yards and one touchdown. The run game was underwhelming as well, with Joe Mixon only rushing for 39 yards. The Bengals are going to have to put up more of a fight against the Bills if they want to have any chance of winning this game. Lucky for the Bengals, the Bills’ defense didn’t look too sharp during their 3 point Wild Card win over the Dolphins this past weekend, giving up 31 points to a third string rookie quarterback. The Bengals don’t get held to under 300 yards of total offense often, especially not for two games in a row. Expect a high-scoring affair between the Bengals and the Bills. I suspect that whoever has the ball last will come out on top.

Bills

The Buffalo Bills started off strong in their wild card game, scoring 17 straight on a beat-up Dolphins defense. The Dolphins found their way back into the game by halftime, finding themselves down by just a field goal. A pair of Josh Allen interceptions paved the way for a much closer game than many anticipated, almost allowing the dolphins to force overtime. In order to win this game, the Bills, especially Josh Allen, must take care of the ball well. Allen has shown a few times this year that in big games, he can be a little careless with the ball (i.e. against the Vikings and the Dolphins twice). The Bills’ defensive backs did a good job shutting down arguably the best wide receiver duo in the league last week, and they will have another dynamic duo of receivers to shut down this week in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. The difference between this week’s game and last week’s game, though, is that their quarterback is Joe Burrow, not Skylar Thompson. For the Bills to come out on top, they will have to hold the Bengal’s passing game in check, which the Ravens proved that they could do last week.