NFL Playoffs Conversation: Wild Card Round

by Eric Fulton & Julian Spivey
*This conversation has been edited for grammar and clarity.

JS: So, Eric, the Wild Card round of the NFL Playoffs is set for the weekend! The Kansas City Chiefs are the no. 1 seed in the AFC and the Philadelphia Eagles are the no. 1 seed in the NFC so those two teams get a week off to rest their players, watch the rest of the competition and not have to hold their breath. The first Wild Card round game will take place on Saturday at 3:30 CT when the No. 7 seed Seattle Seahawks travel down the Pacific coastline to take on the No. 2 seed San Francisco 49ers. Being NFC West division rivals this will be the third time these teams have matched up this season. The 49ers took both games against Seattle in the regular season. Do you see Seattle finally beating them?

EF: I do not see Seattle winning this game. The Seahawks are a nice story just by making the playoffs after trading Russell Wilson to Denver. No one saw that coming. Pete Carroll will get some votes for Coach of the Year, but I just can't see Geno Smith doing anything against an incredibly good 49ers defense. Seattle will hang for a bit, but San Francisco will pull away late and move on.

JS: Yeah Seattle making the playoffs is an impressive season in its own right. That alone earned Geno Smith a $2 million bonus in his contract. The 49ers have been impressive late in the season. You wouldn’t expect a team that’s fielded three starting quarterbacks on a season to be looking this good. But you mentioned the team’s stellar defense led by defensive end Nick Bosa and his league-leading 18.5 sacks. Christian McCaffery at running back was a great acquisition for the team and they’ve got a solid receiving corps led by one of the best tight ends in the game in George Kittle and Brandon Aiyuk who went for more than 1000 receiving yards. But the real surprise for this team has been the play of late of QB Brock Purdy, who was literally Mr. Irrelevant (the last player taken in the draft). He’s come in and helped the team run off six straight wins. He literally hasn’t lost yet.

JS: The second playoff game on Saturday will be the Los Angeles Chargers traveling across the country to take on the No. 4 seed AFC South champion Jacksonville Jaguars. That game will be at 7:15 CT on NBC. Despite having home field, the Jags were 9-8 this year compared to the Chargers 10-7, so we probably don’t expect the Chargers to be the underdogs, do we?

EF: This is one of those I don't know whom to pick because this is the first playoff game for both teams in a long time. The very first playoff game for both Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence. The Chargers have been injury prone leading up to the playoffs. I am going with coaching experience with Doug Pedersen having been a Super Bowl-winning head coach. I am going with the Jaguars for this game.

JS: This could be a surprisingly good game between two close teams that are both hot right now. The Jaguars enter the playoffs having won 5 straight games after a 4-8 start to win their division and make the playoffs. Though only one of those 5 wins (an overtime thriller against Dallas) was again a playoff opponent. The Chargers have won four of their last five games with the only loss being to the lowly Denver Broncos on Sunday. Only one of those wins came against a playoff foe in Miami. I think it’ll be a close, fun game but I’m leaning toward the Chargers winning.

JS: The first playoff game on Sunday sees the Miami Dolphins traveling up north to play their AFC East rival Buffalo Bills. The game will be on CBS at noon. It’ll be the third time these two teams have matched up this season with the Dolphins beating the Bills in September and the Bills returning the favor in December. The Bills are riding a 7-game winning streak into the playoffs, while the Dolphins have lost five of their last six. Do the Dolphins have any chance in this game?

EF: No. I am going to say the Bills will win this game. Who will start for Miami if Tua Tagovailoa or Teddy Bridgewater can't go? I don't want to say it is a complete mismatch because it is a divisional rivalry, and you never know about these games. But the Bills are playing inspired football and will play hard throughout their playoff run. The Dolphins were a good story this season, but their season will end in Western New York.

JS: I would never discount the Kansas City Chiefs, but there's a good chance the Bills should be considered the favorites in the AFC right now with their hot streak. A potential Bills/Chiefs AFC title game excites me more at this point than any potential Super Bowl matchup. The only thing that could make the Bills/Dolphins game close is the Dolphins familiarity with the Bills having played them twice already, but Miami certainly slumped their way into the postseason and this could be the biggest blowout of the Wild Card weekend.

JS: The second game on Sunday sees NFC No. 6 seed New York Giants (one of three NFC East playoff teams) travel to Minnesota to take on the NFC North champion Vikings. That game will be on Fox at 3:30 p.m. The Giants were a pleasant surprise this season under coach Brian Daboll, probably the front-runner to win Coach of the Year, going 9-7-1, but it feels like they have a hard task against the 13-4 Vikings. Eric, what do you think?

EF: I respectfully disagree with you on being a hard task with the Giants against the Vikings. Even though Minnesota has 13 wins this season, 11 of those wins have been in close games, and I know Daniel Jones is playing his first playoff game. And Brian Daboll is coaching his first playoff game. But playing a lot of close games is not easy. Just a couple of weeks ago on Christmas Eve, these two teams played a close game. The Vikings won on a walk-off field goal. I think it will be another close game, but Kirk Cousins will outplay Daniel Jones and Minnesota will escape with another close win.

JS: Kirk Cousins definitely seems to have some of that good luck on his side.

JS: The third and final playoff game on Sunday is yet another inner-division rival matchup. This time the AFC North-winning Cincinnati Bengals will take on the No. 6 seed Baltimore Ravens. It’ll actually be the second week in a row for these teams at Cincy just beat Baltimore 27-16. In week 5 the Bengals lost to the Ravens 19-17. The Bengals are riding the second-longest winning streak in the league with eight wins in a row. They haven’t lost a game since October. But might things be looking up for the Ravens? There’s reportedly a strong chance Lamar Jackson could rejoin the team at QB. He’s been out with a left knee injury since December 4.

EF: I think getting Lamar Jackson back for the Ravens will be great because he is their best player. A bigger question is if the Ravens lose this game, will it be Lamar's final game in a Baltimore uniform? That is a wait-and-see. Meanwhile, even if Jackson does return for this game, Joe Burrow and the Bengals. Usually, teams that lose the Super Bowl the year before have a big letdown the season after. Not the case with the Bengals. They started out slow but finished strong. Even as a three-seed in the AFC, they could go to KC or Buffalo and win. It will be a close game because they are division rivals and the return of Lamar Jackson, but Cincinnati pulls away late.

JS: The Bengals shocked the football world last year by winning the AFC. It wouldn’t be a shock to do so this season. I still think, however, they should only be the third favorite in the conference behind Kansas City and Buffalo. I don’t think the Ravens will be too much of an issue for Cincy, but you never know when two teams know each other this well.

JS: The final playoff game of the first weekend is actually on Monday night with the No. 5 seed Dallas Cowboys traveling to Tampa Bay to face the NFC South-winning Buccaneers. The Cowboys were 12-5 this year and the Buccs won their division with a losing record. But for some reason, Dallas doesn’t feel like much of a favorite, if any, to me.

EF: You don't ever want to bet against Tom Brady, even if his team has the worst record. Yes, Dallas has not lost back-to-back games this season. I just think the Bucs may not have a strong team, but Brady will have them ready. He's never lost to the Cowboys in his career and he will do everything to keep it that way. I got Tampa Bay winning this one.

JS: I’ll get to my Tampa/Dallas prediction in just a second, but it just came out while we were having this conversation that Lamar Jackson won’t make his return to Baltimore this weekend due to his unstable knee. So, I’d say the Ravens have almost no chance of beating Cincy. Would surely be the biggest surprise of the opening weekend if they do.

JS: Dallas may have a much better record this season than Tampa Bay and as you pointed out have not lost back-to-back games all season, but they just don’t look like a playoff-winning team to me and with the winningest playoff player in NFL history leading the opposition I have to project the Buccs to win. Hopefully, it’ll at least be a close, fun game. I’m not a fan of Monday night playoff games by the way. This game will be on ABC and ESPN at 7:15 CT.

EF: Dallas/Tampa Bay will be a close game and just looking at the playoff matchups, it will probably be the best game of the weekend. I agree that Monday night playoff games are tough because the winner has to turn around and take on a higher seed on short rest.