We are down to the final eight teams in the NFL Playoffs and we now enter what is arguably the best weekend of the entire season.
Sure the Conference Championships next week will be excellent games and the Super Bowl will still be the Super Bowl, but four games over two days featuring the best teams in the league is tough to top.
It also helps that every game is at a relatively friendly kickoff time for Australian audiences with double headers Sunday and Monday mornings.
We’ve got a preview and tip for every game below so read on to see who we are taking in the Divisional Round.
It’s an excellent game to start off the weekend as the Packers and Rams face off in a contest that could go any number of ways.
There are some serious questions over the health of several Rams players after a bruising and emotionally draining win in Seattle last weekend.
Chief among them is All Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald, who exited the game in Seattle with a rib injury, but not before registering two sacks of Russell Wilson.
If he is at all limited it swings the game heavily in favour of Green Bay as he alone can cause havoc on the Packers offensive line.
MVP-elect Aaron Rodgers would be breathing a huge sigh of relief if he did not have to worry about Donald coming after him for three hours either.
There are questions about how the Packers will come out for this game after having the NFC’s lone bye.
If you want to focus on the positive angle, they will come into the game fresh and Matt LaFleur will have had an entire fortnight to come up with a creative game plan to attack the Rams vaunted defence.
On the other hand, as we have seen so many times with teams off a bye, they could come out flat after having a week of rest or LaFleur will have had too much time to overthink things and will try to get too creative.
In the end, health is huge at this time of year and Green Bay is the team in far better shape.
It might be a bit of an arm wrestle as the Rams defence does its best to keep Rodgers and company in check with Jalen Ramsey taking out Davante Adams but considering the Rams quarterback position is under a huge question mark, I’ll back the Packers to get home.
Two sides with bright futures face off in western New York in the first AFC Divisional Round game.
For Buffalo, winning their first playoff game since December 1995 was great, but they maintain loftier ambitions and will have their sights set on reaching the AFC Championship Game.
After an uneven season, the Ravens look like they are finally putting it all together and 2019 MVP Lamar Jackson was nothing short of superb in their win over the Tennessee Titans last week.
It was clear the pressure came off both of these franchises as their young quarterbacks guided them to the first playoff victories of their respective careers.
Everything is pointing towards both quarterbacks getting a chance to showcase their talents this weekend as even Buffalo’s usually miserable January weather is looking clear and mild (by their standards anyway).
For that reason I’ll back the over along with a same game multi taking both quarterbacks to find the end zone with their legs.
Jackson has scored five rushing touchdowns since coming off the COVID list in early December while Allen has rushed for or caught a touchdown in 10 of his 18 starts this season.
As for the result, it’s hard to ignore the momentum the Ravens have generated in the last few weeks however Buffalo has been just as, if not more impressive in that time as well and their defence should be able to force a key turnover when needed.
Other Tips
Over 50 Points @ $1.90
SGM: Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson Anytime TD Scorers
Want to know the difference between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Kansas City Chiefs?
If the Chiefs spot the Browns a 28-0 lead like the Steelers did, they could overcome that in the space of a quarter.
Perhaps the only thing giving the Browns hope here is the fact Kansas City has not put together a complete four quarter performance just about all season.
Cleveland just needs to be ready to pounce when Kansas City takes their foot off the accelerator.
As we have said many times before though, the Chiefs don’t need to try for all four quarters to come away with a victory most weeks.
Admittedly in large part due to circumstance, but Ben Roethlisberger threw for 500 yards on this Browns secondary last week, do you think Patrick Mahomes might be able to reach 300 if he needs to?
Andy Reid is an astonishing 19-3 in the regular season after a bye and 5-2 in the playoffs and as much fun as the Browns story has been, it will almost certainly come to an end here.
Before their backup filled defeat in Week 17, the Chiefs had won their last seven games by a single digit margin and while they may turn it on for the playoffs, I’ll happily stick with that trend as the Chiefs advance to the AFC Championship for the third consecutive year.
They say defeating a team three times in a season is one of the toughest tasks in all of football, but New Orleans looks like they have the makeup to do just that and eliminate Tampa Bay.
For years we hoped to see the Geriatric Quarterback Bowl in the Super Bowl when Tom Brady was in New England but a Divisional Round matchup will have to do as two all time greats in Brady and Drew Brees face off for what could very well be the final time.
Tampa was hardly convincing in their win in Washington and will need to improve massively to have any hope of winning this game.
Brady was mostly sharp throwing for 381 yards and two touchdowns but it still looks awfully forced at times.
Plus there is the horrible memory of Brady and the Buccaneers complete no-show back in Week 9 when they played New Orleans and ended up on the wrong end of a 38-3 demolition.
While plenty of stories will focus on the quarterbacks with a combined age of 85 by kickoff, this game will be won by defence and the Saints have a legitimately good unit.
They gave a mediocre Chicago team nothing until a garbage time touchdown drive and will be fired up to put three successive postseason disappointments behind them.
If they can get after Brady early and force him to panic, they will only need to score in the mid-20’s to win this game.
That’s the recipe for success and they have the talent to get it done.