Tomorrow it is finally happening, the long awaited NFL play offs will start off. As I am interested in American football myself more and more I would like to give it my best shot to predict this year’s play offs. I am already aware that I will make some decisions based on my bias and not on the pure statistic or general football knowledge. But this is the exciting part about this sport. Even a noob like me has the chance to be right. With this being said, let’s take a look at my wonderland of post season!
Wild Card Round
The first round will be dominated by the home teams in my opinion. I think it can and will be an advantage playing this first game at home. We start off with the Jaguars against the Chargers. While the Jaguars made the play offs very surprisingly and coming back after a 3-7 record, they definitely have the momentum on their side. The Chargers on the other hand were more or less cruising through the season and I feel like they never had. With a winning record of 10-7 they secured the play offs rather comfortable. So why do I think that the Jaguars will proceed? Well, on one hand I am a Trevor Lawrence fan which is why I am kind of biased here. The other thing is the momentum on the Jaguar’s side. They won 6 out of their last 7 games while being able to beat the Ravens and the Cowboys.
Looking into the next game, the Bills will have to deal with the Dolphins. While the Dolphins had a rollercoaster of a season the Bills were able to achieve a 13-3 record and standing comfortably in the play offs. Having the home advantage against the Dolphins as well as being the more dominant team will secure the Bills the next round. Not only that but because the starting QB of the Miami Dolphins will not be able to play, this task will be nearly impossible for them to handle.
A very similar story goes for the match-up between the Bengals and the Ravens. I think that Joe Burrow will crush this post season. After a disappointing start, they were able to finish on top of the AFC North with a winning record of 12-4. I think that they are having a very balanced team that is able to make big plays in any kind of situation. Maybe they are lacking the real wow factor but it is not necessary in the early rounds I guess. I don’t think they will have any problems against the Ravens this time around as their last game was also against the Ravens which was comfortably won 27-16.
Moving on to the NFC we are having some pretty interesting match-ups. The first one being Vikings against the giants. While the Vikings had the better regular season, I have the feeling that Minnesota’s play-off curse will still carry on. I do believe that this will be one of the bigger upsets in this post-season. Like I said in my introduction: I might be completely wrong though and I am just listening to my guts on this one.
The next one, I am routing for the 49ers. Having beaten the Seahawks twice this season, the third time should be a safe bet. I know that in sports many thing can happen but I really do not believe that the will be able to turn around this tendency in this game. Although I think that Pete Caroll can win games for his team as a great coach, I don’t think that this will happen this time around. The 49ers are just to solid in this season.
Last but not least we have the Bucs against the Cowboys. While the Cowboys are the clear favorite in this match up, history shows times and times again that the home advantage should not be neglected. Furthermore, Tom Brady has the wow factor for the Bucs that might be not rolling trough the season as they would want to but will definitely be a serious opponent. I think this will be a great upset which will not shock the world since everyone is expecting it to happen.
Divisional Round
This is the Round where I just let go of all of my logical thinking. In this round I was picking like a monkey would pick fruits. I just selected the reams that I like the most. I know, very creative! I this round we have the two strongest teams joining the pack: Chiefs and Eagles. While the AFC will have both underdogs proceed the NFC will have their favorites proceed.
So Jags versus Chiefs will be a very surprisingly close game where the Jaguars will be able to catch the Chiefs off guard. I think that they have the potential to do so, but it must everything align on this day. Not only this but Mahomes must have one of his worst days in his NFL history. If this happens and I think it might happen, I can see the Jaguars proceeding here.
On the other AFC game we have the Bengals at the Buffalo Bills. I just want a AFC championship game between Burrow and Lawrence. This is the sole reason why I am routing for the Bengals here. I think both teams are very strong and that the Bills would definitely be favored here since they have the home advantage. Nevertheless, I believe that Burrow can lead his team once again into the next round.
In the NFC, there will be no upsets this time around. The Eagles will be too strong for the Giants as well as the 49ers will be too strong for the Bucs. Clear wins for both favorites here.
Conference Championship Round
This is the round where I finally have to give up my dream of Trevor holding the trophy in this year. I think that Burrow will outclass him in this game due to his greater experience. It will be one of the first of these rivalry duels between both of them and it will be an important one every time. While this is happening in the AFC, the NFC will have their clash between the eagles and the 49ers. It will be a very though game that will be very close until the end. Since the Eagles have a great season so far, I do believe that they are able to proceed into the Super Bowl.
Superbowl
This will be the final stage and the next chance for Burrow to win this trophy. Unfortunately for him, the Eagles will be too strong for him on that day. I think that he will not be able to connect the ball to his players and will lose yet another final. I think that after that, Burrow will develop a crazy mindset that will make him very unbeatable over the course of the next years.
With that being said, I really hope that you would not think that I am crazy for my predictions. Like I said multiple times, many of these decisions were very emotionally guided and had no football analysis what so ever. :D
Published by ga38jem on
Sports Talk Social
On 13th January 2023