With the conclusion of the Wildcard, the matchups are finalized and the playoffs can begin. In the AFC, the Houston Texans face off against the New England Patriots, and the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend. On the NFC side, the Seattle Seahawks go to Atlanta to play the Falcons and the Green Bay Packers travel to Dallas to play the red-hot Cowboys.
The NFC has teams that are all strong offensively and have above-average defenses, except for the Seahawks which had the fifth-best defense in the league. The second most productive offense will have to rely on Matt Ryan to stay in MVP form this weekend even though he owns a 1-4 record in the playoffs. If he can prove that he won't be a no-show this run, then the Falcons stand a good chance of making the Super Bowl.
The Packers will face arguably the best team in the NFL this weekend. The last run-in with the Cowboys ended up in favor of Dallas 30-16. This was before Aaron Rodgers promised never to lose again, and since then they've looked like a whole new team. Green Bay will most likely focus on their passing, being ranked seventh overall but hope for a surge from their running backs to help break a top of the league defense. Dak Prescott will debut in his first playoff game of his professional career and many predict him to perform as good as the regular season. Unfortunately, this isn't the same team Dallas faced in Week 5, so if the Cowboys want to keep their playoff hopes alive, they need to prevent Rodgers from making big plays and convert more third downs.
The AFC are fun rematches of games earlier in the year in which they were both two offense powerhouses that will most likely steamroll their opponents and face each other in the AFC Championship. Their defenses are slightly above average and could end up making an interesting conference championship.
The New England Patriots host the Houston Texans again, and this will be Osweiler's greatest test. The regular season meeting was a 27-0 slaughter by New England with their rookie Jacoby Brissett. Houston lasted out the Oakland Raiders with this past weekend but was facing a third-string rookie quarterback that struggled through much of the game. The best pass defense in the league will face the NFL's greatest quarterback who missed their Week 3 meeting and is ready to claim another Super Bowl for the Patriots. Jadeveon Clowney performs similarly to the Oakland game, then Houston may stand a chance if there is enough pressure on Brady. Lamar Miller may be less prominent this weekend, considering the Patriots have one of the top run defenses in the league. However, if Houston plays like they did early this year, this could be a gruesome end to their season.
The Chiefs and Steelers meet again for a rematch that hopefully will go better than Week 4. The Chiefs struggled to score, putting up only fourteen points while the Steelers rolled past them with over forty points. If the Chiefs can play like they have the past few games, then the Steelers above average defense will be facing significantly more trouble than the last meeting.
This year's Super Bowl will be between two dominant offenses, which will provide plenty of fun and highlights to watch while we impatiently wait for the new season.
