AFC
The AFC wildcard matchups are interesting as Oakland plays at Houston in the battle of teams with strong defenses and backup quarterbacks. The other matchup is another rematch from the regular season with Miami and Pittsburgh squaring off. Those games will go: Oakland winning in a close contest by three and Pittsburgh will be fired up and use the home field to their advantage to win by two scores to advance. The division round matchups will be Oakland at New England and Pittsburgh at Detroit. The Oakland verses New England game would have been a great must see game had Carr not gotten hurt, but he did. Oakland will try their best, but simply doesn’t have enough offense to keep pace with Brady especially in New England as the Patriots advance. The Pittsburgh at Kansas City showdown will be a classic, but in the end Alex Smith won’t have enough to compete with Pittsburgh’s high powered offense as the Steelers put up points scoring in the 30s to move on to the championship game. The AFC championship game will be a star-studded affair with Ben Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh against Tom Brady and New England. This will be a game for the ages with the two quarterbacks marching their teams up and down the field, but in the 4th quarter the Patriots will stall and only get a field goal. When Big Ben gets the ball, he will take the Steelers down the field with some big third down conversions to Bell in the flat to keep the drive going for the win as the Steelers score a touchdown to advance to the Super Bowl.
NFC
The NFC has a pair of good matchups for wildcard weekend with Seattle hosting Detroit and the Packers hosting the NY Giants. Seattle is nearly unbeatable in the postseason because of the crowd and strong defense which they will use to disrupt Stafford and the Lion’s offense along with Wilson hitting Graham and Baldwin often resulting in a double-digit win. The second NFC game is the top game of the weekend as the Giants invade Lambeau to take on the Packers. The Packers have a great offense and the Giants defense has been stingy allowing the second fewest points. Look for the Giants to make it a third time to having lost to the Packers in the regular season only to win in the post season in Green Bay. The divisional round pits the Giants against Dallas for a third battle this season and Seattle heading to Atlanta to take on the Falcons. The Seahawks stole a win from the Falcons in Seattle during the regular year, but this time the game is in Atlanta where the Falcons play well on offense and Seattle struggles on the road. Look for Atlanta to get their revenge and advance to the championship with a seven-point win over Seattle. The Giant and Cowboys game will be the third meeting between the two teams with the Giants having won the first to games by a total of four points. Look for this to be another close game as Prescott struggles under the bright lights and Eli is strong hitting for three touchdowns in a Giants third consecutive win for the Giants over the Cowboys. Atlanta will host the NY Giants in the dome as the top scoring offense for Atlanta against the Giants who were second in points allowed in defense. Look for the Giants to lockdown Julio Jones while Beckham has a monster game as the Giants offensive line gives Eli time to throw.
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl will pit two classic franchises, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants. Pittsburgh beat the Giants during the regular season, but that game was in Pittsburgh and this game will be on a neutral field in Houston. Eli Manning is 2-0 in Super Bowls and 8-4 in stadiums with retractable roofs. Ben Roethlisberger is 2-1 in Super Bowls and just 4-3 in games in retractable roofs. In this rematch from the regular season it will be a bit of shootout with both quarterbacks throwing a pair of touchdown passes, but come the second half the Giants defense will amp up the pressure and clamp down on the Steelers big time offense as the Giants win by a score to capture their 5th Super Bowl crown.
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