Wildcard weekend

mikemac1

I know we have a playoff thread already but we're busy enough to have a thread for each round

Also we can select our picks, congrats again to Raf32, the only poster who got all playoff games correct last year

Saturday January 3rd
Arizona Cardinals @ Carolina Panthers (21:35)

Baltimore Ravens @ Pittsburgh Steelers (01:15)

Sunday January 4th
Cincinnati Bengals @ Indianapolis Colts (18:05)

Detroit Lions @ Dallas Cowboys (21:40)

JaMarcusHustle

Detroit Lions

Can't see anything other than a clean sweep for the home teams this weekend.

Alfred Borden

Detroit Lions

Cant see past the home teams as well. Only doubt is Ravens upsetting the Steelers.

dfx-

Detroit Lions

Steelers depend on Bell recovering

Paully D

Detroit Lions

Fancy the home teams for all games except one. I'm going to ride with my Ravens over the Steelers.

Tristram

Indianapolis Colts

Went Panthers, Ravens, Bengals, Cowboys.

HigginsJ

Indianapolis Colts

It's Panthers, Steelers, Bengals & Cowboys for me.

mikemac1

Detroit Lions

Seahawks make the playoffs at 7-9

Outrage, fury, redesign the whole playoff structure, talking heads in the media discussing it non stop

7-8-1 Panthers make the playoffs, not a word said

Seems nobody cares this time around :P

Itssoeasy

Indianapolis Colts

Suh has won his appeal and is available to play against dallas. What a joke.

Agent J

Detroit Lions

Arizona, Ravens,Steelers & Cowboys

Suh won an appeal? Bastard... Though honestly I do hope the Lions beat the Cowboys but I just don't see it happening.

Lionbacker

Dallas Cowboys

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Suh has won his appeal and is available to play against dallas. What a joke.

Well, it looks like his history actually did have nothing to do with his suspension after all going on what Judy Battista here;
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000451968/article/ndamukong-suhs-suspension-reduced-to-70k-fine

Delighted he's back by the way:D
Should hopefully make for a decent matchup too for the neutrals, between the NFL's no.1 run defence & the top rusher for the year in Demarco Muray.
Without Suh, the Lions defence is just not the same.

glued

Detroit need to stop the run and get pressure onto Romo. The problem is that they're facing the best OL in the league. I know Romo has had a career year and has been excellent but he is still hugely questionable under pressure. In saying that I think Dallas has an excellent chance to win the SB this year.

Paully D

Detroit Lions

Having Suh back is absolutely huge for the Lions. Per ESPN:

With Suh on the field this season, the Lions have held opponents to 3.0 yards per rush, 1.4 yards before contact per rush, pressured quarterbacks on 30.1 percent of dropbacks and sacked quarterbacks on 7.3 percent of their dropbacks.

With Suh off the field, the Lions have allowed 3.8 yards per rush and 2.2 yards before contact per rush. His effect is more obvious in the pass rush. The Lions have only pressured quarterbacks on 19 percent of their dropbacks without Suh and only sacked quarterbacks 2.6 percent of the time.

Bateman

Detroit Lions

One away win, Baltimore, need to ride my 60/1 Super Bowl ticket on them for a while yet. Bell going to be too big a loss for Steelers.

KrustyUCC

Detroit Lions

all home wins for me

Benimar

Detroit Lions

Gone for Arizona, Pittsburgh, Indy and Dallas.

The first two were toss ups for me but I think the Cards D might do enough to give Stanton/Lindley a chance to win. The Steelers are a better team than Baltimore but are prone to laying an egg (Tampa at home), but think they will do enough.

Neither Indy or the Cowboys fill me will confidence but I have to back against Dalton and Stafford!!

kevohmsford

Indianapolis Colts

Expecting a few upsets. Ravens v Steelers is too close to call. Bengals, Cowboys and Cardinals to win.

ChicagoJoe

Paully D wrote: »

Fancy the home teams for all games except one. I'm going to ride with my Ravens over the Steelers.

Yep and the Cowboys look to be the strongest in the Wildcard. Cowboys go into this on a four-game win streak into the playoffs while the Lions won four of their last five, but lost their NFC North title game to the Packers, forcing them to take to the road for the wild card round. But the Cowboys won those games by an average of more than 21 points. Tony Romo, who is leading the league in passer rating and completion percentage, hard to go against Dallas to advance.

Paully D

Detroit Lions

Le'Veon Bell officially OUT for the Steelers. That's huge for the Ravens.

Lionbacker

Dallas Cowboys

Here's an "alternative" preview to the Lions-Cowboys game:D:eek::p

Paully D

Detroit Lions

Paully D wrote: »

Le'Veon Bell officially OUT for the Steelers. That's huge for the Ravens.

I still think Big Ben is going to carve the secondary up. There's a good chance the pass rush won't let him though with Ngata back and Suggs lined up against that weak RT of theirs. If they don't have to worry about the run too much they might have a chance but flacco needs to come out of the gate strong.

eagle eye

Dallas Cowboys

Only one I think can pull the win on the road are the Lions. They will be itching for blood after losing the division to the Packers. They have the D to give them the chance, Stafford has to do more to win it though and he needs his OL to do more for him too.

dfx-

Detroit Lions

Paully D wrote: »

Le'Veon Bell officially OUT for the Steelers. That's huge for the Ravens.

Huge blow, not necessarily for his running but his ability to be a receiver. He didn't run it that much in the six touchdown game.