On Sunday, the New England Patriots host the Houston Texans and then the "prime time" Sunday night game will conclude the weekend's action as the Chicago Bears host the Los Angeles Rams. The Patriots defense dominated a low scoring affair against the Los Angeles Chargers in a 16-3 win last week while the Bears completed their seventh comeback win last Saturday night, 31-27 against the Green Bay Packers.
SATURDAY, JANUARY 17
Buffalo Bills at Denver Broncos - The Bills feature one of the best quarterbacks in pro football in Josh Allen, who pretty much did it all in last week's road victory against Jacksonville. The Broncos tough defense, which led the NFL in sacks this season, will present a stiff challenge. Buffalo can run the ball and running back James Cook led the league in rushing during the regular season, going for 1,621 yards and twelve rushing scores with 14 overall touchdowns. The Broncos have second year QB Bo Nix, who had an up and down season but passed for 3,931 yards with 31 touchdowns and eleven interceptions while also running for 356 yards with five touchdowns. This game will most likely be decided by which ever team protects the football. Look for the Bills to circle the wagons again in crunch time and get it done in the Mile High City to advance to a second consecutive AFC Championship game.
San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks - The teams split their two games this past season. The 49ers won the season opener at home, 17-13 while the 'Hawks pummeled the San Francisco offense and won, 13-3 in the season finale. Both games were very low scoring, so that stands to reason this one will be a high scoring game, right? Not so fast . . . Both teams play strong defense and the key for the Seahawks will be QB Sam Darnold not turning back into the proverbial pumpkin like he did last year with Minnesota in the post-season. On the other side, 49ers QB Brock Purdy must avoid turnovers. He was able to get by throwing two interceptions last week against Philadelphia, but the Seahawks defense is better and will not allow as many scoring chances. These two teams know each other very well and the call here is Seattle winning in another close, low scoring game.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 18
Houston Texans at New England Patriots - Two solid defenses going at it in this tilt, but the Texans definitely rate the edge in that area. New England's defense has steadily been better as the season progressed, while the Texans were already solid and have been nothing short of dominant in recent weeks. If the Texans can rattle Pats second year QB Drake Maye, they will have success in shutting down the NFL's number two scoring offense. Houston QB C.J. Stroud has had some success in the post-season in his first three seasons, but has never advanced beyond the divisional round. Playing at home, the Patriots are tough and the weather could be a factor as the Texans are a dome team. This game will probably be a low scoring one and the Patriots should do just enough to scrape by and advance to the AFC Championship for the first time in seven years.
Los Angeles Rams at Chicago Bears - Two good offenses will be playing on the chilly shores of Lake Michigan at Soldier Field and the talk has been about how the weather could affect the warm weather climate Rams.
Phooey!
The "Bears weather" talk went out the window 37 years ago when the (California team) 49ers blasted the Bears in Chicago in bitter cold in January (1988 NFC Championship Game) in dominating fashion. Rams QB Matthew Stafford had an MVP type season with 46 touchdown passes and just eight interceptions while they led the league in scoring, averaging 30 points per game. The Bears defense has been porous most of the season, but they do get turnovers and led the NFL in takeaways this season. The Rams must figure out a way to thwart a Bears second half comeback effort as Chicago quarterback Caleb Williams has engineered seven such efforts this season, including last week against Green Bay when they scored 25 points in the fourth quarter. Look for a tight game, and once again the Chicago Bears pull it off and reach the NFC title game for the first time in 15 years.
The Heftyinfo picks for Divisional Round playoff games . . . . (Home teams are listed in bold)
Buffalo over Denver
Seattle over San Francisco
New England over Houston
Chicago over L.A. Rams
Last Week's Record - 3-3
Playoff Record - 3-3
FINAL SEASON RECORD - 176-95-1
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