The breakdown on all four games is featured below and the Heftyinfo picks follow up.
Saturday, January 20
Houston Texans at Baltimore Ravens - The Ravens beat Houston, 25-9 (in Baltimore) in the opening game. The Texans have indeed been the biggest surprise team this season, winning the AFC South division after going 3-13-1 last season. Rookie (of the Year?) quarterback C.J. Stroud was awesome in 2023 (4,108 passing yards, 23 TD, five interceptions) and he blew away the Cleveland Browns and their top ranked defense in the wild card round.
The Ravens defense will once again present a stiff challenge, but if the Texans can hang around in the game, they could pull off the upset. Baltimore has been the NFL's best team and QB Lamar Jackson is likely to win his second league MVP after putting up solid numbers (3,678 passing yards, 24 TD, seven INT and a team leading 821 rushing yards and five touchdowns) and is leading an offense that continued to get better as the season went along. The Ravens should emerge from this game with the win, but this NFL season has been very unpredictable.
Green Bay Packers at San Francisco 49ers - The 49ers had a great year and now face a surging Green Bay Packers team that has won four in a row and seven of their last nine games after crushing Dallas on the road last week in the wild card round. Can the Packers adopt the "road warriors" mentality again this week and topple the mighty 49ers? Don't be too surprised if it happens.
The 49ers defense will present Green Bay QB Jordan Love (4,159 passing yards with 32 TD and 11 INT) with a much tougher challenge than did Dallas' defense. As for the San Francisco offense facing a much improved Packers defense (22 points per game allowed since Week Ten), QB Brock Purdy is in consideration for league MVP after he passed for 4,280 yards with 31 TD and 11 INT while also completing 69.4 percent of his passes and will look to mix it up with all the weapons on his side, including RB Christian McCaffrey (league leading 1,459 rushing yards and 21 total touchdowns) and all purpose player Deebo Samuel, who scored 12 touchdowns and caught 60 passes for 892 yards. Tight end George Kittle (65 receptions for 1,020 yards and six TD) is another big weapon the Green Bay defense must contend with.
This game is a great matchup and should go down to the wire. Turnovers will be a big factor and whoever protects the football better will win this one.
Sunday, January 21
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit Lions - These two teams faced each other in Tampa back in Week Six and the Lions won, 20-6 . . . but as the old saying goes, that was then and this is now. Tampa Bay blasted the Philadelphia Eagles, 32-9 last week and now face a Lions team that scratched and clawed their way past the visiting L.A. Rams, 24-23 last Sunday night to get their first playoff win in 32 years.
Detroit can play well on both sides of the ball and the Bucs defense, which has improved big time since the start of the season, will have to be ready to contain not only QB Jared Goff (4,575 passing yards, 30 TD, 12 INT) and the passing game, but also the one-two punch of Lions running backs David Montgomery (1,015 rushing yards, 13 TD) and Jahmyr Gibbs (945 yards and ten touchdowns). As for the Buccaneers offense, QB Baker Mayfield has been on fire in recent weeks and he passed for 4,044 yards this season along with 28 TD and ten interceptions.
This game could go either way, but with a chance to advance to the NFC Championship Game for the first time since the 1991 season, the Lions playing at home seems to be too much for the Bucs to overcome.
Kansas City Chiefs at Buffalo Bills - This could very well be the best game of the weekend between two teams that know each other well and have played twice before in the playoffs. Six weeks ago, Buffalo came away with a 20-17 win at Kansas City after a touchdown late in the game by K.C. wide receiver Kadarius Toney (after a lateral pass from tight end Travis Kelce) was called back because Toney lined up offside on the play.
Buffalo QB Josh Allen had a big game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild card round and he threw for 4,306 yards with 29 TD and 18 INT this year along with rushing for 524 yards and scoring 15 touchdowns. The Chiefs will look to contain him and the Bills offense while quarterback Patrick Mahomes (4,183 passing yards, 27 TD, 14 INT) will look to score more than 17 points this time around against an injury depleted Buffalo defense.
The weather is expected to be cold and possibly snowy again this weekend in Buffalo as Mahomes plays in his first ever road game (other than Super Bowl) in the AFC playoffs. Bills fans will be amped up and it will be interesting to see if the Buffalo Bills can once again circle the wagons and finally defeat Mahomes and the Chiefs in the post-season. Overtime could be possible in this game to decide the outcome.
The Heftyinfo picks for the Divisional round . . . . . . . (Home teams are listed in bold)
Baltimore over Houston
San Francisco over Green Bay
Detroit over Tampa Bay
Buffalo over Kansas City
Last Week's Record - 3-3
Playoff Record - 3-3
FINAL SEASON RECORD - 178-94
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