Wild Card Games

1. Kansas City Chiefs at Indianapolis Colts - Kansas City rested most of their A-team and still almost beat the San Diego Chargers. I think that says more about San Diego than anything else. Of course, the B-team doesn't get a chance to play much so they were gunning hard. Indianapolis beat Kansas City at Arrowhead just a couple weeks ago (Dec 22) so Indy should be able to take care of the Chiefs without too much fuss right? Not necessarily. The key to this game will be whether or not the Chiefs get pressure on Andrew Luck. If they can get to him, the Colts will have a hard time scoring. If not, even the new and improved KC offense won't be enough to keep up with the Colts. I think the Chiefs have something to prove and Andy Ried's bad luck in the playoffs usually only hits in the championship game. I'm giving the edge to Kansas City in this one.

2. New Orleans Saints at Philadelphia Eagles - The Saints are dynamite at home. This game is not at home. The Eagles are hot and should be jazzed over their emotional win over Dallas. The Saints have been downright abysmal when they are away and outdoors. I think Drew Breeze and company will be able to take advantage of the Eagles early as they will likely be a little too amped up for the start of the game, but the Eagles will come back and send the Saints back to New Orleans for the rest of the season.

3. San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals - When you look at this on paper, this game should not be close. San Diego needed overtime and a couple of questionable calls to even get into the playoffs. Cincinnati is perfect at home this year and they handled the Chargers fairly well when they played in San Diego just after Thanksgiving. Yet, I am not sold on the Bengals ability to close the deal. Andy Dalton gets very jittery in spotlight games while Philip Rivers has been around for a long time and will not be bothered much by the crowds. I think the Bengals will win, but the coaches should give the Chargers a heavy diet of the running game to start before opening up the passing game. If they can get a rushing touchdown or two and bleed the clock to make Philip Rivers get pass happy, things will go a lot smoother over the course of the game.

4. San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers - I'm have a hard time getting a bead on this game. I've seen a lot of San Francisco games this season and they have been very up and down. Green Bay on the other hand is a very good team with Aaron Rodgers at the helm. The math says to go with Niners, but my gut says to go with the Packers. I think the key to this game is going to be whether Green Bay can play any kind of defense. Colin Kaepernick can be erratic when he throws too much and the Niners are better when they run the ball more. I'm rating this one as a complete toss-up but I'm going to give Green Bay a very tiny edge. Rodgers will attack the wounded Niner's secondary and that will open things up for Eddie Lacy. If Green Bay gets any kind of a lead, Kaepernick might take one too many chances. I also question San Francisco's ability to fully function in the cold wind as Green Bay does. Still, this is definitely the one I'm least confident on.