It’s Wild Card Weekend, and, as befits the designation, I’ve been driving myself wild trying to guess what the outcomes of these close matchups will be. I have no trouble saying that 4-0, 0-4, or anything in between could be in play for me this weekend. So, I’ll dispense with the preliminaries and dive right in with my Saturday picks.
Saturday
Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans
Here, we have two teams that win with defence, and with just enough offence thrown in to squeeze out victories. The Texans will have the best player on the field on both offence (DeAndre Hopkins) and defence (goes without saying), and in a closely-matched game like this, that might be enough to sway me. Not this time, though. I think that the KC offence is deeper than Houston’s; Alex Smith has a recent history of strong playoff performances, and the running game is significantly better. That little extra edge on offence should be enough swing the balance. Winner: Chiefs
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals
A few weeks back, when the Pro Bowl QBs were announced (I know, who cares, but stay with me here), I remember reading something somewhere to the effect of “too bad for Andy Dalton… he had a great year, but who would you take off the roster to include Dalton?” At that time, I remember thinking, “How about Roethlisberger?” I mean, at that point, he’d barely played half a season, owing to his missing four games with an injury (not to mention how the league inexplicably picks its Pro Bowl rosters before the season is even over), and his numbers were nowhere near as good as Dalton’s despite playing in a pass-heavy offence. Since that time, Big Ben has played just well enough to win, lose to the Ravens, and barely beat the Browns, contributing 6 INTs in his last three games, to run his season total to 16 picks in 12 games. There’s been a lot of talk about how dangerous the Steelers’ offence is, and it certainly is explosive, but Cincy’s deep and balanced attack is no slouch either, even without Dalton. I think that with the strength of the Bengals’ defensive front, featuring the spectacular Geno Atkins, coupled with the absence of Steelers’ RB DeAngelo Williams, Roethlisberger is in for a rough night. It’ll be close, but as long as AJ McCarron plays mistake-free football, the better team will prevail. Winner: Bengals
Saturday
Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans
Here, we have two teams that win with defence, and with just enough offence thrown in to squeeze out victories. The Texans will have the best player on the field on both offence (DeAndre Hopkins) and defence (goes without saying), and in a closely-matched game like this, that might be enough to sway me. Not this time, though. I think that the KC offence is deeper than Houston’s; Alex Smith has a recent history of strong playoff performances, and the running game is significantly better. That little extra edge on offence should be enough swing the balance. Winner: Chiefs
Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals
A few weeks back, when the Pro Bowl QBs were announced (I know, who cares, but stay with me here), I remember reading something somewhere to the effect of “too bad for Andy Dalton… he had a great year, but who would you take off the roster to include Dalton?” At that time, I remember thinking, “How about Roethlisberger?” I mean, at that point, he’d barely played half a season, owing to his missing four games with an injury (not to mention how the league inexplicably picks its Pro Bowl rosters before the season is even over), and his numbers were nowhere near as good as Dalton’s despite playing in a pass-heavy offence. Since that time, Big Ben has played just well enough to win, lose to the Ravens, and barely beat the Browns, contributing 6 INTs in his last three games, to run his season total to 16 picks in 12 games. There’s been a lot of talk about how dangerous the Steelers’ offence is, and it certainly is explosive, but Cincy’s deep and balanced attack is no slouch either, even without Dalton. I think that with the strength of the Bengals’ defensive front, featuring the spectacular Geno Atkins, coupled with the absence of Steelers’ RB DeAngelo Williams, Roethlisberger is in for a rough night. It’ll be close, but as long as AJ McCarron plays mistake-free football, the better team will prevail. Winner: Bengals