Sports Time Radio

It’s wild card weekend in the NFL. We get six playoff games in total this weekend. There are two to be played today, three to be played on Sunday and for the first time ever there’s a Monday night playoff game.

Let’s take a look at this weekend’s game and make some picks since I didn’t make Schaumburg Stu make picks on the Friday edition of the Sports Time Radio podcast.

Our weekend playoff action starts in Cincinnati where the Bengals will be hosting the Las Vegas Raiders. I honestly think this come be the under the radar game of the weekend. Both teams are 10-7 coming into the game and there’s a chance that will see a lot of points scored. If you like those odd type of stats here’s one for you. Derek Carr is 0-5 in games where the temperature at game time is under 38 degrees and that is forecasted to be the case when this game kicks off. The Bengals are a 5 1/2-point favorite, but I do have some concerns about Joe Burrow’s knee. He left the Bengals Week 16 game because of the injury and didn’t play in Week 17 to rest it. The one thing the Raiders do well is pressure the quarterback. Las Vegas actually leads the NFL in quarterback pressures so if Burrow is having any issues with that knee the Raiders pass rush might give him some trouble.

As I’ve mentioned before I’m not a betting man, but I like the Raiders to get a win in this one.

The second Saturday game is a matchup of division rivals as the New England Patriots visit the Buffalo Bills. These teams split their two meetings in the regular season, and it was difficult to get a read on either team in those games. The Patriots defense struggled down the stretch especially against the run, but the Bills best running back seems to be their quarterback, Josh Allen. Even though Allen is a big man you don’t want your quarterback to take any extra hits and if he’s going to be the main rushing threat for the Bills that’s kind of inevitable. If New England can have success running the football you know that they’ll stay with it like they did in that odd first meeting between these two teams, but you have to think that Mac Jones is going to have to be smart with the football for New England to have a chance in this game. Buffalo is a 4 1/2-point favorite in this game.

This is a tough game to pick, but I have a tough time going against Bill Belichick in a playoff game so I’m going with the Patriots in this one.

On Sunday we start of our day of football with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting the defense of last season’s Super Bowl win as they host the Philadelphia Eagles. Now on paper this looks as though it should be an easy win for Tampa Bay, but don’t forget that they’ve been battling some injuries and Philadelphia is very good at one aspect of the game that can keep it close. The Eagles have one of if not the best rushing offense in the NFL and if they can have success running the football it keeps Tom Brady on the sidelines and controls the clock. Of course, it’s clear what Philadelphia is going to try to do on offense, so you’d think that the Buccaneers defense will be prepared for it, but you never know. Philadelphia’s only real chance is to do what they do best and run the football even if they don’t have success with it early, they’ll have to stay with it because they can’t try to score with Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay is an 8 1/2-point favorite in this one and while I do think they’ll win the game I’m not sure that they’ll cover the spread.

The second or middle game on Sunday has the San Francisco 49ers visiting the Dallas Cowboys. I’m really not sure how this game will go and that’s because you just never know what Cowboys team is going to show up. Dallas has weapons at their skill positions, but sometimes they don’t click for whatever reason. It will be up to Dak Prescott to get the Cowboys offense rolling against a good 49ers defense. San Francisco is a difficult team to play against since they don’t rush and will stick with the running game no matters what. This game may just come down to quarterback play and if Jimmy Garoppolo can play with Prescott the 49ers might be there at the end of this one with a chance to win. This game has the smallest point spread of the weekend as Dallas is a 3-point favorite.

I know a lot of Cowboys fans and it would be interesting to see their reaction if Dallas lost this game, I think they’re going to get a win here, so I’m taking the Cowboys in a close game.

Then on Sunday night we go from the game with the smallest point spread to the game with the largest point spread as the Kansas City Chiefs host the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kansas City comes into this game as a 12 1/2-point favorite and if you heard Ben Rothlisberger’s comments earlier this week it sounds like he agrees with the oddsmakers. There’s really no reason that Kansas City shouldn’t win this game. The Steelers just kind of suck into the playoffs while the Chiefs have been expected to be a Super Bowl contender since losing last year’s game. However, the Chiefs have had their ups and downs this season and at times they’ve played down to the level of their competition. If that’s the case in this one it’s possible that Pittsburgh could steal a playoff win on the road and allow Rothlisberger to continue his career, but I don’t think that will happen.

I’m going with Kansas City to get the win here, but I’m not sure I’d lay the 12 1/2 points as that’s a big number for a playoff game.

As wild card weekend extends into Monday night, we get another division match up as the Los Angeles Rams host the Arizona Cardinals. These teams split their two matchups this season, but Arizona did get their win in Los Angeles and the Cardinals have proven to be a tough road team this season. The Rams have been installed as a 4-point favorite in this game and if Matthew Stafford can avoid those costly mistakes, it seems as though the Rams should advance. It’s clear that Kyler Murray misses DeAndre Hopkins and one of the other Cardinals receivers have stepped up to try and filled that void. The Rams did lose running back Darrell Henderson, but they got Cam Akers back to help carry the load in the backfield. It does look like Arizona will have J.J. Watt back for this game, but you have to wonder how many snaps he’ll be able to play and if he’ll be able to give the Cardinals defense any assistance in this game.

With the way Arizona has played on the road it’s difficult to pick against them, but I think their luck runs out here. I’ve got the Rams in this one.

So, I have the Raiders, the Patriots, the Buccaneers, the Cowboys, the Chiefs and the Rams this weekend. Who do you have?

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