NFL Playoffs: Divisional Round Saturday Games

Joe Flacco pulled off another playoff upset over his divisional rival. Cam Newton won his first playoff game facing an injury-riddled team.. The Bengals fell to 0-6 in the postseason-limelight under Marvin Lewis. The Cowboys scored 17 straight second-half points to knock off the Lions in the closest of all the wild-card games.

That summed up the wild-card round action, but much more went on behind the scenes. But none of that matters at the moment, because the Divisional Round weekend is knocking on the door.

The New England region has been bursting with confidence for the better part of this season, but as they get ready to host the Baltimore Ravens at 4:35 PM ET today, that confidence has seen a dip. Ever since the Ravens beat the Steelers last Saturday, Pats fans have been voicing their nerves.

The Ravens have won 2 out of 3 playoff games against the Pats, all of which were played at Gilette. Pats fans remember that playoff loss to the Ravens in 2013 that prevented them from returning to the Super Bowl, and the loss in 2010 that knocked them out in the wild-card round. They could have very well lost in 2012 as well, but the trusty Billy Cundiff shanked a 32-yard field goal that would have sent the game to overtime. So do Pats fans have a reason to be worried? Yes.

Just think about where the Ravens hold advantages. They have the better running backs, the better wide receivers, and a better run defense. It’s not far-fetched to say that they have a good chance of winning.

But the Pats have a winning way about them right now. Tom Brady knows that his time to win another Super Bowl is slowly but surely coming to a close, and this year is as good as any to make it happen. He has the best receiving core that he’s seen in a few years, Gronk is healthy, the run game is stronger than it usually is, and the defense has been holding their own.

I think there are certain players for each team that are essential to success for their respective sides. The x-factor for the Ravens is Justin Forsett. It may be a bit of an obvious one, but he needs to play well if their going to win. More often then not, Flacco can’t throw the ball downfield until the defense is forced to guard the run. Forsett needs to get going early, so Flacco can open up the defense and throw the ball downfield to Steve and Torrey Smith. If they’re able to do that, the game well weigh to their side of the scale.

For the Patriots, their x-factor is Julian Edelman. I’ve seen it too many times this year; the Pats open up the game with short crossing patterns, quick out routes, mini curls and screens to Edelman. He is the key to their first quarter scoring. Every defense knows they have to defend the short passes or else Brady will march down the field without hesitating. This leaves Gronk and Brandon LaFell open to work the secondary. The Patriots are the hardest team to stop when they do this, which is why Edelman needs to get involved early.

My pick to win is the Patriots. If I was a Patriots fan I would be shaking in my sleep, but I think Brady carries them to a victory at home today.

We head to Seattle, Washington for the second Saturday game at 8:15 PM ET. The 12th Man at CenturyLink Field will try their best to put an end to the Panthers’ run. They have been raring to go since the final whistle of the regular season, and they finally get back under the bright lights tonight.

On paper, the Seahawks win 10 times out of 10. But we all know that things don’t always go according to plan in January. So we can’t count the Panthers out just yet, but they have a slippery hill to climb in a short period of time (sorry for the poor rhyme).

Cam Newton will have his hands full against the Legion of Boom tonight, and if you think Richard Sherman isn’t going to be all in Kelvin Benjamin’s shirt tonight you got another thing coming, and that brings me to the reason why Seattle will win.

The Panthers have one of the shallowest receiving cores in the NFL, and it starts with rookie Kelvin Benjamin. He had a great year, and because of that he’ll be the guy Seattle focuses on. This will leave Jerricho Cotchery as the wideout that Newton resorts to. He only caught 48 balls and 1 touchdown this year, which doesn’t look promising.

Greg Olsen will be the go-to-guy, but expect Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright to be all over him, some of the best cover-linebackers in the league.

Many things need to happen for the Panthers tonight, but Jonathan Stewart will be their x-factor. He’s been running exceptionally well over the last month or so, and will need to be even better today if the Panthers are going to move the ball up the field.

As for the Seahawks, they just need to play their game. Hand the ball to Lynch, run play-action, hit their quick slants and out routes. As long as the Seahawks don’t turn the ball over, they should be fine, which is why Russell Wilson is my x-factor. He doesn’t need to be special, just smart. Wilson is one of the smartest quarterbacks in the league, and he’ll need to live up to that reputation tonight. I see him rushing for close to 100 yards, and throwing for 200-250. The Panthers are good at flushing quarterbacks out of the pocket, but unfortunately for them, Wilson is one of the best there it is at escaping.

I have the Seahawks on top in this one.

Check back tomorrow morning for my analysis on tomorrow’s games, and follow me on Twitter @coochigross. Be Sure to check out @BSzabo24’s analysis as well.