I'm looking forward to this weekend after a really solid weekend of good playoff games. The NFC looks to have some classic franchise match-ups, while the AFC has a crop of young QBs vying for supremacy.

• You gotta go with the Chiefs but I'm not sure if it's a blow-out. First off, the Chiefs and Mahomes are great but they have shown themselves to be mortal -- never moreso than when my pitiful Colts were able to put them away for one of their only four wins of the season. Yes, the Colts who just lost to the Texans... the same ones who gave up the biggest comeback in NFL history. And while they won these games, it's eyebrow raising that terrible teams like the Titans, Broncos, and Raiders took them to the limit. That said, the Colts also beat the Jags earlier this year, not too long after they beat the Chiefs, so they're pretty suspect as well.
  
  So yeah, the Chiefs but I wouldn't be surprised if it was very competitive depending on which Jags show up -- the ones who beat the Cowboys, Chargers, and Ravens? Or the ones who got beat by the Lions, Broncos and Colts?

• I'm pulling for the Giants but expect the Eagles to win unless Hurts is limited in some way by injury; though if the Giants play as well as they did last Sunday, they can really turn it into a game. Maybe they're coming together at the right time after a season of inconsistency, but that remains to be seen and I have to consider their entire resume coming into this. That all said, this is a division game and based on what we saw with Miami v Buffalo and the Ravens v Bengals, the normal rules don't apply. Yes, the expected teams won but just barely and it took some lucky breaks to get there. If this game goes the same way, the Eagles might not get those same lucky breaks. But their resume speaks for itself. They're the #1 seed for a reason.

• I wouldn't be surprised to see it go either way, but I'm going with the Bills. Both teams were just taken to the limit by an inferior division opponent, but the Bills scored a lot more points along the way. They rank higher in both total offense and total defense, plus they'll enjoy homefield advantage, so I have to see them as the favorite. It feels like a lot of these games end with whoever makes the most hero plays winning and I think at this point, Josh Allen can make more of them than Joe Burrow. But again, I really think this is a toss-up.

• Gotta go Niners here. I think that they're outside of QB, they're the most talented team in football and Purdy is starting to make people feel that they don't need that qualifier anymore. Both are very talented teams but it just feels like the Niners have the steadier hand right now. Since he's taken over at QB, they've scored less than 30 points just once. They beat the good teams and they blow out the bad teams, while the Cowboys seem like they're all over the map. It seems crazy to say, but if this turns into a shootout, I think I have to trust Purdy and the Shanahan system more than Dak, who has been turning the ball over left and right before last night.

So yeah, pretty boring -- just picking all favorites again, LOL.

the 49er's look like the team to beat.

but, that's why they play the game.

I'm not sure they can win (or even prevent) a shootout, and unless the Jags make the Superbowl (ha ha ha) they're going to need to. Burrow, Mahomes, Allen. Versus the 259th 3rd string QB in the Superbowl.

That stage can be really big. And really lonely.

Tom Brady was the 199th pick and started the year as a backup to Bledsoe, the year he won his first SB.

More importantly, they've scored over 30 points in 6 out of 7 of his starts (and he was playing hurt in the one game they didn't). So scoring points isn't an issue for the offense with him under center.

But at the same time, he should have just thrown to JJ and took whatever transpired. Cousins would've been roasted no matter what if it had been intercepted in that regard. Basically, no matter what he did, he would be in the wrong. Had JJ caught it and we won, accolades galore would've followed.

The Vikes just aren't there yet. Again, O'Connell had a good team handed to him, but one with glaring holes. I don't feel the sorrow many hardcore Vikes fans do. There are better teams this year and there's no way the Vikings would get past SF or Philly during these playoffs.

I think there's also this idea that any season that doesn't win the Super Bowl is a failure and while it's fundamentally true, I've chosen not to approach my own football viewing that way. I haven't ever seen the Colts win a Super Bowl -- I started watching when I began dating my wife, who is from Indiana and got me into it, around when the Colts went to the Super Bowl and lost to the Saints.

But I don't consider all the time I've been watching them a waste or anything like that -- I mostly had fun. I enjoyed many of the games, enjoyed following them online, all the rest. If I want a Super Bowl every year, it's going to be a miserable experience and I might as well quit watching. All I ask is that they be competitive. This year was a failure because they couldn't even do that. But most years, they do make a run at their division title and / or a playoff spot, so I'm mostly satisfied.

yeah, it's a pretty modern phenomena - fans not wanting their teams to be stuck in the mushy middle, and often calling to tank for a better draft. It's no longer acceptable - let alone desirable - to be a regular playoff team but not capable of winning the championship. It's like if you can't win the championship in the next 2 years, you should be angling for the number 1 pick in the draft.

I would think that from a day to day enjoyment perspective, I'd rather have a team that wins more than they lose, and that always have a shot at winning it all (especially in football, any given Sunday, etc, etc) then a team built to go from worst to first and back again in 3 years.

This is especially true in football, where the best regular season team routinely doesn't win the championship, games are decided by 1-2 lucky bounces or turning point plays, and the spectre of injury is omnipresent. So all you need is to get in, and then anything is possible.

There's a lot of it here in Toronto this year with the Raptors; they're underperforming because they've been missing a key piece of the puzzle Masai built (Jakob Poetl) since they traded him to San Antonio. But that was the real price they paid when they traded their chance to be winning now for the championship 3 years ago. But that's no reason to blow up what is a really good team with one maybe fixable flaw (a strong center). But I've seen people call for any and all of the starting 5 to be traded for a draft haul, and no guaranees.

Hurts had 3 TDs (1 rushing) and the Eagles had nearly 300 yards rushing, and the D decimated the Giants.

It was over from the start and ended 38-7.

There were “experts” (clowns) in the media saying the Eagles were in trouble.

Ok, then.

Bring on the 49ers or Cowboys next week.

FTFY

Watched the KC / Jags game; after the injury, it went about the way I expected. Could radically alter next weekend

Ddin't watch the Giants / Phily game. Did not expect the blow out. Glad I missed it

Grats on the team's win, IP.

Gotta give props to the Cowboys' defense, they held a Niners' offense that had been averaging around 30 points plus a game to just 19 points but their offense really let them down. With two picks, obviously Dak was the major culprit, but beyond the picks I wonder if he's just too focused on Ceedee Lamb and Michael Gallup.

I'm a Colts homer and was rooting for my man TY Hilton to have a great game, win or lose. I was looking for him on screen whenever they passed the ball. I noticed him open on several plays when the ball didn't go his way, but this one is the big one -- he's running a seam route parallel to Ceedee Lamb and HE'S NOT EVEN BEING COVERED. Fred Warner is plastering Lamb in coverage and I get that you want to take that match up -- your best WR covered by a LB -- but again, NO ONE IS COVERING TY HILTON. Throw it up and it's likely a TD but he's at least inside the 10 yard line if you make that easy throw.

I was pulling for both NY teams and they both got blown out this weekend. With the Giants, I knew it was a possibility since Hurts beat the snot out of them about a month ago in an embarrassing blow out, but man, I thought the Bills would at least keep the game close at home and in the snow. Both the Bills' offense and defense got outplayed, but I think it looked worse for the defense --- not only did the Bengals seem to score on almost every possession, but they got huge chunks of yardage on every other play. They dragged Damar out of the house for that?! Brutal.

Can't help but notice the Cowboys and Giants had similar experiences in the last two weeks -- they went on the road to beat a suspect home team who was favored to win, their QBs had one of their best career performances, got people thinking they might be hitting their stride and getting hot at the right time, and then ran right into a buzzsaw in an embarassing loss.

Right now, it feels like the Eagles are the team of destiny and the only ones who can really beat them is themselves a la the Washington Commanders game (and nearly with the abysmal Colts). Really happy for Hurts, so many people doubted him last year, but I had a good feeling about him after hearing this answer to a question about a missed TD. The fact that he remembered the details of this play and why it didn't work made me feel he had the mind to develop in a good QB --

https://youtube.com/shorts/kCkK5bEh3t8?feature=share


In the AFC, with Mahomes hurting from a high-ankle sprain and the Bengals' offensive line not nearly the weakness people thought they'd be, it's hard not to think the Bengals are going to the Super Bowl. And damn, they looked like champs.

Still two more games to go, but I think Philly vs Cincy sounds like a damn good Super Bowl.

I also thought this was funny.




I guess Hurts has a good relationship with the Mannings tho --

While I successfully picked the winners of all 4 games, I completely blew the types of games they were. Divisional weekend (IMO) is usually the best weekend of NFL Football, but this year it was a dud. Not a single game managed to hold my attention. And now with Mahomes high ankle sprain, we're down to hoping that the Eagles and Niners have a good game next weekend.

They're already spinning the "Bills have topped out" storyline, completely disregarding the decimated secondary, so I'm not writing them off for next season.

I'll go with Bengals versus Eagles for the Super Bowl this year. I think the Niners could win, but don't think they will.

Yeah, I thought outside of the Cowboys / Bucs game that Super Wild Card Weekend was fantastic and was really looking forward to this one. It was definitely not nearly as fun.

The reality is that any team can have a bad game at any time, even ones that are fully healthy (which no NFL team is). This isn't like baseball and basketball where a series of games allows teams to prove they're the better team, it's a one-and-done tournament. Good playoff teams are fortunate when they are lucky enough to win while playing poorly. Last week, the Bengals looked very average against a Ravens team without their MVP QB, and only a mental error on the part of the back-up QB gave them the win. If the Ravens get the TD or even kick the field goal in that moment, I'm not sure the Bengals are even playing yesterday.

In the past season, the Chiefs lost to the Colts, the Eagles lost to the Commanders, the Bengals lost to the Browns, the Niners lost to the Falcons (though without Purdy) -- good teams have a bad game. They just gotta hope it doesn't happen in the playoffs.

chiefs/bengals is tough to call until the status of mahomes is known.

49'ers are a very good all around team, i think they win in a real close game..........21 - 20

th3ey showed a lot less of jerry the asshole jones yesterday, does the TV come here?

I think the most competitive was the SF/Dallas game.

I'm surprised he wasn't on the sidelines, going "Rah, rah, rah" like he's done in the past when games were close like this one.

Jones is the original Dan Snyder.

I looked in on a Cowboys forum and it's brutal there today. Between Dak and Jerry, the bloodletting was unreal.


All said and done, the Cowboys are a talented team with an average QB. That's it, plain and simple. Oh, and Kellen Moore as the OC took plenty of grief in that forum today.

The Boys haven't been really fun to watch since the Aikman/Jimmy days. It's not going to change until Jerry croaks. Even then, they have his son who will be exactly the same.

I’m thrilled Dallas is gone and that was just so Dallas yesterday down to the last play.

Dak is a fraud and an overpaid joke.

I’d take Cousins over him any day and that speaks volumes.

The 49ers hardly looked invincible.

Purdy looked like a rookie and was constantly on the run, while McCaffrey was not effective at all.

They’re very good, but very beatable and they’ve lost to teams like the Bears, Falcons and Broncos and have only a few quality wins with or without Purdy.

They were also decimated by KC.

I do think SF has an outstanding defense and have solid WRs with an amazing weapon at TE.

The Eagles are 7-1 against winning teams and the only loss was without Hurts.

Hurts is only about 70% right now, so I do worry about him if he gets hit the wrong way, but he’s gotta play through it.

Should be a very competitive game.