Post by NFL on Dec 7, 2021 15:43:27 GMT -5
******************** AFC ********************
Tennessee Titans (14-2) -- BYE
New England Patriots (13-3) vs Denver Broncos (9-7)
On paper, the Patriots look like big favorites over a team that narrowly made the playoffs. While Denver has struggled to produce better than league average point totals, the Patriots have not consistently been much better after their hot start to the season. Since week 6, New England has only been 16.9 ppg better than Denver and with a number of questionable players heading into the week, New England is not a lock to advance to the divisional round.
Denver's biggest advantage is health and depth, averaging two additional games played over New England since week 9. A bit of injury help on the Patriots side and taking advantage of extra players will help put the Broncos in position for an upset in the franchise's first playoff appearance.
Prediction: If both Kamara & Hill play, NE looks like a safer bet. If one plays, NE in a close one. If both sit, DEN in a close one.
Cleveland Browns (11-5) vs Baltimore Ravens (11-5)
Head to head, Cleveland has two convincing wins over Baltimore already this season. Each of those two matchups have come with the Browns at near full strength, which doesn't seem to be the case this week. Cleveland still has players with blow up potential but they will likely need all of those games this week to reach the point total they scored in their last matchup with the Ravens (179.81).
Similar to the Broncos, the Ravens have the advantage of health & depth this week. Most of the players Baltimore is missing are replaceable with their current depth. Baltimore ended the year 4th in scoring but the Browns have proven to be the Ravens kryptonite so far this season, with 2 of Baltimore's 3 lowest scoring weeks coming against Cleveland.
Prediction: Ravens are able to finally beat the Browns, but Josh Allen & Cooper Kupp have a chance to keep this one close.
Los Angeles Chargers (10-6) vs Houston Texans (12-4)
Similar situation to NE/DEN, Houston has typically looked like the more dominant team most of the season. Aside from their 3rd best defensive player on bye, the Texans are in danger of losing over 50% of their offense this week. Houston will likely need Mixon & Claypool to play this week to feel comfortable against the Chargers.
Los Angeles has not been a consistent threat each week, with only two weeks of 150+ points. They did just blow up for 193.8 in the regular season finale, so it's very possible they are peaking at just the right time. Aside from Jevon Holland, the Chargers are not going to be missing any pieces and they have the pieces to replace Holland for the week. The Chargers actually have the 8th best defense overall this year and the 5th best since week 6. Their offense will need to do enough, as it did last week, for them to advance to the divisional round.
Prediction: This one projects to be close, but LA should be given a slight edge entering the matchup even if Mixon & Claypool do play. The Wentz, Harris, & Singleton byes are going to be a lot for Houston to overcome.
******************** NFC ********************
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (15-1) -- BYE
Seattle Seahawks (15-1) vs San Francisco 49ers (11-5)
San Francisco managed to give Seattle their only loss this season so it's no guarantee the Seahawks will be in the divisional round. The 49ers have only managed 160 points twice this season, and were lucky one of those happened to be against Seattle, but will need to push the 190+ total they scored in week 9 to give them a chance at another upset.
Seattle has not been as strong as they started the season but they've managed 170+ every week since week 7. The injuries are piling up but if even half of the questionable players play, the Seahawks should be able to get back to scoring in the 190-200 range.
Prediction: Seahawks likely will avenge their only loss this season and get into the divisional round. The SF defense is strong but Okereke is a big loss and the 49ers will be playing without any RBs this week.
Green Bay Packers (13-3) vs Chicago Bears (11-5)
After a strong start, Chicago is 16th in scoring since week 7. A big week 10 shows what their potential looks like, but 4 sub-110 point performances surrounding that display just how low that floor is. The injury to Tyrod is bad enough but losing their top DL and 2nd best defender overall may be too much for Chicago to overcome, with the way they've been playing.
The Packers have a couple of big byes themselves, but they've managed to be much more consistent this season. They don't have the big blowup weeks that Chicago has, but haven't dipped below 130 points since week 2. If it's a floor week for both teams, that definitely favors Green Bay.
Prediction: Chicago's roster looks much stronger on paper, but has not lived up to that potential outside of a couple big weeks. Green Bay looks like the safer floor and likely comes out with a victory if they can hit the 135-145 totals they've hit consistently.
Washington Football Team (12-4) vs New Orleans Saints (12-4)
This looks like the most evenly matched game of the week, not only because they have the same record but because both teams have been sitting around the same spot in the standings/power rankings most of this season. Washington ended up finishing just ahead of New Orleans in points scored, with the only difference being Washington's 40 point win over the Saints in week 10. Both teams have a few pretty impactful byes this week but it doesn't look like either team is more disadvantaged than the other.
Prediction: Idk! This should be a very good matchup between last season's top two seeds in the NFC. It's a revenge game for the Saints as they were beaten earlier in the year but it's also significant because they never had the opportunity to face Washington in last year's playoffs. The Football Team has less to prove here but still an important matchup as they defend their championship.
Tennessee Titans (14-2) -- BYE
New England Patriots (13-3) vs Denver Broncos (9-7)
- All Time H2H -- NE leads 1-0 (Week 2 2021)
- Patriots defeated Broncos 165.0 - 89.9 in Week 3
- NE Significant Injuries: Taysom Hill(?), Alvin Kamara(?), Corey Davis, Sterling Shepard(?), Landon Collins(?)
- NE Significant Byes: Lawrence Guy, Josh Sweat, Zach Sieler, Rodney McLeod
- DEN Significant Injuries: Michael Carter(?)
- DEN Significant Byes: Jalen Reagor
On paper, the Patriots look like big favorites over a team that narrowly made the playoffs. While Denver has struggled to produce better than league average point totals, the Patriots have not consistently been much better after their hot start to the season. Since week 6, New England has only been 16.9 ppg better than Denver and with a number of questionable players heading into the week, New England is not a lock to advance to the divisional round.
Denver's biggest advantage is health and depth, averaging two additional games played over New England since week 9. A bit of injury help on the Patriots side and taking advantage of extra players will help put the Broncos in position for an upset in the franchise's first playoff appearance.
Prediction: If both Kamara & Hill play, NE looks like a safer bet. If one plays, NE in a close one. If both sit, DEN in a close one.
Cleveland Browns (11-5) vs Baltimore Ravens (11-5)
- All Time H2H -- BAL leads 4-2
- Browns 2-0 vs Ravens this season (Weeks 1 & 9)
- CLE Significant Injuries: Kenyan Drake, Robert Woods
- CLE Significant Byes: Myles Gaskin, Hunter Henry, Kemoko Turay, Matt Judon, Xavien Howard, Eric Rowe
- BAL Significant Injuries/Suspensions: Deonte Harris
- BAL Significant Byes: Brandon Bolden, Nyheim Hines, Avonte Maddox
Head to head, Cleveland has two convincing wins over Baltimore already this season. Each of those two matchups have come with the Browns at near full strength, which doesn't seem to be the case this week. Cleveland still has players with blow up potential but they will likely need all of those games this week to reach the point total they scored in their last matchup with the Ravens (179.81).
Similar to the Broncos, the Ravens have the advantage of health & depth this week. Most of the players Baltimore is missing are replaceable with their current depth. Baltimore ended the year 4th in scoring but the Browns have proven to be the Ravens kryptonite so far this season, with 2 of Baltimore's 3 lowest scoring weeks coming against Cleveland.
Prediction: Ravens are able to finally beat the Browns, but Josh Allen & Cooper Kupp have a chance to keep this one close.
Los Angeles Chargers (10-6) vs Houston Texans (12-4)
- All Time H2H -- Split 1-1
- No H2H matchups since 2019
- LAC Significant Injuries: Justin Fields(?), Chidobe Awuzie(?)
- LAC Significant Byes: Jevon Holland
- HOU Significant Injuries: Joe Mixon(?), AJ Brown, Chase Claypool(?)
- HOU Significant Byes: Carson Wentz, Damien Harris, Boston Scott, Alex Singleton, Steven Nelson
Similar situation to NE/DEN, Houston has typically looked like the more dominant team most of the season. Aside from their 3rd best defensive player on bye, the Texans are in danger of losing over 50% of their offense this week. Houston will likely need Mixon & Claypool to play this week to feel comfortable against the Chargers.
Los Angeles has not been a consistent threat each week, with only two weeks of 150+ points. They did just blow up for 193.8 in the regular season finale, so it's very possible they are peaking at just the right time. Aside from Jevon Holland, the Chargers are not going to be missing any pieces and they have the pieces to replace Holland for the week. The Chargers actually have the 8th best defense overall this year and the 5th best since week 6. Their offense will need to do enough, as it did last week, for them to advance to the divisional round.
Prediction: This one projects to be close, but LA should be given a slight edge entering the matchup even if Mixon & Claypool do play. The Wentz, Harris, & Singleton byes are going to be a lot for Houston to overcome.
******************** NFC ********************
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (15-1) -- BYE
Seattle Seahawks (15-1) vs San Francisco 49ers (11-5)
- All Time H2H -- SF leads 5-3
- Split 2021 matchups (SEA won Week 1, SF won Week 9)
- SEA Significant Injuries: Chase Edmonds(?), JD McKissic(?), Michael Carter, Darren Waller(?), Fred Warner(?), Denzel Perryman(?), Emmanuel Moseley, Kevin Byard(?)
- SEA Significant Byes: Kenny Moore
- SF Significant Injuries/Suspensions: Mike Edwards, Jordan Whitehead(?)
- SF Significant Byes: Rhamondre Stevenson, Salvon Ahmed, Bobby Okereke
San Francisco managed to give Seattle their only loss this season so it's no guarantee the Seahawks will be in the divisional round. The 49ers have only managed 160 points twice this season, and were lucky one of those happened to be against Seattle, but will need to push the 190+ total they scored in week 9 to give them a chance at another upset.
Seattle has not been as strong as they started the season but they've managed 170+ every week since week 7. The injuries are piling up but if even half of the questionable players play, the Seahawks should be able to get back to scoring in the 190-200 range.
Prediction: Seahawks likely will avenge their only loss this season and get into the divisional round. The SF defense is strong but Okereke is a big loss and the 49ers will be playing without any RBs this week.
Green Bay Packers (13-3) vs Chicago Bears (11-5)
- All Time H2H -- CHI leads 6-2
- Packers 2-0 vs Bears this season (Weeks 5 & 13)
- GB Significant Injuries: Keenan Allen(?), Cameron Jordan(?), Akeem Davis-Gaither
- GB Significant Byes: Mac Jones, Javon Hargrave, Zaire Franklin
- CHI Significant Injuries: Tyrod Taylor(?), Julio Jones(?), Jaire Alexander(?)
- CHI Significant Byes: DeForest Buckner, Darius Leonard
After a strong start, Chicago is 16th in scoring since week 7. A big week 10 shows what their potential looks like, but 4 sub-110 point performances surrounding that display just how low that floor is. The injury to Tyrod is bad enough but losing their top DL and 2nd best defender overall may be too much for Chicago to overcome, with the way they've been playing.
The Packers have a couple of big byes themselves, but they've managed to be much more consistent this season. They don't have the big blowup weeks that Chicago has, but haven't dipped below 130 points since week 2. If it's a floor week for both teams, that definitely favors Green Bay.
Prediction: Chicago's roster looks much stronger on paper, but has not lived up to that potential outside of a couple big weeks. Green Bay looks like the safer floor and likely comes out with a victory if they can hit the 135-145 totals they've hit consistently.
Washington Football Team (12-4) vs New Orleans Saints (12-4)
- All Time H2H -- Split 1-1
- WFT defeated Saints 213.0 - 170.68 in Week 10
- WAS Significant Injuries/Other: Calvin Ridley, Marcus Davenport(?)
- WAS Significant Byes: Nelson Agholor, Dallas Goedert, Dont'a Hightower, Nick Folk
- NO Significant Injuries: Jeremy McNichols(?), Eric Kendricks(?)
- NO Significant Byes: Al-Quadin Muhammad, Ja'Whaun Bentley, TJ Edwards, Anthony Harris
This looks like the most evenly matched game of the week, not only because they have the same record but because both teams have been sitting around the same spot in the standings/power rankings most of this season. Washington ended up finishing just ahead of New Orleans in points scored, with the only difference being Washington's 40 point win over the Saints in week 10. Both teams have a few pretty impactful byes this week but it doesn't look like either team is more disadvantaged than the other.
Prediction: Idk! This should be a very good matchup between last season's top two seeds in the NFC. It's a revenge game for the Saints as they were beaten earlier in the year but it's also significant because they never had the opportunity to face Washington in last year's playoffs. The Football Team has less to prove here but still an important matchup as they defend their championship.