Wild Card Weekend Preview

Here we sit on the first weekend of January and the chase for the Vince Lombardi trophy is now underway. We have played seventeen weeks and a total of 256 games during the National Football League season. Twelve teams are left standing, four of which have bye weeks. New England, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Minnesota all have this week off. Four of the five teams in the AFC playoffs missed the post season last year, including two teams who have waited quite some time to get back into the playoffs. Meanwhile in the NFC, five of the six teams in this years playoffs missed the dance last year, with Atlanta being the only returning team from a season ago. Lots of games to get to, so lets get right into it. Here's a breakdown of Wild Card Weekend.

First up its the AFC West Champions the Kansas City Chiefs playing host to the Wild Card Winning Tennessee Titans. This now marks the 26th playoff appearance for the Chiefs, who have won the West with a 10-6 record. Its the 2nd straight division title for KC, and the 4th time in the last six years that they've made the playoffs. Kansas City has been bounced in their first game in three of their last four playoff trips and the team is 9-17 all time in the playoffs. As for the Titans, this marks their 23 playoff appearance, coming in with a 9-7 record to take the first wild card spot. This marks the first playoff appearance for the Titans since 2008 and they are looking for their first playoff win since 2003. The Titans are 14-19 all time in the post season. This marks the 2nd ever meeting between the two teams, the last one coming in 1993 a game which the Chiefs won.  These two teams didn't meet during the regular season. Kickoff is slated for 4:35 Saturday on ABC.

Tennessee has gotten a balanced attack from their run game this year, between Derek Henry and Marcus Marriota. But since week nine, Tennessee has scored more then 24 points only once, which means the offense will need to find its groove again on Saturday. Tennessee had gotten off to a bit of a slow start, going 4-3 by the time they hit the bye week and kind of backed into the playoffs, dropping three of their final four games. And to make matters worse for the Titans, they were a lowly 3-5 on the road this season.

Kansas City, meanwhile, has fared pretty well at home, finishing the regular season going 6-2 at Arrowhead Stadium. They also closed out the year on a four game winning streak, after losing six of their prior seven.The Chiefs are getting hot at the right time and a lot of that has to do with the return to form of possible offensive rookie of the year Kareem Hunt. Hunt has played out of his mind this year, with over a thousand all purpose yards. Having Hunt, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce have given Alex Smith plenty of firepower to work with this year.

There's no denying what the Titans have been able to do this year. But Kansas City has been that much better. The Chiefs are the stronger of the two teams and yes this has been a great year for the Titans, but this is where that great year comes to an end.

Pick: Kansas City Chiefs

Next up, we have the Wild Card Winning Atlanta Falcons taking on the NFC West Winning Los Angeles Rams. Coming in at 10-6, Atlanta finished the year 3rd in the NFC South, getting in as the last wild card spot, a year after winning the division and going all the way to the Super Bowl. Atlanta has now made the playoffs six times in the last nine years, including the last two in a row. This now marks the 23rd playoff game in Falcons playoff history, which has seen the team go 9-13. As for the Rams, this marks their first trip to the playoffs since 2004, and this winning of the West is the first division title for the Rams since 2003. Los Angeles is looking for its first playoff win in LA since 1989. The Rams are 19-24 all time in the post season. This marks the 2nd ever meeting between the teams in the playoffs, the only other won coming in 2004, which was won in a blowout by the Falcons. The teams didn't meet during the regular season. Kickoff is set for 8:15 on Saturday night.

This is going to feature a matchup of two of the brightest stars in the game, Julio Jones of Atlanta and Todd Gurley of Los Angeles. Both guys are capable of having monster games at any time. Jones racked up 253 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a 34-20 win against Tampa Bay, and Gurley amassed 276 yards from scrimmage and two scores in a 27-23 victory against Tennessee. Sure the Rams lost their final game of the season and they lost their last two games at home, but with the way that Gurley has been playing this year, Los Angeles is going to be a tough team to beat. First year head coach Sean McVay has really been able to get the best out of his players this year and has the rams playing really good football this season. He has been able to get a lot out of Jared Goff and got the offense clicking. Oh yeah, and the Rams defense has been playing like a top five defense this year as well.

Atlanta is no slouch, having won three of its last four games to get back into the playoffs, when it looked for a time like they might miss out on the post season. Julio Jones and Matt Ryan have done a pretty good job of carrying the offense this season. But the problem is the Falcons have the 23rd ranked defense in all of football. It almost kind of felt like they backed into the playoffs this season a little bit. But sometimes that's just the kind of breaks you need to get into the post season. If Atlanta can see running back Devonta Freeman get up to the level of Julio Jones and the Falcons defense can kind of start to step their game up, Atlanta might have a chance in this one.

At the end of the day, I feel the Atlanta offense has the possible horses to keep up in this game, but the defense may end up letting them down. And with the way that Todd Gurley has played this season, the Rams are the flat out better football team. The NFC will have a new champion this year.

Pick: Los Angeles Rams

Now to Sunday's action we go. First up we have the Wild Card Winning Buffalo Bills taking on the AFC South Champions the Jacksonville Jaguars. This marks the 18th playoff appearance for the Bills and their first one since 1999. Buffalo got in on the last day of the regular season, finishing with a 9-7 record. Buffalo will be in search of its first win in the post season since 1995. The Bills are 14-15 lifetime in the post season. As for Jacksonville, the Jaguars won the South at 10-6, earning their first division title since 1999. This marks the first playoff appearance for the Jags since 2007, which was also the last time the Jags won a playoff game. Jacksonville is 5-6 lifetime in the playoffs. This marks the 2nd ever meeting between the teams, the last one coming in 1997, a game which was won by Jacksonville. These two teams didn't meet during the regular season, Kickoff is slated for 1PM.

Going into the final day of the season, it looked like a lock that the Ravens were going to make the playoffs. All they had to do was win. That didn't happen and the Bills got into the playoffs. A big reason for that is LeSean McCoy. McCoy is a fantastic running back who just gained 1,000 yards from scrimmage or more for his eighth straight season, however, so it'd be no surprise if he could get it going against a Jaguars defense that allowed 4.3 yards per carry, which is in the lower half amongst NFL defenses. The one thing that could be working against the Bills is can McCoy play? He's dealing with a sprained ankle, which he hurt on the final day of the season. I don't know how good the Bills chances are if McCoy can't go.

Lets not take anything away from Jacksonville, who did manage to win their division. Leonard Fournette has been a huge asset for this Bengals club and could be making a claim for offensive rookie of the year this year. Blake Bortles has had himself a pretty good year this year too, but at times has shown a little bit of inconsistency. And Jacksonville did manage to finish the year going 6-2 at EverBank Field this year, while the Bills managed to go just 3-5 on the road. Jacksonville may not have the best team in the AFC, but they've got a balanced team that, when its clicking, can be one of the tougher teams to beat.

The biggest thing that can be taken away from this game is Shady McCoy. If he can't go for Buffalo I don't give the Bills much of a chance in this game. I would have given Buffalo more of a chance also if they had let Tyrod Taylor start every game instead of making that one stupid decision to start Nathan Petermen a few weeks back.

Pick: Jacksonville Jaguars

Final game of the weekend pits the Wild Card Winning Carolina Panthers taking on the NFC South Champion New Orleans Saints. For the Panthers, they finished the year 11-5 to finish 2nd in the division and make the playoffs for the 4th time in the last five years and the 8th time overall. Carolina is looking to get a win in the playoffs for the first time since losing the Super Bowl to Denver. Carolina is 9-7 all time in the playoffs, New Orleans has won the division for the 6th time in franchise history, also finishing with an 11-5 record. It marks the first time since 2014 that the Saints are a playoff team. New Orleans has now made the playoffs for the 10th time in team history and they are 7-9 all time in the playoffs. This marks the first ever meeting between the two teams in the playoffs, this after New Orleans swept both meetings during the regular season. Kickoff is slated for 4:40PM

If you're a Panthers fans I've got some bad news, they allowed 30 points a game in both games to the Saints this season. But they have managed to salvage being a top ten defense this season. Carolina hasn't been able to score much this season, its been a struggle for Cam Newton and company. Yes the team has managed to win eleven games, but Newton has had some games where he hasn't looked like himself. Carolina has one of those teams that has the chance to be able to break off big games as an offense, but as we've seen this year, can't exactly find a way to get it going.

New Orleans has been one of the best offenses in the league and a big reason for that is Alvin Kamara. Since he took over as the full time running back in New Orleans, he has had only one week in which he has failed to rush for over a hundred yards in a game only once. That was in week five. I know it seems like he's the biggest weapon in the offense, which he has been this year. But he's not the only weapon, as Drew Brees is still a very effective quarterback.

This game is going to come down to the running game and if that's the case the Saints have the advantage hands down. If the running game doesn't work, and it comes down to quarterback play, this year Brees has been the better of the two and this is going to help lead the Saints on to the next round.

Pick: New Orleans Saints