The Wild Wild Card

Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning both have aspirations for
another Super Bowl ring, but only one can win this weekend.

It's playoff season, and that means that Austen is back for the stretch run.  Happy 2017, blog readers!

Let's get into our playoff breakdown:

Stally's Eight-Point Pick
@Pittsburgh over Miami

Stally: This is the only game of the four that I find easy to pick.  The Pittsburgh Steelers are a good football team with a ridiculous amount of offensive talent, and Miami is headed on the road with a backup QB.  I just don't see the Dolphins winning this game.

Austen: No argument here. Matt Moore is more than serviceable (I would have Miami favored over both the Texans and Raiders), but they got a road game with the most dangerous offense in the league. Tough draw for a Fins team that has not made the playoffs in almost a decade and has only won one playoff game this millennium.

Austen's Eight-Point Pick
@Seattle over Detroit

Austen: Stally does not feel the same way that I do about the Seahawks, but a road game to Seattle is a tough draw for any team. The Lions have dropped their last three games and only even made the playoffs due to the Redskins losing to the Giants (who were sitting multiple starters) in Week 17. The Lions have feasted on coming from behind in the fourth quarter, but Seattle is not a team you want to give a lead to. Throw in the fact that Matthew Stafford is a whopping 3-32 against teams with a winning record and you are going to have a hard time selling me that the Lions are going to come out of this week with a win.

The Seahawks are far from being the dominant team that we are used to seeing in Seattle, but they still boast one of the most dangerous defenses in the league and Russell Wilson. While he might have had a down statistical year, Wilson is still probably the best quarterback in the league when it comes to turning a broken play into something special for his offense. This is the worst offensive line Wilson has played behind, but he still can make enough plays to knock of a reeling Lions team.

Stally: Austen sandbagged with all that text because he was trying to justify why he picked a terrible Seahawks team with so much confidence.

Let's take a look at some of the Seattle's most "memorable" performances this season:

Week 2 - 9-3 loss at Los Angeles
Week 7 - 6-6 tie at Arizona
Week 12 - 14-5 loss at Tampa Bay (That's not a typo, they scored five points.)
Week 14 - 38-10 loss at Green Bay

To be fair, all of those games were on the road, but they show a clear offensive ineptitude for Seattle.

Seattle benefitted significantly by playing in the worst division in the league, but simply isn't that good.  I've liked the way the Lions played this season despite recent struggles, and I'm picking them.

Stally's Four Point Pick
Oakland over @Houston

Stally: This game could go either way.  For Oakland, it comes down to whether or not Connor Cook can be a serviceable QB with the two options above him out for the game.  The QB position is certainly important (just ask Houston who has a terrible one), but football is very much a team sport.

The Raiders went 12-4 this season.  They're a good football team.  I'm giving them the edge because frankly I think the Texans starting Brock Osweiler at QB neutralizes any such advantage at that position that another team might have had.

Austen: This game is the toss up of the week for me. I can see this going either way. The Texans are the worst team in the playoffs, and truthfully, Brock Osweiler might be worse than Raiders third-stringer Connor Cook.

However, the Raiders are sporting more than just the Derek Carr injury. Left tackle Donald Penn is out of this game already, and All Pro guard Kelechi Osemele, Amari Cooper, and Michael Crabtree are all questionable. All teams are banged up this far into the season, but that is almost all of the Raiders top players either out or severely banged up. This game might look more like 1950s football that 2017. This will be won by defense and the run game.

Austen's Four Point Pick
@Green Bay over New York Giants

Austen: I hate that one of these two teams is not going to make it past the Wild Card round. I could see either of these teams making it to the Super Bowl. No team has been hotter than the Packers, winning their last six games. Aaron Rodgers has thrown an insane 18 touchdowns since his last interception. There were plenty of questions about the Packers for the first half of this season, and while their defense still has plenty to prove, their offense has found their groove, both in the air and on the ground. Everything is clicking for the Packers at the right time.

The Giants are the better rounded team than the Packers, I will admit that. However, Eli Manning has been less than sharp this season and their offense is entirely reliant on Odell Beckham Jr. making a big play. The lack of a run game has been a killer for them all season. They will not win this game solely on the back of OBJ. They are going to have to generate long drives that keep the Packers offense off the field and their championship caliber defense on the bench. This is the best Giants' defense since their last Super Bowl, but they will get worn down by the Packers if Eli and OBJ do not do their part.

Stally: I agree that you could make a legitimate case for either of these teams winning the Super Bowl.  I'm also picking Green Bay for the same reason that Austen picked them.  Aaron Rodgers is running a Tom Brady-like offense with so many no-name players stepping into roles and making plays.  It will be very hard for the Giants slow down the Packers' momentum.