The wild card weekend home teams fall out of the running. We’re down to eight.
John Vomhof Jr. again attempts to break down the rankings of the rest of the best. Let us know if you agree or disagree.
Prior Rank
Team
Record
Comments
1
Carolina Panthers
15-1
Cam Newton and the Panthers enjoyed a first-round bye after turning in a near-perfect regular season. They’re still the team to beat this postseason, but the Seahawks are an awfully tough draw.
2
Seattle Seahawks
10-6
The Seahawks barely advanced out of the Wild Card round, but they’ll need more than an Angels in the Outfield-style miracle to get past the Panthers. Still, they’ve been to back-to-back Super Bowls, and they ended the regular season red-hot.
4
Arizona Cardinals
13-3
The Cardinals won nine straight before dropping the season finale to Seattle, and now they draw a mediocre Packers squad. Carson Palmer and the Cards pounded the Packers 38-8 last time around, and it could be more of the same this time around.
3
New England Patriots
12-4
Although the Patriots limped into the postseason, it’s really hard to bet against Belichick and Brady at this time of the year. Kansas City will be a tough test, but the Pats should be able to sneak by.
5
Denver Broncos
12-4
Denver’s defense is capable of carrying this club deep into the postseason, and they lucked out by drawing a battered Steelers team this week. The only question is whether Peyton Manning can hold up.
6
Kansas City Chiefs
11-5
The Chiefs are the NFL’s hottest team, winning 11 straight games, including last week’s Wild Card romp of the Texans. They should be able to give the struggling Pats a run for their money.
12
Green Bay Packers
10-6
The Packers beat up on the Redskins last week, but they’ll have to play even better to get past Arizona. I’m not sure they have it in them this year.
7
Pittsburgh Steelers
10-6
Unfortunately, the Steelers are just a shell of themselves at this point, with Antonio Brown out and Ben Roethlisberger ailing. It’s hard to see them pulling off the upset shorthanded.
The Wild Card round went much as I expected, with five and six seeds in both conferences proving to be superior to the third- and fourth-seeded division winners.
That meant for a solid round of picks. It didn’t translate to bets, however, as the point spreads in Vegas proved to be as difficult to manipulate as ever.
I did go 2-2, hitting two bets on over/under numbers. They’ve come in handy all season – I haven’t been able to get spreads right, but the numbers have been slightly easier.
So here’s where I stand (Tony, as you may recall, is in hiding, trying to avoid more hypothetical broken bones over losing twice his allotted bankroll for the season).
Starting $$
Wild card record
Wild card $$
Current $$
Andy
$11,568
2-2
– $96
$11,472
The games get a bit tougher this week. I doubt I go undefeated in picks. Bets … who the hell knows. But here goes: (more…)
As the countdown comes closer to kickoff of the 2015-16 NFL playoffs, Senior Contributing John Vomhof has taken a stab at ranking the participants.
It’s one man’s opinion. Do you agree? Disagree? Tell us why below.
Rank
Team
Record
Comments
1
Carolina Panthers
15-1
The Panthers were the NFL’s best team from start to finish, turning in a near-perfect season. There’s no question they enter the postseason as the team to beat, led by soon-to-be-MVP Cam Newton and a stingy defense.
2
Seattle Seahawks
10-6
The Seahawks limped out of the gates in 2015 to start 2-4, but they’re peaking at the right time now. They’ve won six of their last seven games, beating three playoff clubs along the way. Russell Wilson and the defense have regained the form that led them to back-to-back Super Bowls.
4
Arizona Cardinals
13-3
The Cardinals have had a fantastic season on both sides of the ball, and they had won nine straight before dropping the season finale to Seattle. Carson Palmer and the offense can pile on points in a hurry, and the defense is among the league’s best.
3
New England Patriots
12-4
The Patriots are limping into the postseason, having lost four of their past six games. That said, it’s really hard to bet against Belichick and Brady at this time of the year.
5
Denver Broncos
12-4
The Broncos defense can carry this club deep into the postseason, especially with home-field advantage locked down. But can Denver really count on Peyton Manning (or Brock Osweiler) to take them all the way?
6
Kansas City Chiefs
11-5
The NFL’s hottest team, the Chiefs haven’t lost a game since Week 6 in Minnesota. Let that sink in for a minute. The defense is playing spectacularly well, and Alex Smith is doing enough on offense to get the job done.
7
Pittsburgh Steelers
10-6
The Steelers defense is one of the league’s most dangerous units, capable of dropping 30 or 40 points in any game. The defense has been better than expected, too, but it’s still allowing 363 yards per game, second worst among the playoff teams.
8
Minnesota Vikings
11-5
Mike Zimmer quickly transformed this Vikings defense unit into one of the NFL’s best, allowing just 18.9 points per game. The offense remains a big question mark, however, with Teddy Bridgewater remaining way too inconsistent. And, of course, drawing a first-round matchup against a Seahawks team that pummeled Minnesota just one month ago doesn’t help.
9
Cincinnati Bengals
12-4
The Bengals started the year hot, but they’ve lost their last four games against playoff teams. And it’s hard to bet on a team with A.J. McCarron as its starting quarterback–yes, even harder than it is to bet on a team with Andy Dalton at the helm.
10
Washington Redskins
9-7
Kirk Cousins and the Redskins have won five of their last six games, but, let’s face it, there wasn’t a lot of top-notch competition during that stretch. And the Skins’ defense still remains among the league’s worst units, hemorrhaging 380 yards per game.
11
Houston Texans
9-7
JJ Watt and the Texans have been absolutely outstanding on defense, allowing 10 points or less in six of their last nine games. But can Brian Hoyer and the offense do enough to win when it counts?
12
Green Bay Packers
10-6
The Packers entered the year as a top Super Bowl contender, but limped into the playoffs, losing six of 10 games after the bye. Even if they get past the very beatable Redskins, it’s hard to see them getting much further, especially in the star-studded NFC.
Tony fell into an even deeper hole when his two big bets didn’t hit last week, so he’s gone into pretend hiding for the offseason as he attempts to avoid having his legs broken by his hypothetical guy.
His rough season came to an end with a loss of more than $20,000.
My bets weren’t exactly stellar throughout the year – more on this in a later post – but a solid finish to the season put me up a little over $1,000 for the season.
With Tony suddenly MIA, I’ll be going solo on the bets throughout the playoffs. Here’s where we stand right now.
Last week
Last week $
Overall
Overall $
Bankroll
Andy
3-1
+ $2,809
32-35-1
+ $2,809
$11,568
Tony
2-2
– $6,548
29-38-1
– $27,343
– $17,343
There are four really interesting games on slate for this weekend. Here’s how I see them playing out:
Ok, it’s been 17 weeks and the riffraff has been eliminated. It’s down to 12. And this week’s wild card round has four solid, interesting games on the slate. Tony won the regular season pick segment. Can he keep it up in the playoffs?
Here’s who we think wins this weekend:
Andy
Tony
John
Maggio
Saturday, January 9
Kansas City at Houston
Kansas City
Kansas City
Kansas City
Kansas City
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh
Sunday, January 10
Seattle at Minnesota
Seattle
Seattle
Seattle
Seattle
Green Bay at Washington
Green Bay
Washington
Washington
Washington
Maggio’s Take: There’s not a game here I’m not excited to watch for various reasons. Even the teams that “snuck” (more…)
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