Well, yesterday certainly was interesting. The Chiefs completely destroyed the Texans 30-0, as Brian Hoyer threw half as many interceptions as he'd thrown all season in this one game. Kansas City's offense wasn't exactly setting the world on fire, outside of Travis Kelce, but when you get 5 turnovers, you don't have to do much to secure a victory.
And the Bengals....oh Cincinnati. I think we all know that Cincy has had problems in playoff games, but this was just difficult to watch. After crawling back into this game, and then taking the lead, Cincy fumbles the ball with under 2 minutes to go in their own territory and Pittsburgh kicks a late field goal to hang on for the 18-16 win to advance to Denver next week. Based on that win, Kansas City will head to Foxboro to face the Patriots.
Now, in today's games, we have Seattle heading to Minnesota for what will be one of the coldest games in NFL history, with the game time temperature expected to be -2 at kickoff at 1:05PM on NBC. It's also the first time the Vikings have hosted a playoff game outside since 1976, and with today's weather, you see why they usually play in a dome. Green Bay meanwhile will head to Washington to face the Redskins in much warmer weather; it's expected to be 54 degrees at kickoff at 4:40PM on FOX. So, let's take a look at those games.
Seattle -4.5
at Minnesota
Seattle will be without Beast Mode today as they head to Minnesota, but outside of a hiccup against the Rams in Week 16, Russell Wilson has been electric in the 2nd half of the season, and the clear MVP for Seattle. The Vikings have had a good season though as well, going 11-5 and beating the Packers at Lambeau in Week 17 to win the NFC North. If this game was in Seattle, I think the Seahawks would likely be favored by 10 points, but with it being in Minnesota, in the frigid cold and with the Seahawks likely going to be forced to run the ball based on the weather, I'm going with the Minnesota Vikings to get an upset win at home.
I think Adrian Peterson wills his team to a victory today with his running ability. The Vikings aren't going to win this on the arm of Teddy Bridgewater, in the cold, against that Seattle secondary, so they're going to need a big performance from All Day. Usually, you wouldn't see a 3 seed playing a 6 seed at home as being an underdog, but the 6 seed hasn't usually been to the Super Bowl the last two years. I realize the Seahawks blew out the Vikings on December 6th in Minnesota, but I think the Vikings will make some major adjustments, and come out hungry today. Vikings 20 Seahawks 17.
Green Bay
at Washington -1
I'm just going to get straight to the point on this game, I think Washington is the better overall team. Most people would say, look Aaron Rodgers is light years above Kirk Cousins, but NFL Network had a great comparison between the two QBs this morning. Since Week 10 here are the statistics between Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins:
Aaron Rodgers Kirk Cousins
Completion % - 57.5 Completion % - 73.6
Pass YPG - 235.5 Pass YPG - 276.5
TD-INT - 12-5 TD-INT - 19-2
Passer Rating - 80.5 Passer Rating - 126.1
By those numbers, it's abundantly clear that Kirk Cousins is playing far better than Aaron Rodgers is as of late. Now, a lot of that has to do with Bill Callahan being his offensive line coach, and Jordan Reed emerging as a star at Tight End, but I like the Redskins today. Green Bay clearly hasn't been the same team all year without Jordy Nelson, and their offensive line has been extremely shaky. Additionally, Kirk Cousins is tough to beat at home, and Green Bay hasn't really had an impressive win since before Thanksgiving. I think the Redskins will play sound defense and clock management and keep Aaron Rodgers off the field for as long as possible and they'll get the win at home. Washington 27 Green Bay 23.
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