Factors For NFL Divisional Round

With the Denver Broncos taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New England Patriots facing off with the Kansas City Chiefs, anyone can advance and not even the experts are overly sure who will be moving on. Will anyone ever forget the Cincinnati Bengals meltdown in the final minute to give away a game to the Pittsburgh Steelers?

If he plays up to his potential, it will be hard for Kansas City to stop the pass game of the Patriots. Last week Fitzgerald Toussaint and Jordan Todman combined to run for 123 yards on 28 carries, a similar effort will be needed this week with a weakened Big Ben and if no Antonio Brown.

After allowing a first-quarter sack for a safety in last week’s 35-18 win over the Redskins, the Packers did not allow another sack for the rest of the game. Roethlisberger did come back into the game but it was clear that he was not 100% and could not throw the ball down field. He’s so injured that it’s made the health and ability of Peyton Manning nearly a non-concern, despite it being the hot button issue beforehand. Palmer, with his third team, is still looking for his first playoff victory while Rodgers already has a Super Bowl victory on his resume. This is exactly how a team should come into the playoffs. Manning had been out with a torn plantar fascia, but relieved Roethlisberger in their 27-20 win over the Chargers on January 3.

Among their 32 playoff victories, the Packers have won the most road postseason games at 11, a record they can extend this Saturday. KC 24-17 over New England. However, road teams have lost against the spread just once in the last two years in the second round, according to OddsShark.

Ginn is fighting off a knee injury and hasn’t played since Week 16. On the Patriots side, their offense has been awful the last three or four games, but the return of Julian Edelman will have a major effect on that. It is uncertain why Gronkowski is not practicing. Richard Sherman or Kam Chancellor always seem to deliver a big play in the big games. Belichick and Tom Brady also have most postseason wins by coach-QB combination with 21…. Fans can also log-on to NFL Game Pass to stream the game on their desktops on-demand. That could be a huge problem versus the Panthers on Sunday, as they’ve had the second best defense in the league for the duration of this season. I think there’s a good chance we see Landry Jones at some point in this game because I have no idea how Roethlisberger thinks he’s going to play. The Panthers have the NFL’s likely MVP in quarterback Cam Newton, who has accounted for 45 touchdowns this season. Wilson also had a better passer rating, 110.1, compared to Newton’s 99.4. D’Angelo Williams is expected to sit out for this game as well after missing last week’s contest, so Pittsburgh will once again have to turn to the inexperienced duo of Jordan Todman and Fitzgerald Toussaint to carry the ball on the ground. Aside from last week’s weather-debacle in Minnesota, the Seahawks offense has been on fire. The teams have met once this year, but Seattle wasn’t clicking like they are now so that game means very little.

This is not the first matchup of these two teams this season.

The Cardinals beat the Packers in convincing fashion just three weeks ago and Green Bay hopes to avoid another blowout loss. The Packers defense will get exhausted from being on the field a lot.

– NFC: No. 5 Green Bay at No. 2 Arizona, 9:15 p.m., NBC: While Aaron Rodgers and the Packers regained some of their offensive mojo last week, I have to go with the Cardinals in this game.