NFL Playoffs 2016: Viewing Information and Wild-Card Bracket Picks

Though not predictive in nature, understanding how teams, players, leagues and markets have reacted to various scenarios for over 36 years and more than 9,000 games – as is the case with the information available in the Trend Machine for the NFL – is a tremendous supplement to any analysis of an upcoming matchup.

This is the 6 W’s.

Monday Night Football’s Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden and reporter Lisa Salters will call the game from NRG Stadium in Houston.

The Chiefs won at Houston in the season opener, then blew a game late to Denver the next week and went into a funk. Kansas City 16, Houston 10. The Steelers offense will cause the Bengals defense problems. The Texans have DeAndre Hopkins who has 11 TDs this season while Chiefs WR Jeremy Maclin has brought an added dimension to their offense and claimed eight TDs. The difference in the game will be the Redskins core of receivers will make the big play compared to the Packers. “I guess this is the last one, winning a playoff game obviously is our No. 1 objective”.

Considering that the four visitors have never swept in the opening round of the playoffs since the current format was adopted for the 1990 season, one of those teams, at the least, might escape. Vegas Insider has the Chiefs as three-point road favorites, and the experts at CBS Sports agree in their predictions and picks.

“All of the AFC North football is fun”. The big issue for the Bengals is at the quarterback position. Andy Dalton took off his cast on Tuesday, but it is unclear whether he can throw a ball effectively by Saturday. I still think they’re the team to beat going into this one. He injured his throwing hand while trying to make a tackle after throwing an interception to the Pittsburgh defense.

McCarron has performed admirably in Dalton’s absence, helping the team to a 2-1 record since that loss to the Steelers, but the return of the Red Rifle would be a huge boost to an offence that knows it will need to put points on the board. The Seahawks “Legion of Boom” secondary is the primary reason they have won the NFC the last two years.

Teddy completed a just 17 of his 28 passes for just 118 yards, and you can be sure Seattle will look to repeat that formula under the pressure of Bridgewater’s first play-off game.

Russell Wilson is playing on another level right now and has that offense playing well enough to carry them to the Super Bowl. Lynch is listed as probable to play against the Minnesota Vikings. The team’s defense is outstanding, but the offense has been scarce.

Adrian Peterson has averaged less than four yards/carry and is 1-3 straight-up (2-2 against-the-spread) in his playoff career. Minnesota can play that game, so can Seattle, and I’ll say it’s something like Seattle 17-14. Minnesota is a risky team to watch, but there’s also the Packers and Seahawks who seem to turn it on this time of year. Can the Seahawks prove everyone wrong and go 4-0 away from Seattle this postseason?

The road to Super Bowl 50 begins this weekend with a dozen teams seeking the Lombardi Trophy on February 7 in Santa Clara, Calif. Eight teams will meet in the Wild Card round this weekend. For instance, many folks are actually predicting that the Washington Redskins move on to the divisional round.

Washington will be at home where they won 6 of their 9 games this season.

Any of the teams that win this weekend will be a threat as the playoffs continue.

Games Matching this Criteria: Redskins (-1) vs. Packers.

But before those events unfold, let’s take a peek at past memorable Wild Card matchups – and hope someone this weekend takes their place on this list.