So the tournament opens with the Ravens watching and waiting. Some interesting matchups in the AFC and some potential duds in the NFC. The 4 big crews from each broadcaster are up this week. There's one unknown broadcasting crew for the divisional round - will be whoever CBS deems are the 2nd crew for them.
AFC SATURDAY
Bills @ Texans (the annual Westivus game - meaningless to any of you if you dont listen to the around the NFL podcast) kicks off at 4:35 ET with Tess and Booger
Titans @ Patriots kicks off at 8:15 ET with Nantz, Romo and Wolfson
NFC SUNDAY
Vikings @ Saints kicks off at 1:05 ET with Buck, Aikman, Andrews and Myers (who will also be doing the superbowl - which means we might get another great Erin Andrews segment with Lamar and Ingram)
Seahawks @ Eagles kicks of at 4:40 ET with Al, Cris and Michele
Thanks for making this thread, hadn't had the time to put the previews together and realized it was late and needed to get them up lol.
Bills @ Texans: If you watch this game and hear Booger, it means your TV is tuned to ESPN. This will be the first meeting between the two teams in post season history, and these two teams last played October 2018. Watson has playoff experience and they say playoff experience matters as we get our first look at Josh Allen in a playoff game. Houston gets JJ Watt back for the playoffs but likely will be without Will Fuller. The key to this game will be how well Watson handles Buffalo's defense after struggling against the Ravens defense earlier in the season. Barring an upset of Titanic proportions, one of these teams is getting a rematch against the Ravens, who beat both of these teams in the regular season.
Titans @ Patriots: After a stunning week 17 loss to FitzMagic, the Pats find themselves in unfamiliar territory and playing on wild card weekend. The last time they played on Wild Card weekend, their defense couldn't stop Ray Rice and the Ravens bounced them out of the playoffs. Mike Vrabel has the Titans in the playoffs in his second season with the Titans, has one of the best offenses in the league since starting Ryan Tannehill, who is making his first playoff start and has the rushing champion in Derrick Henry to help pull off a potential upset. It's hard to beat the Pats in Foxboro in January but Tom Brady isn't the Tom Brady of playoff past either. Does Brady turn it up a notch and return to form and once again stop making people doubt the Patriots or will we see an upset that sends the Titans to Baltimore next Saturday Night?
Vikings @ Saints: NFC Sunday kicks off in New Orleans as Drew Brees and the Saints take on Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings. We know about the Minnesota Miracle the last time these two faced off, and now it will take a Miracle on Bourbon Street for the Vikings to stop Michael Thomas and the Saints passing attack. Thankfully the Vikings get back Dalvin Cook who can help limit how often we see Drew Brees on the field and give the Vikings a chance at the upset. Kirk Cousins can't win the big games and one upset over the Saints won't change that but he's running out of time to prove his contract was worth it. Sunday would be a good time to prove it.
Seahawks @ Eagles: When the 7-9 Seahawks won their division, it forced the Saints to go to Seattle and the outcry for eliminating automatic home playoff games for division winners was brought up. A bit of role reversal this time around as Seattle now is the team going on the road playing a team with a lesser record, a winning record but still the point remains. This will be Carson Wentz's first official playoff start so we'll get to see what Wentz does in a playoff game. If Panthers Safety Tre Boston called the Panthers offensive line average, what do you call the Seahawks offensive line? The Seahawks will be without starting left tackle Duane Brown for this game, and this will hurt Seattle as the Eagles defense sacked Russell Wilson 6 times in their regular season match up.
