Bug's Wildcard Weekend Picks.

Last year I was 1-3 in the first round. Let's see if I can do better this year.

Colts vs.Texans in Houston.

I see this coming down to how well the offensive lines perform. The Colts protected Luck like the Hope Diamond in the regular season, giving up just 18 sacks. It should be noted though that a lot of them came in the two regular season meetings between these teams. The Colts will need a credible ground game to take some of the pressure off against a Texans defense that gave up an average of just 82 yards on the ground in 16 games.

The pours Texans line allowed a league most 62 sacks. Watson can be dangerous out of the pocket but with Fuller and Thomas out it won't be enough. The Texans red zone efficiency in the regular season was just 27%.

Bug's pick: Colts.

Seahawks vs. Cowboys in Arlington.

Seattle comes into this game averaging 160 rushing yards per game. The Dallas D gave up just 94.6 yards on the ground. Even with that fast, mobile corps of linebackers I'm not confident their defense can contain that Seahawks ground game. In the end, the experience Russell Wilson has in big games will be the difference.

Bug's pick: Seattle.

Chargers vs. Ravens in Baltimore.

I've been going back and forth on this game all week. The Ravens beat the Bolts just a few weeks ago but Anthony Lynn is great at making adjustments even during a game. Phillip Rivers is playing some of the best football of his career and Gordon is said to be back to 100%. For the Chargers to come out on top he will have to crack a Ravens defense that gave up just 82 rushing yards per game. Correction: Just heard on NFL Network Gordon may in fact not be 100%.

Lamar Jackson will be the youngest QB to ever start an NFL playoff game. Will he handle the pressure? With the help of that relentless ground game that grinds out first downs and chews up clock time, I think he will.

Bug's pick: Ravens.

Eagles vs. Bears in Chicago.

We all know what Nick Foles did in the 2017 season, and how he saved the Eagles season this time. This may be his last time wearing Eagles green, and he inspires confidence in his teammates. Philly has a great offensive line but the fierce pass rush from Mack & Co. will be too much. The magic carpet ride comes to an end at Soldier Field.

Bug's pick: Bears.

Colts vs Texans- I'll take the Colts

Seahawks vs Cowboys- Seahawks get the job done

Chargers vs Ravens- I, like you Bugman have been going back and forth with this one- I'm thinking Rivers might just outduel Jackson, I'll take the Bolts

Eagles vs Bears- I don't think there will be any Foles magic in Chicago. I think Trubisky plays well enough and the Bears D holds the Eagles in check. Bears win.

Barbershopman

Barbershopman said:

Colts vs Texans- I'll take the Colts

Seahawks vs Cowboys- Seahawks get the job done

Chargers vs Ravens- I, like you Bugman have been going back and forth with this one- I'm thinking Rivers might just outduel Jackson, I'll take the Bolts

Eagles vs Bears- I don't think there will be any Foles magic in Chicago. I think Trubisky plays well enough and the Bears D holds the Eagles in check. Bears win.

Barbershopman

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We agree on three of the four games then. It looks like we won't have a repeat of the Fog Bowl when the Eagles and Bears kick off tomorrow. That remains one of the strangest NFL games I've ever seen. Or almost saw.

The Colts win in Houston 21-7 and move on to Arrowhead next week to face the Chiefs. The Texans offense was out of sync most of the game and by the time they started making some plays it was too late. Take away the 76 rushing yards by Watson and they managed just 29 yards on the ground. That won't win you many games.

Colts dominate the Texans. Andrew Luck had a very good game, Deshaun Watson had a very bad game. Nuf said.


The Cowboys move on after beating the Seahawks. Ezekiel Elliott runs for 100+ yards while the #1 rushing attack runs for 79. I also think that Sea Bass's injury changed the Seahawks mindset if not their game plan. After the pass to Tyler Lockett set up the touchdown to cut the lead to two, Seattle employed an odd onside kick if you could even call it that, it looked more like a pooch punt. Sea Bass would have executed a more proper onside kick.

Speaking of injuries, prayers go out to Allen Hurns. I didn't see the play in which he broke his ankle and I guess I'm glad I didn't. It was apparently so gruesome that ESPN won't show any replays. I did see a still photo of the injury, he is lying on his stomach, his left knee is on the ground and his left foot is pointed TO THE SKY as if he is laying on his BACK, UUGH!!

Barbershopman

Bugman said:

We agree on three of the four games then. It looks like we won't have a repeat of the Fog Bowl when the Eagles and Bears kick off tomorrow. That remains one of the strangest NFL games I've ever seen. Or almost saw.

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I'd forgotten about the Fog Bowl. I also remember "trying" to see that game. They just showed a segment on it on NFL Countdown. Hard to believe it's been 30 years since that strange contest. Things were so bad down on the field that Verne Lundquist and Terry Bradshaw were calling the game up in the booth by looking at their monitors, as they couldn't see the field from the booth.

Barbershopman

Barbershopman said:

Colts dominate the Texans.

The Cowboys move on after beating the Seahawks. Ezekiel Elliott runs for 100+ yards while the #1 rushing attack runs for 79. I also think that Sea Bass's injury changed the Seahawks mindset if not their game plan. After the pass to Tyler Lockett set up the touchdown to cut the lead to two, Seattle employed an odd onside kick if you could even call it that, it looked more like a pooch punt. Sea Bass would have executed a more proper onside kick.

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I'm still surprised at how poorly the Seahawks offense played. And man was I wrong about the Dallas D. Seattle had no ground game at all.

Speaking of injuries, prayers go out to Allen Hurns. I didn't see the play in which he broke his ankle and I guess I'm glad I didn't. It was apparently so gruesome that ESPN won't show any replays. I did see a still photo of the injury, he is lying on his stomach, his left knee is on the ground and his left foot is pointed TO THE SKY as if he is laying on his BACK, UUGH!!

Barbershopman

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They showed one replay right after it happened and that was more than enough. The human ankle isn't designed to bend that way. Just heard on the Chargers-Ravens pregame show the surgery went well and Allen will be going home later today. Wishing him a full recovery.

The Chiefs are 0 for 4 against the Colts in post-season.

If Kansas City doesn't win this upcoming divisional game, Andy Reid should be fired. They have the best quarterback since Dawson or Montana, and has had a phenomenal first season as a starter. There is no way I would tolerate another playoff disaster. He's Schottenheimer 2.0.

Having said that, they probably will lay another egg, providing that the defense has been godawful. It will be a high-scoring game, but the Colts will barely survive and win.

Watching the Chargers-Ravens game. The first touchdown of the game was scored by the Chargers with 2 seconds left in the 3rd quarter, and 14:58 of the 4th quarter, AND 14:52 of the 4th.

Down by 17, the Ravens march Jackson back out and the boo birds are out in Baltimore. With the sack, Baltimore has -2 yards passing and 47 yards TOTAL for the game. If Harbaugh doesn't put in Flacco on the next offensive series, fans may riot after the game.


Barbershopman

After my original post, the Ravens woke up and are actually making a game of it, down 23-17. But, alas, Baltimore fumbles the snap with 23 seconds left and the Chargers recover. As Hudson said in Aliens, Game over, man, game over!

So Bugman, we are 2 for 3 with the Eagles-Bears game to go.

Barbershopman

Barbershopman said:

After my original post, the Ravens woke up and are actually making a game of it, down 23-17. But, alas, Baltimore fumbles the snap with 23 seconds left and the Chargers recover. As Hudson said in Aliens, Game over, man, game over!

So Bugman, we are 2 for 3 with the Eagles-Bears game to go.

Barbershopman

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They did at least make the score respectable. I feel for the Ravens defense. They held out most of the game with no support at all until it was too late.

Foles does it again. Unbelievable. When it comes to crunch time that guy is as good a QB as anyone in the league. I picked the Bears but the truth be told I was cheering for Nick and his crew. Great job.

Bears season ends on a double-doinker. The FIFTH time this year that Parkey has hit the upright, unbelievable.

With that said, I know it is well within the rules, but I still don't like the wait-until-the-last-second and call the time out to ice the kicker. You want to ice him, do it when they first set the ball down.


Barbershopman

I didn't get to give my picks on here, but I went 0-4.

The Colts surprised me. That defense is for real, and that O-Line is stacked. Josh McDaniels did the Colts the biggest favor by going back on his word. Because if that doesn't happen, Frank Reich isn't their head coach.

The Cowboys defense is also legit, and their LB unit is loaded. Shut down Seattles top rated rushing attack. Also the Cooper trade looks more and more brilliant.

The Ravens weren't able to run the ball, and their offense got exposed. They could've pulled Jackson, but I'm glad they didn't. If he's the future, the only way he's gonna learn and improve is if he stays out there. And maybe the Chargers defense let up, but the Ravens made it a game in the 4th Qtr. I hope the fans don't lose their minds over this game, because the fans weren't happy at all for most of it. Cornerback Jimmy Smith even went to some heckling fans during the game who were calling for Flacco, and told him, (I'm paraphrasing) "Who got us here? Don't be fair-weather fans". Jackson has to work on his throwing, but the dude's started just eight games, he went 6-2, and he's got a bright future.

It's easy to blame the kicker for Chicagos loss, but their defense didn't step up on that final drive. That's where the best defense in the NFL should show everyone why they're the best. They let Philly convert multiple 3rd downs, and a 4th down. I will say this about Chicaogos kicker, he's hit the goalpost six times this season, four of which came in one game. I genuinely think it's harder to do that than it is to make a long field goal in general.

BBGuy5240 said:

I didn't get to give my picks on here, but I went 0-4.

The Colts surprised me. That defense is for real, and that O-Line is stacked. Josh McDaniels did the Colts the biggest favor by going back on his word. Because if that doesn't happen, Frank Reich isn't their head coach.

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The first Colts game I watched was a couple of weeks ago. If the announcer didn't tell me it was Frank Reich, I wouldn't have believed it. He looks more like he belongs on Duck Dynasty. Jim Irsay should send Josh McDaniels a thank you card for backing out. I don't think they are here with him.


You're right BBGuy5240, blaming Parkey for the loss is the easy way out. All season, it was touted that the Monsters of the Midway were back and that Chicago was going to ride this defense all the way, especially after they acquired
Mack. Well they didn't stop Philly and it cost them.

Here's hoping for next week that my Chiefs prevail. . .and that Rivers and company can take down the Pats.

Barbershopman

BBGuy5240 said:

I didn't get to give my picks on here, but I went 0-4.

The Colts surprised me. That defense is for real, and that O-Line is stacked. Josh McDaniels did the Colts the biggest favor by going back on his word. Because if that doesn't happen, Frank Reich isn't their head coach.

The Cowboys defense is also legit, and their LB unit is loaded. Shut down Seattles top rated rushing attack. Also the Cooper trade looks more and more brilliant.

The Ravens weren't able to run the ball, and their offense got exposed. They could've pulled Jackson, but I'm glad they didn't. If he's the future, the only way he's gonna learn and improve is if he stays out there. And maybe the Chargers defense let up, but the Ravens made it a game in the 4th Qtr. I hope the fans don't lose their minds over this game, because the fans weren't happy at all for most of it. Cornerback Jimmy Smith even went to some heckling fans during the game who were calling for Flacco, and told him, (I'm paraphrasing) "Who got us here? Don't be fair-weather fans". Jackson has to work on his throwing, but the dude's started just eight games, he went 6-2, and he's got a bright future.

It's easy to blame the kicker for Chicagos loss, but their defense didn't step up on that final drive. That's where the best defense in the NFL should show everyone why they're the best. They let Philly convert multiple 3rd downs, and a 4th down. I will say this about Chicaogos kicker, he's hit the goalpost six times this season, four of which came in one game. I genuinely think it's harder to do that than it is to make a long field goal in general.

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All great points. And we now know an Eagles linemen got enough of the ball to send it off course. In fact the NFL has officially
changed it from a miss to a block. Probably won't make the Bears and their fans feel any better though.