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In the AFC, it will be Denver and New England getting first round byes as the No.1 and No.2 seed.
As for the two AFC games this week, No.6 seed Cincinnati will pay a visit to No.3 seed Houston. No.5 seed
Indianapolis heads to No.4 Baltimore making this a weird matchup in one sense, being that the Colts used to play in Baltimore in the early years of the NFL.
Cincy at Houston:
Houston has backslid over the last four weeks despite having two of the best players of the game on their side in running back, Arian Foster and receiver, Andre Johnson. They also have one of the best pass rushers in J.J. Watt (20.5 sacks this year).
Cincinnati’s Bengals has won seven of the eight games on the back half of their schedule and maybe the most underrated team going into the postseason.
Offensively, there is nothing that wows you about Cincy, just solid young players all-around. Cincy’s defense has scored a touchdown in each of the last two contests and no team has scored more than 20 points on them since November 4th. Statistically, Cincy owns the sixth best team defense in the league and Houston is right behind in seventh. I just have a feeling on this one…24-20 Texans.
Indy Colts at Baltimore Ravens
Andrew Luck and the Colts shouldn’t have a huge amount of trouble moving the ball against the Ravens, despite most of the Ravens defense being healthy again. A lot of Ravens sat out last week or saw limited action with the playoffs on the horizon.
With Coach Chuck Pagano back on the sideline in dealing with cancer, Indy came through for a win against Houston.
Baltimore has won three opening round AFC wild card games (2009, 2010 and 2011) and Indy hasn‘t played well in cold weather games all season. 33-21, Baltimore.
On the NFC side, Atlanta and San Francisco have locked up first round byes as the No.1 and No.2 seeded teams in the playoffs due to records.
The two NFC games should be good ones with it being No.3 Green Bay hosting No.6 Minnesota and No.5 Seattle going to face Washington.
For the third time this season, Minnesota and Green Bay meet on the gridiron. Last week they meet indoors, this week its back to the frozen tundra.
Christian Ponder and Adrian Peterson beat 37-34 last week as the Vikings had to win on order to make the playoffs. I don’t think there really is any doubt that offense will come in this one. Green Bay won the earlier meeting at home.
The Packers haven’t lost at home since the first game of the season against the 49ers and will find a way to again…31-17 Green Bay.
Seattle Seahawks at Washington Redskins
These are two of the hottest teams in the NFL right now and pinned as my game of the week.
I like RG III and Alfred Morris for the Redskins, but Seattle has Russell Wilson leading the way and a dynamic defense to back up the most dangerous NFC team in the league. Seattle is a top ten defense among passing and rushing yards and rank fourth among total yards given in a game. The Seahawks have everybody back and have allowed just one rushing touchdown in the last four weeks. Two of those teams ranked sixth or better in the rushing attack among NFL teams and that’s stout.
Washington has won seven in a row, Seattle five. I will take Seattle…28-16.
On the high school front in Wrestling: R- S Central will host the Central Duals on Saturday the 5th. East Rutherford be at the Central Duals and then host Freedom on the 11th. Chase will also be at the Central Duals. Thomas Jefferson will host Hendersonville on January 5th.
And finally, I can’t leave the year without talking about one of the most bizarre stories of 2012, NFL replacements. Who would have ever though NFL replacement referees could have caused such a stir. Right now, the Packers have one more loss than they should and Seattle has one more win than they should. Seattle would actually be a six-seed and Green Bay a two, but one bad call gave Seattle a touchdown that was in reality of a Green Bay interception. In plain sight and in review, the same referee stood by the call and was that ended the replacement ref era in the NFL this season in late September.
Until then, Happy New Year!!!
