2019 NFL Wildcard Round

FootballDad

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I should have had this up a little sooner considering all of the predictions and excellent commentary already up in the Week 17 thread.

Some good games to watch this weekend. AFC games on Saturday, NFC games on Sunday:

Buffalo Bills @ Houston Texans (4:35 PM EST). This one will feature the return from IR of JJ Watt. I will still be rooting for Josh Allen to lead the Bills to victory over Deshaun Watson and the Texans.

Tennessee Titans @ New England Patriots (8:10 PM EST). Should be a really good game to watch. I'm not rooting for either team here, just want to see our guys do well

Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints (1:05 PM EST). I'll be rooting for both QB's to have a great day. Kirk Cousins has still not shown me that he can play lights-out in a big game, while Drew Brees is just plain great. Hopefully Adam Thielen can put together a good game for the Vikings.

Seattle Seahawks @ Philadelphia Eagles (4:40 PM EST). Definitely be rooting for the Eagles in this one over Pet's odious plantation. Fun fact, Carson Wentz became the first QB in league history to pass for over 4,000 yards and not have a single receiver with 500 or more yards. Remarkable how he was able to get the Eagles over the hump with little support.
 

Don Wassall

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Carson Wentz was amazingly good down the stretch given how little he had to work with. He should have a good run as one of the league's best, as long as he has even half-decent receivers to go with Ertz and Goeddert.

The Bills are a clear-cut favorite to prevail over the Black Texans. Will root for the Patriots but won't be too upset if they lose as seeing Ryan Tannehill thrive is perhaps my favorite story of the year after McCaffrey's historic season.

I like the Vikings but won't mind seeing Drew Brees get back to the Super Bowl. The Vikings aren't the same with a nearly all-black defense and Thielen now playing a minor role in the passing game.

Will root for the Eagles of course though they're nothing to brag about from a demographic perspective.
 

FootballDad

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Speaking of Ryan Tannehill, he garnered the AFC player of the month for December. Among his statistical achievements is that he is only 1 of 3 QBs to average 9 yards per attempt while completing 70% of his passes. The others? Sammy Baugh in 1945 and Joe Montana in 1989. Plus his passer rating of 117.5 is the 4th best EVER.
 

Bucky

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Agreed gents Tannehill has been great. I'm rooting for The Titans this weekend but wouldn't be to upset if Patriots do their usual thing.
 

wile

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Lifelong Packers fan, NO will beat the Vikes like a rug, go to GB and beat them then SF and my crystal ball needs new batteries.
 

CrazyFinn

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Right up until week 17, I was still thinking the Pats could get one last deep playoff run before the official end of the Brady/Belichick era (yes, I believe this it).

But losing to Miami of all teams, at home and a first round bye on the line, you can’t trust this team anymore. It was a very un-Patriot like effort. In the past few years, the offense at times was unstoppable with prime Brady, Gronk, Edelman and other pieces that fit perfectly. It made up for the holes in the affletic defenses, which, despite their shortcomings seemed to make critical stops at the right times to win games. That’s how you win 3/4 Super Bowls. Today neither unit is capable of carrying the team. If Ryan Tannehil and Derrick Henry don’t shred that defense on Sat, KC or BAL will.

For this weekend, as long as the plantation loses, I’ll be happy.
 

Westside

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I believe BB and Brady have one more in them. The defense has improved this year. If Brady, the rushing committee gets in the zone, and the affeletic receivers catch passes, easy peasy. NE 31- 17.
 

dwid

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I think the Patriots step it up a notch for the post season. I would like to see a Brady Vs Brees Superbowl. I think it should have happened last year and it would have been a more exciting matchup rather than this year but oh well.
 

white is right

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I believe BB and Brady have one more in them. The defense has improved this year. If Brady, the rushing committee gets in the zone, and the affeletic receivers catch passes, easy peasy. NE 31- 17.
I tend to agree for the wild card round. I recall some god awful Jets teams of the early to mid 90's giving the Bills all they could handle in division rivalry games, the test for the Patriots is in the divisional round where the Patriots will have to beat Fat Bastard and the Mahomes led Chiefs. Without a prime Gronk this should be a bridge too far.
 

CrazyFinn

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It won’t be easy. What sucks about the #3 seed is that they will have to play and beat KC and BAL on the road, assuming they beat a tough TEN team. That’s why the first round bye was so critical. You play KC at home, certainly a winnable game, and then anything can happen at BAL

The Pats record of making it to the Super Bowl without a bye is pretty bad, as in never. Let’s hope they conjure up some magic one last tine.
 

Leonardfan

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J.J. Watt (pectoral) was not listed on the Texans' final injury report for Saturday's Wild Card game against the Bills.
Watt returns to a great matchup versus Josh Allen and the Bills. Allen's 38 sacks in 15 games were 10th-most in the NFL. Watt will also play an important role in stopping Devin Singletary, who has carried the ball at least 14 times in six straight games and rushed for 775 yards on the ground this year.


Weenieworld forgets to mention that Deshaun Watson was sacked 44 times this year and is going up a very good Bills defense. :)
 

NEP01

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The Pats having "never won a Super Bowl without a bye" is a silly media talking point. The Pats made the playoffs 16 times from 2001 to 2018, and had a bye 13 times. The only years they didn't were 2005, 2006, and 2009. The '05 and '09 teams were two of the worst of the Brady era, and the 2006 team beat a loaded Chargers team in the divisional round, and lost to the eventually champion Colts on a last minute touchdown in the AFC championship game.

I am a big Pats fan, but am feeling pessimistic. The Pats of the 2010's peaked from 2014-2016, winning the SB in '14 and '16. The 2015 team was probably their best, but the offense was ravaged by injuries and they lost by 2 points to the best defense of the decade in Denver. The Pats had some good fortune the past two years, as their victories over the Jaguars and Chiefs in the AFC championship game were razor thin. Overall, I'm happy with last year's surprising title, and Brady has nothing left to prove.
 

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With Brady being a free agent at the end of this campaign, we have no idea what the future holds for the Patriots. Here is a remarkably well-written article by one of Yahoo's normally-caste writers on Brady, the Patriots and Gillette Stadium....

One more ride for Tom Brady in New England, then nothing promised

Gillette Stadium opened in 2002, built adjacent to New England’s former joint Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium. That old place was a forgettable collection of metal bleachers, a testament to ownership that lacked money and stature. Yes, an NFL stadium was actually named after a discount (and now mostly discontinued) brand of beer.

The new place was the product of new ownership, a billionaire playing the NFL’s favorite game of pitting two different states against each other for sweetheart incentives. The Hartford Patriots (or something like it) was supposedly a real possibility.

Gillette was a palace built for royalty — luxury boxes and a giant lighthouse in one end zone. When it was constructed, however, no one knew who the king would be.

Then along came a sixth-round pick out of Michigan, who closed the old place in a playoff snowstorm (with help from the tuck rule) en route to winning this once woebegone franchise its first Super Bowl.


It also might be Brady’s last game amid the tall pines of Foxborough.

If the Patriots can get past the Titans, they’ll travel to Kansas City, where they’d have to upset the Chiefs and then enjoy a slew of upsets for the AFC championship game to return to Foxborough.

After that is anyone’s guess. The 42-year-old is a free agent at season’s end, which means he may retire or choose to leave the only franchise he has ever known. Or he could, perhaps, return for another shot, too.

Perhaps not even Brady knows for sure.

Saturday will be his 152nd game (playoffs included) at Gillette. He’s 115-19 during the regular season and 14-3 during the playoffs. Not only has no other quarterback ever won so many games in a single stadium, he’s the only quarterback to even reach 100.

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It's possible that Tom Brady could be making his final start at Gillette Stadium in a Patriots uniform. (Billie Weiss/Getty Images)
The memories are endless. Brady to Faulk. Brady to Welker. Brady to Moss. Brady to Gronk. This has just gone on and on and on. The Patriots starting right corner for Brady’s first game at Gillette (Otis Smith) was born in 1965. One of his current receivers (N’Keal Harry) was born in 1997.

By the start of the 2020 season, only 17 current NFL stadiums will be older than the Brady-Gillette marriage.

On many game days, opposing teams would pull up to the stadium through a police protected back route that slips through neighborhoods and forest and be done before they even got off the bus.

Eight times he posted unbeaten regular-season records at home. Dallas, Chicago, Minnesota, Cincinnati and Browns, among others, never beat Brady there. He’s 6-0 against Pittsburgh (playoffs included). He’s 16-1 against Buffalo, the lone loss coming when he was subbed out in a final week game to rest for the playoffs. His current nine-game home win streak against the New York Jets includes a three-game stretch where the Pats won by a combined score of 105-12.

It’s during the postseason that he’s been particularly haunting. He’s equally famous for late-game comebacks (against Baltimore and Jacksonville) and early game blowouts (over Indianapolis and Denver) that make the night feel hopeless. He hasn’t lost a home playoff game since Jan. 20, 2013, when Ray Lewis and the Ravens stunned them.

He didn’t build the place. He just made it his own like no other player in NFL history.

And that’s why Saturday will feel different than any of those previous starts — the real sense that when he charges out onto the field pregame and sprints all the way into the end zone, imploring the fans to roar, it may be for the last time.


Or that the inevitable “Brady, Brady” chants from the stands will echo around but perhaps never return.

“I’m not much for nostalgia,” Brady said Thursday, when asked about this possibly being his last game at Gillette. “I’m pretty focused on what I need to do. This week felt pretty much like every other week for the last 20 years. Just focused on what I need to do.”

Yeah, well, of course he’s going to say that. He probably even means it. You can’t put up these kinds of numbers without staying in the moment and focusing on the minutiae.

Let’s see how he feels when he’s driving to Foxborough on Saturday, or strolling in through the Gillette loading dock or getting dressed in the locker room.

“I haven’t thought about those things,” Brady said. “I wouldn’t be thinking about those things anyway.”


Brady doesn’t lack for accolades or appreciation, but in some ways New England’s relentless domination of the NFL has hindered some perspective. After nine Super Bowl appearances and six Lombardi Trophies, there is only one goal for the quarterback and the franchise.

Anything other than everything is not enough.

Yet here on another January Saturday Night, all eyes turn once again to Foxborough to watch Tom Brady lead the Patriots.

Win or lose against the Titans, that is something to behold, something to appreciate, because there’s never been a single player more dominant in a single place in the 100-year history of the league.

One more for Tom and Gillette. After that … nothing promised.
 

northwinds

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Trent Murphy gets the solo sack on DahShaun and both announcers give the credit to a black DT.......saying Murphy just ‘cleaning it up’ .....unreal
 

Old Scratch

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Trent Murphy gets the solo sack on DahShaun and both announcers give the credit to a black DT.......saying Murphy just ‘cleaning it up’ .....unreal
ESPN has by far the worst commentary crew.

Edit: Booger blaming Allen because his receiver didn't get two feet down before going out of bounds despite having plenty of real estate to do so
 

Leonardfan

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Brown could of dragged his feet easily there - booger quick to criticize Allen.
 

Riggins44

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Booger and Tessitore also earlier blamed Allen for throwing the ball "too hard" when it went right through Singleterry's hands.
 

FootballDad

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Nice to see Murphy and Milano having a big impact on defense for the Bills. I wonder why other teams don't have more of these lunchpail types on their teams as anonymous tackling machines.
 

TwentyTwo

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Brown could of dragged his feet easily there - booger quick to criticize Allen.
My question ....Would Deshaun be getting that SAME EXACT criticism like Allen on that play?? Or would have it been the WR's fault?

(EDIT: Drooling ; athleticism; better than advertised" etc ....Boogar & Tessitore giving Josh Allen MAJOR props now))))

Trent Murphy = Lights out early! At least Boogar did comeback to give him & Milano credit?

Nice 42 yard run by Josh Allen earlier....& TD Catch!
 
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Old Scratch

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Why didn't the Bills returner call for fair catch? He backed his offense up to around the 3 or 4 now.
 
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