11/21/24
January 08, 2017
Packers, Steelers, Seahawks, Texans Advance: In an NFL wild card weekend with nothing resembling a close game, the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks advanced in the NFC and the Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Texans in the AFC. Aaron Rodgers threw four touchdown passes, including a first-half Hail Mary, to lead the Packers over the New York Giants. Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown combined for four touchdowns for the Steelers against the Miami Dolphins. Next week Seattle visits the Atlanta Falcons and Green Bay visits the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC, while Pittsburgh visits the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston visits the New England Patriots.
It's appropriate to assume that New England will easily handle Houston, but:
1) Osweiler managed to beat the Pats when he was a Bronco
2) The Texans have that defense
3) There's the O'Brien-Crennel factor
4) Teams looking for head coaches have been ramping up the lust for McDaniels and Patricia
5) Week 3 was a long time ago
If the Pats underperform on offense, there's a chance that the Texans could find a way to score just enough points to win.
Don't worry, I'm not taking that to Vegas. Just having a maybe moment.
posted by beaverboard at 09:19 PM on January 08, 2017
1) Osweiler managed to beat the Pats when he was a Bronco
Can we change that to "Osweiler didn't completely screw it up for the defence against the Pats as a Bronco"?
posted by deflated at 01:16 AM on January 09, 2017
A clean sweep of the wild card teams has my Pick 'Em chances looking pretty slim already! Three playoff games next weekend ought to be interesting matchups, but with all due respect to Houston, if the Patriots don't win then something has gone almost cosmically wrong.
The last time they played, the NE third-string, rookie quarterback led the Pats to an embarrassing rout of the Texans by 27-0 on Thursday Night Football. NE now has Brady back, sports a 14-2 record, and has the fewest injuries of any Belichick-era playoff team... going against the consensus worst QB in the league right now, while at home where they are something crazy in the Brady era like 98-16.
Not to mention, the last 4 times the Texans have gone to Foxborough, they've lost by at least 27 points:
| Date | Houston | New England |
| 09/22/2016 | 0 | 27 |
| 01/13/2013 | 28 | 41 |
| 12/10/2012 | 14 | 42 |
| 12/17/2016 | 7 | 40 |
posted by hincandenza at 06:25 PM on January 09, 2017
That was the most boring NFL playoff game weekend I can remember. I hoped the Packers and Giants could generate some drama, but no luck. Next week looks a lot more interesting, aside from Houston vs. New England.