Saturday, January 3, 2015

PW's NFL Wild Card Weekend Predictions

By Peyton Wesner

Now with the College Football Playoff on a break, we football fans can enjoy another playoff, the NFL Playoffs. There are many "must watch" games on this Wild Card Weekend like Arizona at Carolina, Baltimore at Pittsburgh, Cincinnati at Indianapolis, and Detroit at Dallas. Oh wait that is all the games this weekend. So forget about bowls and neutral sites and let's turn our attention to home field advantage, QB matchups, and only one bowl...The Super Bowl.

Saturday January 3, 2015
11-5 5. Arizona Cardinals
at 7-8-1 4. Carolina Panthers

These teams are as different as hot and cold coming into this afternoon's game in Charlotte. The Arizona Cardinals started the season on fire as they entered Week 5, 3-0 with wins at home against San Diego and San Francisco and on the road at the New York Giants. Impressively the 49ers and Giants' victories came with back-up Drew Stanton starting as quarterback because starter Carson Palmer was injuried in the season opener. The real test for the Cardinals though came against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. Arizona stayed step for step with Denver until the fourth quarter when Peyton Manning led his team to two touchdown drives and one that resulted in a field goal making the score 41-20 Broncos, which was the final score. Drew Stanton finally could not get the job done. The following week, Carson Palmer returned from injury and led the Cardinals back on the winning path with a 30-20 victory that put the Cardinals at 4-1 and at the top of the NFC. Arizona then rolled off three more victories leading into a game against the St. Louis Rams and their great defense. The game was a low scoring affair going into halftime with the score of St. Louis 14, Arizona 10. The third quarter was boring since no points were scored, but in the fourth quarter the unthinkable happened, Carson Palmer walked off the field with a left knee injury, he could not play through, that we later learned was a torn ACL. Drew Stanton was thrown back into action but he needed to be effective immediately. On his first possession Stanton had the ball on the Rams 48 yard line and decided to throw a long pass for John Brown. Brown caught the ball and ran into the endzone for the touchdown. The touchdown gave Arizona the lead and they would never look back in route to a 31-14 victory. Could Arizona survive with Stanton as their quarterback? The next week Stanton and Arizona squeaked past Detroit setting up a big divisional matchup with a hot Seattle Seahawks in Seattle. The Seahawks defense tore Stanton and the offense apart and gave Arizona their second loss of the season. The Seahawks loss sent the Cardinals on a two game skid with another loss coming against the Atlanta Falcons. Besides losing, another negative was that their lead for the first overall seed was dwindling. The following week, Arizona defeated the Kansas City Chiefs at home setting up another matchup with the Rams but this time in the Edwards Jones Dome. The game was a field goal contest as Arizona had a 9-3 advantage going into the third quarter, which was when Drew Stanton was lying on the ground. Not again! Yes...again. Drew Stanton was injured on the play causing his back-up Ryan Lindley to he thrusted into action. Lindley played okay in his first game of the season as Arizona sneaked out of St. Louis with a 12-6 victory. But the Rams were not as good as the stiff competition to come like the Seahawks and the 49ers. Lindley and the Cardinals would lose both games at Seattle and at San Francisco, which gave Seattle the division title and the Cardinals a first round matchup against Cam Newton's Carolina Panthers.

The Carolina Panthers also had quarterback problems in 2014 but not to the severity of Arizona's. The season started out great for the Panthers as Derek Anderson led Carolina to a Week 1 victory over Tampa Bay while Cam Newton was hurt with a hairline fracture rib. Then the following week with Newton back at the helm, the Panthers soundly defeated the Detroit Lions. The Panthers were on top of the world with a 2-0 record, but then everything came crashing down. After Week 2, Cam's team went 1-8-1 in their next ten games with losses to division rivals like New Orleans and Atlanta as well as Teddy Bridgewater's Minnesota Vikings. Despite the poor performances of the past, Week 14 was the turning point in the Panthers' season. The opponent was the New Orleans at the Superdome. The Saints were 5-7 going into the game and with a win they would be one step closer to winning the division. The problem for the Saints was that Carolina had other plans on the given Sunday and shocked the football world by scoring 41 points on the Saints in a 41-10 win at the Superdome. After the win, Carolina was 4-8-1 and had to win every game for the remainder of the season to even have a chance at the division crown. Anything is possible I suppose but what if Cam Newton gets injured into a car accident causing him to miss a game. No one predicted that. The car accident to Newton took him out of action, meaning that Derek Anderson was back as starter for round two against Tampa Bay. Carolina commanded the game for the majority and despite a Buccaneer rally late, the Panthers survived 19-17, setting up a matchup with Johnny Manziel and the Cleveland Browns for a chance to play in the NFC South Championship game. The game was very close and the Browns were actually leading 13-10 in the fourth quarter against the Panthers but Cam Newton then drove the Panthers down the field and gave Carolina the lead with 7:07 remaining in the fourth quarter. After the score, the defense stepped up and stopped Brian Hoyer (Manziel was hurt) on the fifty yard-line setting up fourth down. Cleveland Coach Mike Pettine decided to punt the ball to Carolina with the hope that his defense could stop Newton and the Panthers. The stop never occurred and Carolina was all set for the NFC South Championship Game against the Atlanta Falcons. Cam Newton and the Panthers walked onto the field and before anyone knew it the score was 24-3 Panthers going into halftime. Carolina would eventually win 34-3 guaranteeing  a trip to the NFL Playoffs for the second straight season and a home game on Wild Card Weekend.

Prediction:
Can Ryan Lindley finally get a win in one of his starts this season? I do not think he will for multiple reasons. For starters, Carolina has won their last four games while Arizona has lost their last two. I know what you are thinking, you think that is an unvalid argument because the Playoffs is "a new season." Technically the Playoffs is "a new season" but if a team has momentum going into the Wild Card Round, it always helps. Also, the Carolina Panthers defense has been playing great in the last four games and has kept oppoents under twenty points in all games while holding them to an average of under eleven points per game. I just do not see Arizona scoring twenty points in Charlotte. I am not even sure if the Cardinals would have scored twenty points against this hot Carolina team at home! 
---Carolina 24, Arizona 13

8:15 PM EST-NBC
10-6 6. Balitmore Raves
at 11-5 3. Pittsburgh Steelers

Round three of the Baltimore Ravens versus the Pittsburgh Steelers commenses tonight at Heinz Field. When you think of the Baltimore Ravens in 2014, you normally think of former Baltimore running back Ray Rice and the drama surrounding his suspension and release from the team, but while that twister was swirling around within the front office of the organization, Joe Flacco and the team put together a good season. After a heartbreaking Week 1 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Baltimore came out on Thursday Night Football and blew out tonight's opponent, the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-6 in Baltimore. The win started what would br the Ravens' longest winning streak as they recorded wins at Cleveland and at home against Carolina to be 3-1 going into a showdown with Andrew Luck's Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Colts had a 13-3 lead going into the fourth quarter and Indianapolis had Flacco and the offense all out of sorts. Then, out of no where the Ravens started to move the ball down the field for points and before anyone knew it, the score was Indianapolis 20-13 with plenty of time for Baltimore to tie the game. The Colts ran much of the remaining seven minutes in the fourth quarter off the clock leaving 1:49 for the Ravens to drive 89 yards for the tie. It all came down to fourth and three on Baltimore's own eighteen yard-line. Flacco took the snap, dropped back, and found Owen Daniels for an eighteen yard completion. First down Ravens! Then after two incompletions and a short seven yard pass, another fourth down and three emerged this time from the Ravens own 46 yard line. Flacco took the snap and the Colts rushed a few defensive ends as the quarterback from Delaware fired a long pass intended to Torrey Smith that fell harmlessly to the ground incomplete. The Colts held off the Ravens rally causing both teams to be knotted at 3-2 records. Something that Baltimore overcame this season was playing in the division with the best records. There were multiple occassions over the course of the season that Baltimore was behind all of their division foes but they never let the fact hurt their team morale. With a 3-2 record, the Ravens took out their frustration with a 48-17 win at Tampa Bay, where Joe Flacco threw five touchdowns, and with a 29-7 win versus Atlanta at home. The winning streak took Baltimore into a tough stretch that would take the team to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. Part one of the Cincy/Steel City Challenge was in Cincinnati against the Bengals who defeated them in Week 1. Mid-way through the third quarter it looked as if Cincinnati would move on to a big victory since the score was 17-6 but then Lorenzo Tallaferro scored two touchdowns to give the Ravens a 21-20 edge. Later Justin Tucker kicked a fifty-three-yard field goal through the uprights to give Baltimore a 24-20 lead with 3:59 left in the game. Cincinnati would have a chance thought but they would needed a touchdown. The Bengals drive started at their own twenty-yard line line with two Andy Dalton incompletions. Third down and ten for the Bengals. Dalton dropped back, stepped up in the pocket, and let one fly for Mohamed Sanu. Sanu jumped up and caught the ball at Baltimore's twenty-seven yard line giving Cincinnati a first down. The possession would end with an Andy Dalton quarterback sneak for touchdown on fourth down and one to snatch the lead from Baltimore. Flacco had time but the Cincinnati defense stoped the Ravens and swept the season series. Hmm, well that was a tough loss, but Baltimore should win against the Steelers since they beat them by twenty at home right? Wrong, Pittsburgh returned the favor and defeated the Ravens 43-23 sending Baltimore to a mediocre 5-4 record. The team rebounded with wins at home against Tennessee and on Monday Night Football in the Superdome versus the New Orleans Saints. The Ravens were back in the Playoff hunt! The following game was very important against the Chargers at home since San Diego was a team that Baltimore would be fighting for the six seed with. The Ravens had a 30-20 lead with 6:13 left in the fourth quarter, but allowed the San Diego Chargers to come back from ten points down by scoring twenty-one points in the fourth quarter at M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens lost? With a ten point lead and six minutes left? Yes, they did but they bounced back with a huge win at Miami that basically sealed the Dolphins fate of not making the playoffs and a must-win at home against Jacksonville. In Week 16, all the Ravens had to do was win and they would be in the driver's seat going into the final week. Baltimore could not defeat J.J. Watt as Joe Flacco threw threw interceptions in a 25-13 loss. The loss set up a poor scenario for the Ravens as even with a win in Week 17 they needed a San Diego Chargers loss to Chase Daniel's Kansas City Chiefs. Ag 3:00 PM Eastern time on Week 17, the Chiefs were winning by two possesions, the Texans were winning (needed Ravens loss to get sixth seed), and the Browns were ahead of Baltimore 10-3 with back-up Rookie from South Carolina, Conner Shaw as Cleveland's quarterback. Honestly, I thought Cleveland would hang on and Houston was going to get into the playoffs but Joe Flacco, who cost his team the week prior, threw two touchdowns as the Ravens scored seventeen unanswered points to get the 20-10 win and the sixth seed in the NFL Playoffs since San Diego lost. The division rematch was set, who would win by twenty this time?

 I have always said that Pittsburgh is the worst best team in the NFL since it is so hard to predict which performance the team will have on any given week. The Steelers dominated early in Week 1 but had to hold off a late Cleveland Browns comeback to win 30-27. What awaited in Week 2, was unexpected for Pittsburgh. The matchup was agianst the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on Thursday Night Football. Like Week 1 of Thursday Night Football game, the game was a blowout as Pittsburgh was beaten 26-6 in the national spotlight. The Steelers could have easily went 14-2 this season as after Week 2, the Steelers went 10-4 with three losses of their four losses coming to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, and the New York Jets. How does a team with Ben Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown lose to inferior teams like that? Well, normally when a good team loses to very poor opponents it can be found that the favorite took their opponent lightly and turned their quality of play down or in other words, "played down to their competition." Despite many losses to poor teams, the Steelers have had some very impressive wins at home against the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens as Roethlisberger threw six touchdowns per game. Yes, the quarterback from the University of Miami (Ohio) threw twelve touchdowns in a span of two weeks while his team outscored the Colts and Ravens by a score of 94-57. Wow! Now that was the team I expect the Steelers to be. Then what happened, they lost to Geno Smith's Jets. After the loss against Rex Ryan's squad, Pittsburgh finished the season 5-1 with their only loss coming in a 35-32 shootout against the New Orleans Saints. The Steelers even won their last four games against Atlanta, Kansas City, and Cincinnati twice including the AFC North Championship Game in Pittsburgh on Sunday Night Football last week. Which Steelers team will show up this evening? The good or the bad?

Prediction:
With Le'Veon Bell out with a hyperextended right knee, the Pittsburgh Steelers will need a good running performance from either Rookie running back from Wake Forrest, Josh Harris, or former Cleveland Brown that was cut this season, Ben Tate. If these two rushers could combine for maybe twelve carries and 80 yards that would help, not completely fill, but help fill the production seen every game from Bell. If Tate or Harris cannot step up then "Big Ben" will have to throw for the yardage and avoid turnovers. It is essential for Roethlisberger to make smart throws because if the Ravens defense stops Pittsburgh's rushing attack, their defenders will sets back and wait for the Pittsburgh quarterback to throw. If Big Ben cannot avoid turnovers when the Ravens are expecting throws then Baltimore will win. The Ravens' offense has not impressed me as of late and will need more than 20 points (which is the highest total they have scored in theyr last three games) to win tonight in Pittsburgh because I see, with the game at Heinz Field, Antonio Brown having a really good game.
---Pittsburgh 31, Baltimore 24



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