LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
It's incredible to consider that only a few months ago, the Detroit Lions surprised the Kansas City Chiefs in the season's opening game. Now that the NFL playoffs are about to begin, those two clubs are postseason-bound and might play each other in the Super Bowl.
This is where the journey begins. The remaining division champions and wild-card clubs will try to reduce the field as the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens have first-round byes.
Riding high on waves of momentum, the Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns are both back in the postseason. Thanks to C.J. Stroud and DeMeco Ryans, the Texans won a division, making history as the first club in the Super Bowl era to do so with a rookie head coach and quarterback, respectively. The Browns are in the playoffs for the second time in the last 20 years.
All eyes will be on Stroud to see how he can manage the playoff pressure, and it’s been a minute since Houston has had any postseason success. This season, he has 23 touchdown passes and 4,108 passing yards.
Denzel Ward, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, and Myles Garrett make up the Brown's defence that he will face. In addition, Joe Flacco seems to have gone back in time as he has 1,616 passing yards and 13 touchdown passes since assuming the starting quarterback role.
Cleveland defeated Houston 36–22 on Christmas Eve.
Tyreek Hill, wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins, will be the centre of attention as he returns to Arrowhead Stadium for a crucial game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Since the early 2000s, teams have not won back-to-back Super Bowl titles, but Patrick Mahomes' team is attempting to accomplish it.
But in the latter stages, both sides have had difficulty. Before falling to the Buffalo Bills in the season's penultimate game, the Dolphins were leading the race for the AFC East championship. Despite winning three of their last four games, the Chiefs' offence hasn't shown as strong as it has in previous years.
The Chiefs have won the AFC West division for eight years running, and Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel will need to come up with a brilliant plan to unseat coach Andy Reid, a legend in the game. Miami is making the playoffs for the first time since 1997–2001 in back-to-back seasons.
Remember that the weather will play a major role; in Kansas City, the wind chill is predicted to drop far below zero. In any case, the two teams' most recent meeting took place earlier in the season in Germany. Kansas City prevailed, 21–14.
The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Buffalo Bills will play in the wild-card round to begin Sunday’s slate of games. After defeating the Dolphins in the season's penultimate game, the Bills head into the contest as the AFC East champions. In an attempt to qualify for the playoffs, the Steelers are riding a three-game winning streak.
Pittsburgh needed a Jacksonville Jaguars loss to squeak in after defeating the Baltimore Ravens the previous weekend. Now that things have transpired as it has, Mason Rudolph and the offence must attempt to take action against the Bills. It will be much harder on defence without T.J. Watt.
Josh Allen finished the season with 4,306 passing yards and 29 touchdown passes, helping Buffalo win the AFC East for the fourth time running. Allen will have a lot of pressure to lead the charge and prevent Buffalo from committing turnovers in the face of the ravenous Steelers.
The Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers have a long playoff history together, particularly in light of Dez Bryant's non-catch and Aaron Rodgers' incredible late-game performances. With Jordan Love starting at quarterback for the Packers, a new era is underway as Dallas attempts to return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 28 years.
With 36 touchdown passes this season, Dak Prescott led the NFL and will be more widely seen when the Cowboys and his opponent play in the playoffs. Micah Parsons is the captain of the defence and will be required to carry on his rampage. With 14 sacks in 2023, he became the fifth player to have 40 or more in his first three seasons since 1982.
Prescott was ahead of Love with thirty-two touchdown throws. It's his first post-Rodgers playoff berth as well. In addition, Love has 4,159 passing yards under his belt. The Packers are winning, but they will need to work hard to win away from home.
Ford Field welcomes playoff football for the first time. On Sunday night, the Detroit Lions will host the Los Angeles Rams and former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford in a postseason game.
QB Jared Goff is eager to get revenge on the Rams for trading him for Stafford a few seasons ago, and this game is widely anticipated. As the young Lions attempt to build on what may be a historic season, the supporters will be ferocious and boisterous. Amon-Ra St. Brown has 119 catches for 1,515 yards and 10 touchdowns, while QB Jared Goff has 4,575 passing yards and 30 touchdown passes. Sam LaPorta has ten touchdowns as well.
The division-winning San Francisco 49ers prevented the Rams from making the playoffs. Alongside Cooper Kupp, Stafford has turned rookie wide receiver Puka Nacua into a devastating weapon, and the Rams have performed admirably. Remember that Kobie Turner, a rookie, led the team with nine sacks, while Aaron Donald has eight.
The NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the reigning conference champion Philadelphia Eagles square off in the wild-card game.
When Baker Mayfield was a member of the Browns in 2020, that was his final postseason appearance. For the team's first postseason triumph in eighteen years, they surprised the Pittsburgh Steelers. He now has to lead the young Bucs against a seemingly troubled Eagles squad.
The Eagles will bear a great deal of the burden. A.J. Brown and Jalen Hurts suffered injuries during last week's loss to the New York Giants. The squad doesn't quite project the same level of assurance that they did at this time last year. But victory makes all right. They may march down to Tampa and beat the Buccaneers. In their victory over the Carolina Panthers the previous Saturday, Tampa Bay managed just nine points.