top of page
Writer's pictureRyan Mobley

Upside Play's Playoff Pick Em: Wildcard Weekend


Cover Photo: Todd Olszewski/ Getty Images.


Indianapolis Colts (11-5) @ Buffalo Bills (13-3)


Current Lines: BUF -7.0 || O/U 51.0


The Colts just missed the AFC South crown, led by a strong run defense and an emerging running game. The Colts rank 2nd in rush yards allowed per game at just 90.5. Darius Leonard and De’Forest Buckner were both 1st team all pro’s, Leonard finished the regular season with 132 total tackles, 3 sacks, and 9.5 tackles for loss. Their offense was also pretty solid as veteran Philip Rivers had a sneaky good year eclipsing 4,000 yards for the 12th time in his career, but the true star as of late has been rookie running back Jonathan Taylor. JT finished the season 3rd in rushing with 1,169 yards and tied for 7th in rushing TD’s with 11 on the year. In his last 4 games JT trailed only Derrick Henry in the rushing category, ball control and tough 3rd down defense will be critical for the Colts if they want to pull off an upset this saturday.


The Bills are arguably the hottest team in football right now as they’re currently on a 6 game win streak with a point differential of +119 during that run. Buffalo’s offense is flat out deadly, they’re led by MVP candidate Josh Allen, who finished the regular season 5th in passing yards and TD’s with an additional 421 yards and 8 TD’s on the ground. His top WR Stefon Diggs also put up monster numbers all year long, he finished 1st in receptions and yards, beating out the 2nd place receiver by over 100 yards! Defensively they have a very physical unit led by CB Tre'Davious White and safety Jordan Poyer. The Bills produced 26 takeaways on the year, good for 3rd in the league. Buffalo can put points on you in a hurry, and with all the weapons Josh Allen has to work with it’s looking like Indy’s secondary will have a very busy day trying to keep up with their dynamic offense. If Buffalo can slow down JT and T.Y. they’ll be in a great position to move on to the next round.


James: Bills

Vince: Bills

Zach: Bills

Patrick: Bills

Ryan: Bills

Maher: Bills


Los Angeles Rams (10-6) @ Seattle Seahawks (12-4)


Current Lines: SEA -3.0 || O/U 42.5


The Rams will bring one of the NFL’s best defensive units into Seattle this weekend. This Rams defense ranks very high in all major stat categories including 1st in yards allowed per game, 1st in points allowed per game, 1st in opponent yards per pass attempt, and 3rd in 3rd down conversion %. Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey spearhead this defensive unit that has consistently shut down the top offenses in the league week by week, Donald is tied for 2nd in sacks (13.5) and TFL (20). The big question mark surrounding this game is whether or not former #1 pick Jared Goff will be able to go due to the thumb injury on his throwing hand. If not, expect to see a lot of volume for RB Cam Akers as the probable man under center will be rookie John Wolford. A strong performance from rookie Cam Akers combined with a stingy shutdown-type defense will be essential for the Rams if they wanna move on.


Seattle started out this year as the hottest offense in the league, but have significantly slowed down despite continuing to win. The good news is their defense which was absolutely awful in the beginning of the year has quietly been one of the league's best down the stretch. In their last 3 games Seattle is just allowing 15.7 points per game, 2.7 redzone attempts per game, and 3.3 sacks per game. Offensively the Seahawks have two excellent receivers in DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, DK finished 7th in receiving yards and caught 10 TD’s, Lockett finished 7th in receptions and caught 10 TD’s. Russell Wilson was the man feeding them the ball, he had an unbelievable start to the season as he led the league in TD’s thrown through 5 weeks. Wilson finished second in TD’s thrown, threw for over 4,200 yards, and ran for 513 on the way to the NFC West crown. The problem Seattle faces is the sacks. Wilson has been sacked the 47 times, the 3rd most across the NFL. If they continue to play solid defense and keep Russ’s jersey clean they’ll have a divisional matchup next week.


James: Seahawks

Vince: Seahawks

Zach: Seahawks

Patrick: Seahawks

Ryan: Seahawks

Maher: Rams


Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5) @ Washington Football Team (7-9)


Current Lines: TB -8.0 || O/U 45.0


Tampa Bay enters the playoffs on a 4 game winning streak that has included some spectacular offensive performances as they averaged 37 points per game during this run. Tom Brady turned 43 right before this season and hasn’t skipped a beat. The 6-time champ finished 3rd in passing yards, 2nd in pass attempts, and tied for 2nd in TD’s thrown. Brady’s got some elite weapons on the outside as well who can all hurt you in different ways. Mike Evans is a redzone monster at 6’5, 230. Chris Godwin and Antonio Brown are elite route runners and can break off a big play at any time. Last but not least he’s got ol’ reliable Gronk who finished the year with 7 TD’s and 623 yards after taking a year away from football. Defensively Tampa Bay has an elite run defense, opposing teams average a league low 80.6 yards per game against this group. The defense as a whole ranks 6th in total yards allowed and 8th in points allowed. This team has the veterans and defense to make a strong playoff run.


The Washington Football Team sneaks into the playoffs with a home game after a very controversial 20-14 win over the Eagles in the final game of the season. Washington has struggled with the QB position the past couple of years, 2020 was no different as they played 4 different QB’s and released their 2019 first round pick Dwayne Haskins. Regardless Riverboat Ron Rivera found a way atop the NFC East with his top tier defense. Washington ranked 2nd in yards allowed, 4th in points allowed, and 1st in opponent redzone attempts allowed. Montez Sweat and Chase Young gave opposing teams major problems all year. As a duo those two had 16.5 sacks, 26.5 tackles for loss, and 6 forced fumbles. Offensively Alex Smith has done just enough to get his team a W in the last 5 games he's started. Antonio Gibson had a solid rookie year rushing for 795 yards and 11 TD’s. Terry Mclaurin and Logan Thomas were elite pass catchers this year despite the QB trouble, Mclaurin finished with 1,118 yards, including 17 catches for 20+ yards. Washington needs to get to Tom Brady early and win the field position / time of possession battle if they want to move on.


James: Bucs

Vince: Bucs

Zach: Bucs

Patrick: Washington

Ryan: Bucs

Maher: Bucs


Baltimore Ravens (11-5) @ Tennessee Titans (11-5)


Current Lines: BAL -3.5 || O/U 54.5


We have a rematch of one of the most heated playoff matchups last season as the Ravens travel to Tennessee to take on the Titans on Wildcard Weekend. Baltimore in the past couple weeks have just ran the ball down their opponents throats at will. The Ravens average a league high 191.9 rush yards per game as well as average the most road rushing TD’s per game. Lamar Jackson cooled down a bit this year after his MVP run but still had a terrific year, leading the Ravens in both passing and rushing yards. Mark Andrews had another solid year at TE finishing with 7 TD’s and 701 yards. The Ravens feature a top 5 defense, they allow just 18.9 points per game, good for 2nd in the league. Marcus Peters has been a defensive leader all year, he had 4 INT’s, 4 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries and 52 tackles on the year. Baltimore is averaging 37.2 points per game in their last 5 contests, if they can keep up this pace and contain the explosive Titans offense they’ll avenge their loss from last year.


The Ravens might have the most team rush yards per game, but the Titans have the #1 rusher in the league on Derrick Henry. Henry ran for an insane 2,027 yards this year, nearly 500 more than any other back in the league. He finished 1st in rushing TD’s, 1st in yards per game, 1st in rushing 1st downs, and ran for more yards than 22 teams this year. Ryan Tannehill had a solid year finishing with 33 TD’s and 255 yards per game, his top target AJ Brown looked like a man amongst boys at times this season as he had 1,075 yards, 11 TD’s, and 76.8 yards per game. Tennessee has looked lost at times defensively, giving up 30+ points 8 times this year. They’ve had success creating turnovers at home this year, averaging 1.8 per game at home, 5th best in the league. Tennessee is going to have to contain this explosive Ravens offense and that starts with committing to the run, keeping Lamar in front of them is step 1 to taking down Baltimore in back to back years.


James: Titans

Vince: Titans

Zach: Titans

Patrick: Titans

Ryan: Ravens

Maher: Titans


Chicago Bears (8-8) @ New Orleans Saints (12-4)


Current Lines: NO -9.5 || O/U 47.0


Chicago lost their game win and get in game, a brutal 35-16 loss at home to Green Bay. Luckily for them Arizona choked in back to back weeks securing Chicago a playoff spot. The Bears have had a roller coaster of a season switching back and forth between Trubisky and Foles finally landing on Trubisky down the stretch, and he wasn’t too bad. In his last 4 games he’s averaging 246.5 yards per game & a 73.3 completion %. The true star for this Bears offense in the past couple weeks has been second year back David Montgomery. He finished 5th in rushing yards on the year with 1,070, in the past 4 weeks he’s 3rd in rush yards, T-3rd in rushing TD’s, and 2nd in rush attempts. Allen Robinson is the top WR on the team and one of the best in the league, rolling with the QB trouble and finishing 9th in receiving yards. The Bears have a solid defense led by Roquon Smith and Khalil Mack in the trenches, the two have 33 tackles for loss, 3 INT’s, and 4 forced fumbles. Defense is going to have to lead the way for Chicago if they wanna pull off the upset of the week at +9.5 dogs.


The Saints have a couple of top weapons in the league in Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas. Kamara had the year's best performance in week 16 as he scored a total of 6 TD’s against the Vikings on Christmas. Kamara leads this team in both rushing and receiving yards, including a total of 21 touchdowns. Last week He tested positive for covid and is still a gametime decision for this sunday’s matchup, he recently told reporters and teammates that he would be active for sunday’s game. Drew Brees is battling a bunch of lingering injuries heading into the postseason after fracturing 11 ribs in week 10. New Orleans has forced 26 turnovers on the year and has a +9 turnover differential, T-3rd best in the league. Trey Hendrickson was a defensive leader on the line but has officially been ruled out sunday. It will be up to veterans Cam Jordan and Marshon Lattimore to lead the defense this sunday. New Orleans gave up just 21.1 points per game this season along with the 4th least yards per game.


James: Saints

Vince: Bears

Zach: Saints

Patrick: Saints

Ryan: Saints

Maher: Saints

Cleveland Browns (11-5) @ Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4)


Current Lines: PIT -6.0 || O/U 47.5


We’re getting a rematch from week 17 as Baker Mayfield and his Browns clinched the teams first playoff berth since the 02-03 season. Baker caught fire down the stretch of the season, in his last 4 games he’s averaging 280 passing yards per game. The 1,2 punch of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt gave defensive units the fits all year as the two combined for 141.5 yards per game and a combined 23 TD’s on the season. The Cleveland receiving corp had the next man up mentality all year long as we saw brilliant performances from multiple guys this year most notably the emergence of Donovan Peoples-Jones and Rashard Higgins. Myles Garrett is the team's defensive leader, he posted good stats again this year with 12 sacks, 15 tackles for loss, and 4 forced fumbles. This Browns squad under Kevin Stefanski can best be described as gritty, they’ve taken a couple punches in the mouth this year and they’ve refused to quit fighting, it’s going to be fun watching Baker and the Browns get their first taste of the postseason.


Pittsburgh gave their fan base a good scare in weeks 13-15 as they took 3 straight losses after a 12-0 start. The Steelers did lose this matchup last week but we’re not gonna look into it too much as they were without a couple starters including Big Ben. Pittsburgh has the top DPOY candidate TJ Watt. Watt alone has 15 sacks and 26 tackles for loss. The Steelers have 3 very dangerous wide receivers in JuJu Smith-Schuster, Chase Claypool, and Diontae Johnson. The three combine for 57% of Pittsburgh's receptions and have 25 of the team's 35 receiving touchdowns. Their running game has been terrible all year, averaging a league low 84.4 yards per game, including 64.3 in their last three games. They have 18 interceptions on the year including 4 by standout safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. If Pittsburgh can cut out the drive killing drops and play Steeler defense they can keep up with any team in the league.


James: Steelers

Vince: Browns

Zach: Steelers

Patrick: Browns

Ryan: Steelers

Maher: Browns



*Cover Photo Via: Todd Olszewski/ Getty Images.


114 views0 comments

Commentaires


bottom of page