NFL Playoffs: Brady vs. Brees. Rodgers vs. Goff. Mahomes vs. Mayfield. Allen vs. Jackson

Saturday, January 16, 2021

John Crowe, Sports Contributor

 

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Tom Brady PHOTO: Tampa Bay

NFL Playoffs: Brady vs. Brees. Rodgers vs. Goff. Mahomes vs. Mayfield. Allen vs. Jackson.

Your final 8 quarterbacks left standing for this week’s Divisional Round Playoffs looks more like an old school vs. new school tournament. In the NFC, we have three of the more veteran and prolific passers in NFL history in Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. Meanwhile in the AFC, it’s the new guard of Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson to join Jared Goff of the Rams as the lone young whipper snapper in the NFC.

In the Bucs vs. Saints game alone, you have 85 years of experience, 7 Super Bowl championships and 40 playoff victories. Add in Rodgers 10 postseason wins and another Super Bowl title and it dwarfs the 9 combined playoff wins and Super Bowl trophy.

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Now, before we get to the previews and rankings for the upcoming weekend, we send out this caveat. Since 2010, there’s always been at least one road team to win in the Divisional Round every year except 2015 and 2018. So, expect one upset. Could it be Tom Terrific delivering it in the Big Easy? Injured Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham sure has his take on his Twitter feed Thursday.

Saturday

4:40 pm Rams at Packers (FOX)

It’s the irresistible force vs. the immovable object. Can Green Bay’s offensive line, without veteran David Bakhtiari (knee), do what Seattle couldn’t do last week and stop Aaron Donald and crew? Even with Donald sitting out most of the second half with a rib injury, the Rams dominated the Seahawks, holding Russell Wilson to 174 yards passing and 2 TDs while taking an interception in for a pick-6 touchdown. Getting Aaron Jones going early will go a long way into seeing if the Packers have success or will it all fall on the shoulders of Aaron Rodgers to get it done. Davante Adams vs. Jalen Ramsey will be a very tasty match-up to watch. Winner: Packers

8:15 pm Ravens at Bills (NBC)

Simply put, the Bills survived the Colts in round 1. Now that the scare is off its collective back, does Buffalo zoom forward? The Ravens got the gorilla off Lamar Jackson’s back as well in the Wild Card round with a road victory, his first ever postseason win, in Tennessee, coming back from a 10-0 deficit. Here’s the key: can the Ravens secondary contain Stefon Diggs, Cole Beasley and the Bills group of tight ends? Winner: Bills

Sunday

3:05 pm Browns at Chiefs (CBS)

Cleveland winning in Pittsburgh was such a great story last Sunday night. Overcoming COVID-19, no head coach and injuries, the Browns put to bed their playoff drought since 1995. Now, it’s back to reality as they head to the defending champion Chiefs, who’ve been sitting back resting and reloading. Patrick Mahomes holds a 1-0 edge in the NFL, but do you remember the last time Baker Mayfield took on Mahomes when it was Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech.  They combined for 12 touchdowns, nearly 1300 yards of passing and a Mayfield victory. Winner: Chiefs

6:40 pm Buccaneers at Saints (FOX)

Marquee match-up of the weekend and perhaps the entire postseason. This could be the end to either quarterback’s amazing career. Brees has an NBC contract waiting for him while Brady is year-to-year at this point with his 43-years old status. The Saints overwhelmed the Bucs in both regular season match-ups. While the narrative has always been that it’s tough to beat a team three times in one season, it’s actually been done 67% of the time (14 of 21). New Orleans will have to be better offensively this Sunday than they were against the Bears where they missed some opportunities as the Bucs are rolling offensively. Would not be surprised to see the Bucs deliver a third straight disappointing home ending to a New Orleans season. Winner: Saints

Power Rankings

8. Cleveland Browns (12-5¸ Last week: ranked 11th)

The Browns are playing with house money now and get their head coach Kevin Stefanski back this week. They’ll need him in Kansas City.

7. Los Angeles Rams (11-6, Last week: ranked 12th)

Jared Goff is back as the starter after coming in for the injured John Wolford in the first quarter of last Sunday’s win in Seattle. Goff couldn’t throw anything more than short passes, so it will be interesting to see how much better than injured right thumb is this week. Aaron Donald and that dominating defense will need to carry the day again to stop the Packers and Aaron Rodgers.

6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (12-5, Last week: ranked 7th)

Now comes the iron for the Bucs. After “expected” wins over the Vikings, Falcons (twice), Lions and Washington, Tampa Bay now faces a Saints team that had its number twice this season. Is the third time the charm with the Bucs offense rolling behind TB12 and an offense that’s playing as good as any in the league the past month? It very well may be.

5. Baltimore Ravens (12-5, Last week: ranked 6th)

Down 10-0 to the Titans, Lamar Jackson took over and willed the Ravens to his first postseason victory. They’ll need a bit more this week in what could be a snowy Buffalo against a better Bills team.

4. New Orleans Saints (13-4, Last week: ranked 4th)

Is this the end for Drew Brees? The urgency is there to get the Saints their second Super Bowl championship for head coach Sean Payton and Brees. Getting leading sacker Trey Hendrickson (neck) back will help to get Tom Brady as his back instead of in the end zone celebrating touchdowns.

3. Green Bay Packers (13-3, Last week: ranked 3rd)

The Packers, as the NFC’s top seed, arguable got the toughest draw of the teams they could have faced coming out of the Wild Card round. Stopping Aaron Donald is job one. If they can’t do that, it’ll be one and done for Green Bay. If they can, the Packers will be hosting the NFC Championship game next Sunday.

2. Kansas City Chiefs (14-2, Last week: ranked 2nd)

Will the Chiefs be able to flip the switch now that it’s the playoffs? It’s the age-old question as the defending Super Bowl champions fight off reports they were disinterested during the regular season or facing that dreaded Super Bowl hangover. But, let’s be honest, while the games were close, they really lost one game early to the Raiders until a meaningless week 17 rest-filled game against the Chargers. Someone’s going to have to go into Arrowhead Stadium and prove it to the champs.

1. Buffalo Bills (14-3, Last week: ranked 1st)

It’s the postseason, so all the matters is wins and losses and not style points. The Bills did that last Sunday, holding on to beat the Colts 27-24 for their first playoff win since 1995. This week is a bigger challenge trying to contain Lamar Jackson. That having been said though, the Ravens defense isn’t quite what the Colts is, so it might give Josh Allen and that offense more room to flex.

Last week:
14. Bears
13. Washington Football Team
12. Rams
11. Browns
10. Titans
9. Colts
8. Steelers
7. Buccaneers
6. Ravens
5. Seahawks
4. Saints
3. Packers
2. Chiefs
1. Bills

 

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