By Jake Taylor, Staff Writer

Postseason Predictions

After the Alabama Crimson Tide pulled off an amazing overtime win versus Georgia Monday night, football fans can now focus their attention on the NFL Playoffs. Throughout the Playoffs, the Talon will be offering in-depth analysis from a few sports enthusiasts.

Here’s a look at everything you’ll need to know ahead of this weekend’s slate of games, including last week’s recap, game-by-game predictions, and which teams to root for.

This past weekend saw some heart-breaking games and some not-so-interesting ones.

We’ll do a quick recap:

Wild Card Round:

Tennessee Titans 22-Kansas City Chiefs 21
The Chiefs got off to a hot start with QB Alex Smith throwing two quick touchdowns, but after their star TE Travis Kelce went down in the second quarter with an injury, the tides slowly shifted. Down 21-3, Marcus Mariota led a Titans comeback that featured him throwing a touchdown––to himself––and a go-ahead 22-yard touchdown that would win them the game. And now, the Titans will now face possibly the best team in the 2018 Playoffs: The New England Patriots.

Jacksonville Jaguars 10-Buffalo Bills 3
In a game that featured 17 punts, the Jaguars managed to outlast the Bills in a defensive battle, only one touchdown making the difference. The Jaguars will face the Steelers in the Divisional Round.

Atlanta Falcons 26-Los Angeles Rams 13
The matchup between last year’s runner-up (Falcons) and the youngest playoff team (Rams) proved to be worth watching. The Atlanta Falcons big three, WR Julio Jones, QB Matt Ryan, and RB Devonta Freeman were able to outlast a lackluster performance by second-year QB Jared Goff. Finally living up to expectations, the Falcons move on to play the #1 seed, the Eagles, while the Rams show they need more experience before success.

New Orleans Saints 31 – Carolina Panthers 26
The New Orleans Saints continue to impress as QB Drew Brees led his team to overcome an amazing performance by Panthers QB Cam Newton. Newton kept his team in the game, but couldn’t hold onto the win after an injury and dropped pass. The Saints barely moved on and will face a red-hot Minnesota Vikings on the road.

Divisional Round:
Moving on to this week’s matchups, we have two Good Counsel Students giving their predictions on this week’s games along with a few key things to watch out for.




Timi Sanni’s Predictions
 
31 Falcons-27 Eagles
The Falcons still have the same roster that made the Super Bowl last year, and the Eagles are very similar to the Cowboys the year before (in that they jumped from 4th to 1st in their division and have with an easy schedule).

27 Vikings-17 Saints
The Saints won against the Panthers solely on passing the ball. Unfortunately, that won’t work against the premier passing defense in the NFL.

34 Patriots-14 Titans
The Patriots have Tom Brady. The Titans don’t.

24 Steelers-14 Jaguars
The Jaguars’ biggest strength, their defense, will not be an advantage against the Steelers’ offense powered by RB Leveon Bell and WR Antonio Brown.  

Curtis Walker’s Predictions

Falcons 27-20 Eagles
This game will be close, but the Falcons will come out on top. Both teams are loaded with offensive weapons, so expect this matchup to be a shootout. I have faith that the reigning MVP Matt Ryan will outperform backup QB Nick Foles. The 40 degree will be perfect for the Falcons passing attack and play to their advantage.
Keys matchups: WR Julio Jones vs CB Ronald Darby -if the Eagles can’t contain Julio this game could get ugly.

RB Jay Ajayi vs LB Deion Jones -with Nick Foles at QB expect the Eagles to rely heavy on the run. Ajayi will have to play well if the Eagles want to stay in the game.

20 Jaguars-17 Steelers
This is a matchup between a great offense and a great defense. The Jaguars defense has consistently proven that they can keep up with the best, but the difference maker will be QB Blake Bortles’ ability to generate offense. WR Antonio Brown’s unclear health status may present problems for the Steelers offense. That being said, I have Jags winning 20-17 because Bortles is strong enough to carry the team to the win.

Key matchups:  LB Telvin Smith vs RB Leveon Bell– Telvin Smith must do a great job stopping the run and stop Leveon from catching the ball.

Steelers front 7 vs RB Leonard Fournette-With Bortles struggling last week, expect the Jaguars to try and depend on the run. If the Jaguars can run the ball well expect a competitive matchup.

35 Patriots vs 14 Titans
Putting it simply, the Patriots will dominate the Titans. The New England Patriots will take RB Derrick Henry out of the game and force QB Marcus Mariota to beat them through the air. While Mariota will struggle on offense, future Hall of Fame QB Tom Brady will have a field day. Expect the Patriots to win big.

Key matchups: RB Derrick Henry vs Patriots front 7– to keep this game from a blowout, Henry will have to have the best game of his young career.

TE Gronk vs Titans safeties– to have any chance in this game, The Titans must slow down Gronk.

20 Vikings vs Saints 17
This will be a very close game but I have the Vikings. I trust QB Case Keenum to not make a big mistake. Expect the Vikings defense to slow down the explosive Saints offense, probably following the same game plan as the Carolina Panthers and load the box to stop the run. The difference will be that unlike the Panthers, the Vikings have the weapons in the secondary to slow down the Saints. With that being said, I expect the Vikings defense to be the difference maker as the Vikings win and move on to the NFC championship.

Key matchups: WR Michael Thomas vs CB Xavier Rhodes– The matchup between the league leader in receptions against a top 5 CB should be fun to watch.

Saints O line vs Vikings front 4-with two Saints lineman getting hurt on Sunday it will be tough to block the Vikings front 4.

Special thanks to Timi Sanni and Curtis Walker for providing their personal opinions. If you are interested in writing next week’s Personal Playoff Predictions please contact the Talon. Contact information can be found on The Talon home page or email [email protected].