We have another massive week of NFL action and our free NFL picks have sorted through the best five games of the weekend for you!
The second week of the NFL postseason is here and Super Bowl dreams are all up for grabs. This week’s wildcard slate includes a few old rivalries and some major storylines as teams look to make a super bowl.
Our NFL picks help find who that might be and provide you with our best picks for the games during this Divisional Round.
Saturday, January 22nd
Cincinnati Bengals @ Tennessee Titans – 4:30pm ET
The Bengals finally got a playoff win for the first time since the early 90s. Now they will be looking for another in this one as they take on the top seeded Titans. While Tennessee is looking to get Henry back for the playoff run. This game will likely be the best one of the weekend.
Michael Lantz
The Cincinnati Bengals ended 30+ years of misery last Saturday, when they beat the Las Vegas Raiders 26-19, despite a scare from the Raiders that brought the game down to the final seconds. Joe Burrow stood out in his first playoff game in his short career as he threw for 244 yards and 2 touchdowns. Their next big task comes on Saturday against the #1 seed Tennessee Titans, who will have a familiar face back on their roster as they look to make a Super Bowl run.
Derrick Henry hasn’t played since a Week 8 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts. The Titans star running back went down with foot injury, that mny feared would end his entire season; while he did miss the rest of the regular season Henry has been activated off the IR and is set to start on Saturday. This is a game changer for the Titans, who despite still having a fair share of offensive weapons, now have arguably the legue’s best running back on their squad. But, Henry’s first game back won’t be easy, as the Titans host a Bengals run defense that’s among the NFL’s best. Still Henry’s presence will also open things up for Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who doesn’t turn heads with statistics, but plays smart football, especially with Henry there to help out. While I was tempted to pick this Bengals team and their impressive offensive attack to pull the upset, having Henry back changes everything. I’ll pick the Titans to advance to the AFC Championship.
Michael’s NFL Pick: Tennessee Titans (-190)
📍 Nashville pic.twitter.com/3cyHkh6lff
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 21, 2022
Tony Battalio
The Cincinnati Bengals picked up their first playoff victory in over 30 years last Saturday night over the Las Vegas Raiders. Now they will hit the road to play the top seed in the AFC, and seek to win yet another playoff game and get one step closer to the Super Bowl. Joe Burrow had himself a great game in the Wild Card victory throwing for 244 Yards, 2 Touchdowns, and going 24-34. Even without getting Joe Mixon going the Bengals looked great. Now in this round they will likely have to find a way to contain Tennessee’s offense if they want to book a ticket to the AFC Championship Game.
The Tennessee Titans should be fresh and rested heading into their first playoff game of the 2021-22 season. Even without Derrick Henry for the second half of the year the Titans still managed to claim the top seed and earn the bye week heading into the playoffs this season. Now they will be looking to make a trip to the AFC Championship Game with a victory over the Bengals in this one. However, as for the result of this game, I don’t see it happening as I have Burrow and the Bengals picking up the victory over Tannehill and the Titans.
Tony’s NFL Pick: Cincinnati Bengals (+160)
San Francisco 49ers @ Green Bay Packers – 8:15pm ET
The San Francisco 49ers will be looking to make their second trip to the super bowl in the last three seasons. They upset the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round. While Green Bay is coming off of a bye week and looking to make their second straight trip to the NFC Championship Game.
Michael Lantz
The San Francisco 49ers and Green Bay Packers always seem to offer football fans a fun matchup. These two teams already met earlier in the season, in a game that was back and fourth, with the Packers ultimately winning on a Mason Crosby field goal 30-28. But the rel test comes in the playoffs, where the Packers have dropped their last three postseason matchups against the 49ers. Hopefully bad things come in three for the Packers, and they can move on to a home win against a 49ers team that’s striving on both sides of the ball.
The 49ers offense is led by a tough run attack, and the outstanding athleticism of receiver Deebo Samuel, who has become one of the league’s most exciting talents. Behind the great offensive minds of head coach Kyle Shannahan and offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, this 49ers offense has plenty of tricks up their sleeve that will undoubtedly keep the Packers on their toes. Their always impressive defense will also look to give this all-star Packers offense some trouble as well.
Luckily the Packers are led by Aaron Rodgers, who might just be the NFL’s MVP this season. Rodgers threw 37 touchdowns and 4 interceptions—with two of those coming in the first game. Rodgers and his receiver of choice, Davante Adams, will look to put up some big numbers on thei Niners secondary. But San Francisco proved last week against a normally lethal Cowboys attack, they aren’t scared of big offenses on the road. The Packers recent playoff disappointment will definitely factor into this decision, but I think they pull out another close win at home. They’ve had a resurgence as a franchise under head coach Matt LaFleur, and he’ll outlast Shannahan in a battle of two of the game’s great offensive minds.
Michael’s NFL Pick: Green Bay Packers (-245)
Tony Battalio
The 49ers picked up the lone upset the weekend as they defeated the Dallas Cowboys 23-17 on Sunday afternoon. Now they will hit the road to Lambeau Field to play the top seeded Green Bay Packers. They will be looking for their second NFC Championship Game berth in the last three seasons after making a run to the Super Bowl in 2019. In that game they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes. This game is a rematch of the 2019 NFC Title Game, which San Francisco won.
The Green Bay Packers will be looking to make their third trip to the NFC Championship Game in the last three seasons. Only this time they seem to be the team to beat in the NFC and entire NFL. It may just be a Super Bowl or bust season for the Packers as it seems more and more likely that Aaron Rodgers will leave at the end of the season if that goal isn’t reached. They should be well rested in this one after earning the NFC bye week heading into this year’s postseason. As for the result of this game, I have the Packers making another trip to the NFC Title Game with a win in this one.
Tony’s NFL Pick: Green Bay Packers (-245)
Sunday, January 23rd
Los Angeles Rams @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 3pm ET
This is a rematch of an earlier season matchup where the Los Angeles Rams beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by double digits. Now they will meet again with a trip to the NFC Championship Game on the line. As Tampa Bay looks to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
Michael Lantz
This weekend’s other NFC matchup is between two teams that were on the right sides of blowouts last weekend. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had no problem taking down the Philadelphia Eagles last weekend. Even with out some key offensive pieces including running backs Leonard Fournette and Ronald Jones, and star receiver Chris Goodwin. Goodwin is out for the year and Fournette and Jones are in doubt for Sunday’s matchup, which will put a lot of pressure on quarterback Tom Brady to make big plays for the Tampa Bay offense, which forpossibly the greatest player of all time, shouldn’t be an issue.
On the L.A. Rams side of the offense, they too will depend heavily on their quarterback, Matthew Stafford. Tampa Bay’s run defense is one of the league’s best, so running backs Sony Michel and Cam Akers will likely do their most damage lined up as receivers. The Rams were able to dominate their division rivals the Arizona Cardinals in the Wild Card Round, winning 34-11. Stafford hit his two favorite targets Cooper Kupp and Odell Beckham Jr. with a touchdown apiece. The Rams beat the Buccaneers 34-24 back in September, in a game where Brady threw for over 400 yards but the Buccaneers barely ran the ball. With the Bucs two running backs out, Tampa will likely go with the same strategy, hoping for better luck at home. This one has all the makings of a great quarterback showdown, but I’m a little more convinced with the Rams’ roster at this point in the season. I’ll never doubt Brady in the playoffs, but I just think the Rams have more things going for them on offense and defense.
Michael’s NFL Pick: L.A. Rams (+130)
Good day of work before we take off to Tampa. 💪 pic.twitter.com/nXdU4TpGFp
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 21, 2022
Tony Battalio
When the Los Angeles Rams traded for Matthew Stafford before the 2021 season got underway, it was their way of saying, we want to win now. After trouncing the Arizona Cardinals in the Wild Card round last Monday evening, they have gotten one step closer to achieving that goal. Now they will meet the one player who took that Super Bowl away from them a few short years ago, however they will be meeting a different team as well. They will be looking to overpower Tampa Bay’s electric offense with their own and beat them for the second time this season in this one.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers started their journey to back to back Super Bowl wins by crushing the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round. Tom Brady continues to look like an ageless wonder as the Bucs will look to continue to their path to the Super Bowl and avenge an early season loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the process. Even without Antonio Brown and Chris Godwin the Bucs look as dangerous as ever. As for the result of this game however, I have the Los Angeles Rams picking up their second victory over Tampa Bay this season.
Tony’s NFL Pick: Los Angeles Rams (+130)
Buffalo Bills @ Kansas City Chiefs – 6:30pm ET
This is yet another rematch on the cards for the Divisional Round of the 2022 Playoffs, not only from this season, but last year’s AFC Championship Game. As the Buffalo Bills will travel to Arrowhead Stadium to play the Kansas City Chiefs for the second time this season. In the first meeting of the year the Buffalo Bills came out on top, but in the 2020 AFC title game it was KC who won the matchup, so this will be an interesting rubber match.
Michael Lantz
In a showdown between two teams that easily could’ve been the AFC one-seed, the Buffalo Bills head to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. The Bills defense is the NFL’s best, and that showed against their division rivals the New England Patriots as they dismantled them 47-17. But it wasn’t only their always dependable defense causing issues, Josh Allen was immaculate, going 21/24, while throwing over 300 yards and 5 touchdowns. He’ll hope to repeat that success against an inconsistent Kansas City defense in a matchup of last year’s AFC Championship game.
Kansas City also had an impressive perfromance in the Wild Card Round, as they defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 42-21. Patrick Mahomes was electric, throwing over 400 yards and 5 touchdowns. After the Chiefs beat the Bills in last years AFC Championship 38-24, their offense won’t be intimidated by the BIlls defense. Still, the Bills look even more impressive this year on both sides of the ball and I expect this one to be closer than last year. But, at the end of the day, I’ll go with the back-to-back defending AFC Championships to pull off a win in this big game.
Michael’s NFL Pick: Kansas City Chiefs (-130)
Tony Battalio
The Buffalo Bills looked absolutely unstoppable in their wild card round victory over Mac Jones and the New England Patriots. They didn’t punt the entire game or commit a single turnover en route to a blowout win. Now they will hit the road and try to beat the Kansas City Chiefs for the second time this season and also avenge their loss in last year’s AFC Championship Game, to earn a spot in this year’s AFC Championship Game. If they can repeat their performance from last weekend they will surely find themselves coming out on top in this matchup of young superstars Quarterbacks
The Kansas City Chiefs started out their quest for a third straight Super Bowl with a huge victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers last weekend. Patrick Mahomes went crazy in the victory throwing for 404 Yards and five touchdowns in a 42-21 victory. Now they will look to avenge an early season loss to the Buffalo Bills and book their trip back to the AFC Title Game and potentially win their third straight AFC Pennant. However, as for the result of this game I don’t see that happening as I have the Buffalo Bills picking up another win over the Chiefs in this game.
Tony’s NFL Pick: Kansas City Chiefs (-130)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
