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 first week of the NFL postseason is here and Super Bowl dreams are all up for grabs. This week’s Wild Card 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 Wild Card Round.
Sunday, January 16th
Philadelphia Eagles @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 1pm ET
This Philadelphia Eagles team is a franchise, Bucs QB Tom Brady knows all too well as he is 1-1 in the super bowl against them. This game has the chance to be an instant classic like those first two games. As the 9-8 Eagles take on the 13-4 Bucs in this Wild Card game.
Michael Lantz
The Philadelphia Eagles have to be happy with the direction their young team is headed in. After dropping Super Bowl winning head coach Doug Pederson in the offseason, the Eagles went with former Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni and quarterback Jalen Hurts who’ve looked like a winning combo so far. This was evident in their last five games, as the Eagles won four and had clinched a playoff spot before the last week of the season. Their reward? A matchup against the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tampa Bay finished the season an impressive 13-4, just missing out on the one-seed in the NFC. This was because of two in-division losses to the New Orleans Saints, including a confusing 9-0 loss a few weeks back. They’ll head into this postseason with an incredible run defense and Tom Brady coming off one of his best statistical seasons—at age 44. Still, their offense definitely took a hit when Antonio Brown abruptly left the team mid-game and Chris Godwin went down with a season-ending injury. The team also recently lost both their running backs, Leonard Fournett and Ronald Jones to injuries, so their run game is pretty depleted as well. Still, Brady’s done plenty with less, and he still has Pro Bowl receiver Mike Evans and old reliable Rob Gronkowski. Plus the Buccaneers defense should be able to trap Hurts into strictly using his arm on Sunday; making him more one dimensional should diminish his ability to hurt the Bucs defense. Even though they’re suffering from injuries right now, I’ll take to Bucs to pull this one off at home while covering.
Michael’s NFL Pick: Tampa Bay Buccaneers -8.5 (-108)
Mike Su
The Eagles try to take on the defending champion Buccaneers in the Wild Card round. The Eagles have been a weird team this season as they looked below average until a late season surge. They won 4 of their last 5 to sneak into the playoffs. The Eagles under HUrts have very much been a run-first team with Jordan Howard, Miles Sanders and Jalen Hurts running the ball. The Eagles aren’t beating anyone through the air so to stand a chance they must establish a strong running game and exploit gaps in the Tampa secondary.
Drop your predictions for #PHIvsTB 🗣️
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) January 15, 2022
The Buccaneers will be without 2 of their 2 best receivers from the regular season as AB has been released and Godwin tore his ACL. Brady will have a far less talented group of receivers to pass to go into the playoffs. The Buccaneers did squeeze out a win against the Eagles in their only regular season meeting. However, the Buccaneers nearly blew a 28-7 lead as the Eagles scored 15 unanswered points to come within 1 score. However, I think Brady goes into playoff mode and destroys the Eagles early and consequently runs the ball late in the game. I think this game goes under because of this scenario.
Mike’s NFL Pick: Under 45.5 (-110)
Tony Battalio
The Philadelphia Eagles are going to have their hands full in this one as they travel to Tampa Bay to play the defending Super Bowl champions, the Tampa Bay Bucs. Midway through the season, not many people thought Philadelphia would end up in the playoffs but as the year came to an end they stepped up their play. The Eagles would go on to finish the year above 500 with a record of 9-8 on the season. They would go on to win their final four meaningful games before resting players in week 18, and they would also pick up wins in six of their last eight dating back to early November. A lot of people are counting them out in this one, but they are a better team than people think, it would take a great performance but they could potentially upset the Bucs.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers don’t look as dominating as they did last year however they are still super bowl favorites in many people’s opinions. Tom Brady continues to look like an ageless wonder at the quarterback position and Rob Gronkowski is getting fully healthy which is dangerous for any defense they come across. Although they will have to replace the production of Antonio Brown and Chris Godwin’s production, this team is still very capable of winning games thanks to their defense instead of their offense at times. As for the result of this game I have the defending champions picking up their first playoff win on their way to repeating as titleholders this season.
Tony’s NFL Pick: Tampa Bay Bucs (-375)
San Francisco 49ers @ Dallas Cowboys – 4:30pm ET
One of the National Football League’s oldest rivalries is set to take center stage on Sunday evening in the first round of the NFL playoffs. As the 10-7 San Francisco 49ers meet the 12-5 Dallas Cowboys at Jerry’s World in Arlington, Texas. As both of these teams will look to keep their Super Bowl dreams alive and relive in the glory of the 80s and 90s.
Michael Lantz
The San Francisco 49ers were able to sneak into the NFC playoffs after a week 18 win against their division rivals the L.A. Rams. Despite losing defensive coordinator Robert Salah to the New York Jets in the offseason, the Niners defense was still pretty elite this year under new coordinator DeMeco Ryans. On offense, Jimmy Garoppolo was able to do an efficient job throughout the season; along the way, he found a new key target in Deebo Samuel. The Niners are solid on both sides of the ball, and they had big wins against division winners (Bengals, Rams) and had lost by three or less to two more (Packers, Titans). They will be giving the Cowboys quite the contest come Sunday.
The Dallas Cowboys played one of their more impressive seasons in recent history in 2021. Dak Prescott played up to his lucrative contract, throwing 37 touchdowns and becoming the centerpiece of this offense after years of Ezekiel Elliott being the go-to weapon. That being said defense wins big games, and the Niners should be able to give Dak some trouble in this one. That odd man out in this matchup is the Dallas Cowboys defense, which has some outstanding talent, but as a unit has had a hard time staying consistent this season. While the 49ers may not have the most explosive offense, they certainly can pile on the points. Still, even though I think this one ends up being close, I’ll pick the Cowboys to prevail thanks to the home field advantage and their best quarterback play in years.
Michael’s NFL Pick: Dallas Cowboys (-162)
Mike Su
The Cowboys finish the season with 12 wins under Dak Prescott and look like they could make a splash. Their first opponent is the 49ers who are just 2 years removed from a Super Bowl appearance. The Cowboys have been playing well with 5 wins in their last 6 games including a 51-26 win against the Eagles last week. Prescott and the defense has been the driving force of this run as the running game has been meh. The Cowboys only issue is that their winning streak is composed mostly of the NFC East who are not good this year. The only teams that weren’t from the NFC East are the Saints, who don’t have a QB, and the Cardinals, who beat them. Finally facing a proper contender may be a shock to the system for the Cowboys.
The 49ers and Jimmy G have a lot to prove this offseason. Jimmy G is very much in a prove it season and has led the 49ers to another playoff berth. This includes a phenomenal end of season run that saw the 49ers beat the Rams and Bengals in overtime and lose by just a field goal against the AFCs number 1 seed, the Titans. The 49ers are red hot with strong round play. Their defense and defensive line may cause Dak issues and I think the 49ers take this victory.
Mike’s NFL Pick: San Fransisco 49ers (+136)
Tony Battalio
The San Francisco 49ers are lucky to be in this position after a season full of quarterback turmoil and injuries to some of their star players. Despite all the criticism Jimmy Garoppolo received he managed to get the job done and lead this team to the playoffs with the help of electric superstar wide receiver Deebo Samuel. The 49ers finished the season with a record of 10-7, after needing a must win victory in their final game of the year against their divisional rival, the Los Angeles Rams. It was a game the 49ers would go on to win in Overtime 27-24 to clinch their playoff spot. They will be looking to make a run to their second Super Bowl in three years with a victory in this one over a fantastic Dallas Cowboys team that is led by Dak and Zeke.
The previously mentioned Dallas Cowboys not only have the likely Defensive Rookie Of The Year in former Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons. They also have a potential comeback player of the year award winning Quarterback in Dak Prescott. Add in a great all-pro offensive line and electric running backs Tony Pollard and Zeke Elliot and it adds up to perhaps the greatest Cowboys team in decades. The Cowboys won the NFC East this season and finished the year with a record of 12-5. This means with a few upsets they could potentially host a home playoff game in the next round if they win this one. As for the result of this game, however, I believe the Cowboys get upset by San Francisco as choking is the Cowboy way the last 20+ years.
Tony’s NFL Pick: San Francisco 49ers (+136)
Monday, January 17th
Arizona Cardinals @ Los Angeles Rams– 8:15pm ET
This NFC West matchup will be played for the third time this season but none have been more important than this one. As the 11-6, Arizona Cardinals meet the 12-5 Los Angeles Rams in a battle between two of the best QBs and two of the best offenses in the National Football League.
Michael Lantz
The Arizona Cardinals were looking like the cream of the crop for the first half of the season, as they had the best record in the NFC. But, as the season continued the team ran into numerous injuries, including ones to quarterback Kyler Murray and wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins (who still won’t be available this weekend). With so much change in personnel, this team has had a hard time holding it together; this included a shocking 30-12 loss to the Detroit Lions. They hope their downfall hits a flat landing as they get a chance to take out their rivals the L.A. Rams in their most important rubber match in recent history.
The Rams won five straight games at the end of the year, before losing their final regular season game to the San Francisco 49ers in overtime. Still, with the Arizona Cardinals losing to the Seattle Seahawks, that loss didn’t end up mattering as the Rams were able to win the NFC West and have home field advantage for the first round of the playoffs. Quarterback Matthew Stafford will be looking for his first ever playoff win as he goes up against a Cardinals defense that’s solid against the pass, but shouldn’t show Stafford anything he hasn’t already dealt with. The last time these two faced off in Arizona, Stafford was 23/30 with 287 yards and 3 touchdowns. I expect a repeat performance from him and for the Rams tough defensive line that includes Aaron Donald, to limit the Cardinals ability to get much on the ground. I’ll pick the Rams to end the Cardinals suffering this Monday at Sofi.
Michael’s NFL Pick: L.A. Rams -3.5 (-115)
Mike Su
The Rams and Cardinals meet again. The Cardinals were the league’s hottest team in the first time the 2 teams met but now have lost 4 of their last 5 games including losses to the Lions, Seahawks, and Colts who didn’t make playoffs, as well as losing to the Rams 5 weeks ago. The Cardinals have struggled on both offense and defense with inconsistent games on both ends. The defense hasn’t looked the same since JJ Watt landed on IR and the Cardinals haven’t been the same since Murray returned from injury. This is not the Cardinals team from earlier in the season.
Our story isn’t written yet. pic.twitter.com/lpRXM58QjG
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 14, 2022
The Rams have been playing well despite an OT loss to the 49ers last week. They have won 4 of their last 5 but it has not been without issues. Stafford has regressed down the stretch and there are questions about whether he can perform in the playoffs. I think the Rams are the better all-around team and need Stafford to simply make no mistake to win this one. The Rams have the most stacked defense I have ever seen and should hypothetically shut down the Cardinals. Therefore I have to go with the Rams line despite the questions about Stafford. They are the better team and they are playing a team that has been trending the wrong way heading into the playoffs.
Mike’s NFL Pick: Los Angeles Rams -3.5 (-115)
Tony Battalio
The Arizona Cardinals were one of the most dominating teams in the league this season until star quarterback Kyler Murray went down with an injury that caused him to miss several weeks. The Cardinals still managed to finish the season with a respectable record of 11-6. Truthfully they have been better away from home at seven so maybe heading on the road for the first playoff game isn’t the worst thing to happen. They will meet up with a familiar opponent in their NFC West divisional rivals the Los Angeles Rams. The resurgence of running back James Conner is playing a big part in Arizona’s successful season and I expect him to play a big part in the playoff game as well. As I look for the Cardinals to try and control the clock and keep All-Pro Wide Receiver Cooper Kupp on the sidelines.
The Los Angeles Rams went all in when they traded quarterback Jared Goff to Detroit for Matthew Stafford in the off-season and boy has it ever paid off already. Now there’s no telling if fans will still feel that way in the playoffs but if the Rams can make it back to another Super Bowl they are going to be much more likely to win it with Stafford under center. Stafford has been a top 10 quarterback his entire career and now that he’s finally surrounded by the proper talent it is showing even more. It will be interesting to watch the battle between Murray and Stafford as this game progresses. This is likely to be the best playoff game of the first round and as for the result of it, I have the Los Angeles Rams picking up the victory at home over the Cardinals.
Tony’s NFL Pick: Los Angeles Rams -3.5 (-115)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
