AllBucs' Divisional Round Staff Predictions
Six dominoes have fallen, leaving eight teams standing on the road to Super Bowl LVI. The Divisional Round of the playoffs, kicking off on Saturday, is about to cut the number of remaining contenders in half.
Welcome to chaos.
The AllBucs' staff has finalized its picks and predictions ahead of the Divisional Round, which you can find below.
| Game | Zach Goodall (4-2) | Evan Winter (6-0) |
|---|---|---|
Titans vs. Bengals | Bengals | Titans |
Packers vs. 49ers | Packers | 49ers |
Buccaneers vs. Rams | Buccaneers | Buccaneers |
Chiefs vs. Bills | Bills | Bills |
Zach Goodall (4-2): Bengals keep a good thing going
I'm kicking myself for not taking the 49ers over the Cowboys and for picking the Patriots over the Bills last weekend, which in part led me to three safe picks for the Divisional Round.
Every favored, higher-seed team is going to win their matchup this weekend, except for Tennessee. I'm buying this Cincinnati team going on a run after winning its first postseason game in over 30 years last weekend. The Bengals' offense, on its best day at least, can keep up with any offense in this year's playoffs and can get the job done on defense, especially with the help of team sack-leader Trey Hendrickson, who cleared concussion protocol on Thursday.
Tennessee has the defense needed to slow Joe Burrow and Co. down, but I'm not sure the Titans' offense will be able to take advantage of any hiccups for Cincinnati, especially if it is relying on Derrick Henry, who will return to play with a metal plate and five screws in his foot and another metal plate in his shoe.
Evan Winter (6-0): Buccaneers get it done in RayJay, host NFC Championship
I'm finding myself in the same predicament I found myself in Week 3: I'm essentially picking the Bucs off a coin toss. Tampa Bay's defense has rekindled the same postseason intensity we saw from last year and Tom Brady is in full playoff mode. As long as the Bucs keep him upright in this game -which I think they do- they'll be fine.
As for the Packers-49ers well, I'm still rollin' with San Fran. Kyle Shanahan said Friday that Nick Bosa "looks good", so he is probably going to play. David Bakhtiari's status is unknown, which is big. If Bosa goes and Bakhtiari doesn't, well, that's obviously not good and will create major problems for the Packers. San Fran will play keep away on offense and test the Packers mostly ineffective run defense all game long. The defense will have a good day and the end result will be a Packers loss that allows the Bucs to host the NFC Championship in Raymond James Stadium next week.
The Bills are my second upset of the week. Josh Allen looks locked in and the Bills have a slightly better running game (mostly because of Allen) and a slightly better defense than the Chiefs, which will be huge in that game. The Titans' pass rush will create enough havoc for Joe Burrow and Co. and the return of Derrick Henry will give the Titans an extra jolt as they look to host their first AFC Championship game in franchise history.
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