There’s nothing cooler than saying “win or go house” in the case of the NFL playoffs. Everyone knows and have identified eternally that that is the case, however really saying it out loud rocks.
Throughout the subsequent few days we’ll watch six playoff video games that carry this distinction. Twelve groups will enter, six will depart and legacies will likely be altered eternally. Drama. Chaos. Magnificence.
In the case of issues like these the chalk consequence is hardly the commonest one. In some unspecified time in the future we’re sure to see an upset or two with the favored staff getting bounced.
Listed below are two prospects of that all through Wild Card Weekend.
Houston Texans over Los Angeles Chargers
For the needs of our dialogue we will likely be defining upsets alongside the traces of how our associates at FanDuel Sportsbook have these video games listed. That’s the most goal approach in my thoughts and you might be caught right here so right here we go.
The Houston Texans are the largest house underdogs of the Wild Card Spherical as, on the time of this writing, they’re simply narrowly edging out the Los Angeles Rams. Houston is +3 whereas the Rams are +2.5, though clearly the Rams sport shouldn’t be working below regular circumstances so defining their “house area benefit” this week is inconceivable.
It goes with out saying that this Texans staff has limped to the end line and finished in order AFC South Champions. Chances are you’ll recall that they dropped a literal deuce on the scoreboard on Christmas Day of all issues. Put merely, it has been dangerous.
However will we actually belief the Chargers that a lot? I admit that a few of my tentativeness right here is needing to see it to imagine it. Perhaps that’s the place I’m coming from deep within the recesses of my thoughts.
I’d simply say although that I believe we’ve got taken who the Texans have been currently, which has been very dangerous and actually issues, and forgotten that they had been at one time limit a staff we believed enormously in. And whereas I acknowledge that the Chargers of Jim Harbaugh aren’t the Chargers of previous… they continue to be the Chargers. If anybody can discover a strategy to breathe life right into a down Houston staff… it’s them.
Inexperienced Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles
I’d wish to assume that I’m a really unbiased individual round right here, however it’s best to know that I’m SB Nation’s resident Dallas Cowboys individual as I oversee our Cowboys web site Running a blog The Boys. Moreover, this time final yr the Cowboys had been making ready because the No. 2 seed within the NFC and winners of the NFC East to host the No. 7 seed Inexperienced Bay Packers. Dallas misplaced that sport, in embarrassing trend, and have become the primary No. 2 seed to ever lose within the Wild Card spherical in NFL historical past (this has solely been potential since 2021 to be clear).
Can the Eagles fall sufferer to Jordan Love and Co. in the identical approach that the Cowboys did? I believe that Philadelphia runs a a lot better soccer group than Dallas does so I’m not attempting to equate them in that sense, however past the Cowboys meme-ness of final yr’s lesson it did serve for example that this could certainly be finished.
I’d enterprise to say that we’ll assume the Packers are some type of paper tigers what with how they haven’t crushed any good groups. Isn’t that essentially the most predictable narrative, although? Oh! The staff who couldn’t beat anyone confirmed up within the playoffs! That’s such an after all factor to occur.
Let me be very clear in saying that I believe the Eagles are the staff to beat within the NFC. In truth, let me be much more clear and say that I believe that is their most troublesome sport standing between them and a visit to New Orleans. The Eagles could be an underdog in all probability to the Detroit Lions which might put them in a harmful area. It’s a very totally different factor to be the staff with nothing to lose, the way in which Dallas was final season, and that isn’t precisely a job during which I believe all of us belief Nick Sirianni to tread frivolously.
If pushed I’d say that I really feel twice as assured in my Texans decide because the Packers one. However each stay potential in my thoughts. Let’s dance.