2017 NFL Divisional Playoff Preview and Free-For-All Contest

All four home teams won in the Wild Card round. Will we see a repeat this week?

The divisional playoffs feature four rematches from games played during the regular season. Only one of those games was close – the first of the four being played this weekend between the Seattle Seahawks and the Atlanta Falcons.

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Seattle Seahawks at Atlanta Falcons

Saturday, January 14th at 4:35pm ET
Georgia Dome

Seattle comes into Atlanta following a decisive home victory over the Detroit Lions last week. Their defense effectively shut down Matthew Stafford and the Lions ground game. On offense, Thomas Rawls racked up 161 rushing yards and a touchdown and quarterback Russell Wilson threw for 224 yards and two touchdowns. They dominated time of possession by holding the ball more than thirteen minutes more than Detroit.

This week, the Seahawks will be facing Matt Ryan and the NFL’s second-ranked offense in yards per game and the top scoring team in the league. In their regular season match-up at Seattle, Ryan was able to throw for 335 yards and three touchdowns, but the Falcons were shut out in the fourth quarter and lost the game, 26-24. This time, the Falcons will be at home and the Seahawks won’t have Earl Thomas, who made a key interception late in the fourth quarter during their previous encounter this season.

If Seattle doesn’t find an answer for Matt Ryan – and also the one-two punch of Atlanta’s rushing attack with Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman – they’ll find themselves playing catch-up on the road, where they’ve only won three out of eight games this season.

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Houston Texans at New England Patriots

Saturday, January 14th at 8:15pm ET
Gillette Stadium

The Patriots and Texans faced off back in September – without Tom Brady – and the result was a 27-0 win by New England at home. Now the Patriots have Brady and they are at home once again, but they’ll be without Rob Gronkowski.

Houston enters this game coming off of a home win against a Derek Carr-less Raiders team. They were able to force rookie quarterback, Connor Cook, into throwing three interceptions and completing only 40% of his passes for 161 yards. But Tom Brady is as experienced as playoff quarterbacks come, so Houston will have no easy task this week. Brady has thrown 28 touchdowns and only two interceptions in his suspension-shortened season. The Texans will also be facing the 4th-ranked offense in the league and a 1,000 yard rusher in LeGarrette Blount, who has 18 rushing touchdowns this season.

The New England defense has also played really well, holding opponents to under 100 yards rushing per game. In addition to that, the Patriots have a turnover ratio of +12 for the season, which was third-best in the NFL. Given the struggles that Houston has had on offense, the Patriots shouldn’t have much trouble getting the victory and heading to the AFC championship game.

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Pittsburgh Steelers at Kansas City Chiefs

[EDIT] Game Time Rescheduled - Sunday, January 15th at 8:20pm ET
Arrowhead Stadium

When these two teams squared off in Pittsburgh back in October, it wasn’t pretty for the Chiefs. The Steelers pummeled them, 43-14. Ben Roethlisberger was 22 of 27 for 300 yards and five touchdowns. Le’Veon Bell ran for 144 yards on 18 carries. The Chiefs were shutout until the fourth quarter and added a late touchdown to get into double digits.

However, this is the playoffs and the Chiefs will be the home team for this week’s game. Kansas City doesn’t typically win with style. They’re not a flashy team. Alex Smith is an accurate quarterback who completed over 67% of his passes this season. It helps that his favorite target is a big and reliable tight end – Travis Kelce. But it’s the defense that’ll need to step up if they want a chance to beat Pittsburgh.

Against the Miami Dolphins last week, the Steelers continued to make winning look easy. Roethlisberger, Bell, and Antonio Brown had big days once again. They’ve won eight straight games dating back to November 20th and haven’t showed any signs of slowing down. Bell has rushed for over 120 yards in five of his last seven games, including a 236-yard performance in December and 167 yards in the wild card game last week. With the 24th-ranked defense in the NFL, the Chiefs will have their hands full.

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Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys

Sunday, January 15th at 4:40pm ET
AT&T Stadium

This is the game I’m looking forward to the most. These are two dynamic teams – one with a proven star at quarterback that has been putting together a spectacular second half of a season and playoffs, and the other has two sensational rookies starting in their backfield behind what is thought of as the best offensive line in the league.

Aaron Rodgers put on a clinic last week against the New York Giants, passing for 362 yards and four touchdowns at a frozen Lambeau Field in Green Bay. He’ll need to maintain that level of play against the Cowboys this week. More importantly, the Packers defense will need to figure out a way to stop the Dallas running game. The offense in this game could get out of hand, so a few key defensive stops could determine the winner.

Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott have been almost unstoppable all season long. Elliott was the rushing leader during the regular season with 1631 yards and he scored 15 touchdowns on the ground – third best in the NFL. He also had the most 20+ yard runs with 14, which is three more than the second-best player, LeSean McCoy. Prescott has completed nearly 68% of his passes for over 3600 yards and 23 touchdowns – and has only thrown four interceptions all season long. He has also added 282 yards rushing, with an average of 4.9 yards per carry, and scored six touchdowns.

Although the offense has been great, like Green Bay, the Cowboys defense will need to find a way to make some stops against Aaron Rodgers. This could very well be a high-scoring game, and even though Rodgers has the experience, the advantage has to go to the Dallas Cowboys with their excellent offensive line, the superior level of play from Ezekiel Elliott, and the fact that they’ll be playing at home. Whatever the outcome, this could be the best game of the weekend.

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Statistical Categories for the Divisional Playoff Contest

There will be five statistical categories for the four games this weekend. They are listed below, with current stats for each selection. Some numbers have been rounded for game accuracy. Statistics with decimal places can have game results with decimal places.

1. Atlanta Falcons, WR Julio Jones, Receiving Yards: Season average per game is 101.

2. New England Patriots, QB Tom Brady, Completion Percentage: Season total is 67.4.

3. Kansas City Chiefs, Total Offensive Yards Allowed: Season average per game is 369.

4. Dallas Cowboys, RB Ezekiel Elliot, Yards Per Carry: Season average is 5.1.

5. Total Field Goals Attempted by All Teams

PLEASE NOTE: Accuracy matters! If a game statistic can have a decimal place, guessing closest to that decimal number can result in an outright win, rather than a tie and a split reward. On the other hand, it can also result in missing out on the tie and any potential rewards.

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How to Play and Win

1. In a comment on this post, submit your predicted results in the order that they appear above. You can number your selections (1–5) as they are above or not, but if not, I will assume that they are in the correct order and the results will be checked in that order. ONLY ONE COMMENT SUBMISSION PER USER, PER CONTEST.

2. Once your comment is submitted, I will confirm it after the deadline for entering the contest. The deadline for submission this week is 12:00PM NEW YORK TIME (UTC -5) ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON. After submissions are confirmed by me, any new entries or edits to comments will automatically disqualify you from the contest. So make sure that you have accurately submitted your numbers before the deadline.

3. There will be one winner for each statistic. The winner will be the contestant closest to the actual final statistics from the game. There is no limit to the number of stat categories that you can win. Contestants can potentially win one or all of the categories.

4. The contest is funded with a minimum pot of 20 STEEM Dollars. The total pot distribution will be divided evenly between the five statistical categories. Each category winner will receive 20% of the total pot. In the event of a tie, the pot will be split between the tying contestants for that category.

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Comments and game predictions are welcomed! Which teams do you think will make it to the Super Bowl?

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Good luck!

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