FOOTBALL NFL ARTICLES

The wily veteran did in the young studs and the Green Bay Packers are headed back to the NFC Championship Game. The Pack stunned the Cowboys behind another MVP-type effort from Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay will have to tussle with another strong offensive club when they meet the Atlanta Falcons for the right to represent the National Football Conference in Super Bowl LI. The Falcons had no problems with Seattle’s defense and will get a chance to close out the Georgia Dome in style.The NFC Championship game will go down Sunday, January 22, 2017, at 3:05 p.m. ET at the Georgia Dome.... 

The Pittsburgh Steelers are the hottest team in the NFL heading into their showdown with the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Pittsburgh wasn’t even considered playoff-worthy after a loss to Dallas in Week 10, their fourth straight, left them at 4-5. But the Steelers responded, closing out the regular year with seven straight wins and knocking off Miami and Kansas City in the playoffs. They’ll need to score a touchdown, however, if they want to upset the Patriots.Watch the AFC Championship Game matchup live on Sunday, January 22, 2017, at 6:40 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium.... 

Things don’t always work out the way they're supposed to in the NFL playoffs. And true, if you're a fan of the Texans, Raiders, Chiefs, Dolphins, Seahawks, Cowboys, Lions or Giants, this bracket didn't end up the way that you wanted it to. But for the rest of us out there, it's hard to say that we don't have two of, at worst, the three best teams in each conference playing against each other for the right to go to the Super Bowl in Houston. As a result, we've got an epic day of football ahead of us on January 22.... 

Though Super Bowl Sunday is obviously king, perhaps the most exciting day of football of the year is conference championship Sunday. It's the last time we see real home field advantages of the season, and there's nothing quite like the emotion that comes from having crowds dedicated to one side or the other. The football tends to be great as well, as games are often decided by the slimmest of margins. The matchups this year? They're surely about as good as it gets.... 

We wrap up a fun Divisional Round with a great matchup featuring a red-hot Aaron Rodgers carrying the Green Bay Packers on his shoulders through the end of the regular season and into the postseason against the NFC’s top-seeded Dallas Cowboys. Can the Cowboy’s rookie tandem of Ezekiel Elliott and Dak Prescott help Dallas advance past the Divisional Round for the first time since 1995 or are we in for yet another disappointment from America’s Team?... 

In what looks to be the tightest matchup of the Divisional Round, the Kansas City Chiefs actually opened as underdogs at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Although that’s since flipped, it goes to show how close this game could be. Eric Berry and Marcus Peters are part of a killer Kansas City secondary that led the league in interceptions while Pittsburgh is all about the trio of Big Ben, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Smith as one of the best trio of skill position players in the sport.... 

In the biggest mismatch of the divisional round, the Houston Texans and New England Patriots are set to collide in the Saturday night timeslot. The Patriots were able to handle Houston easily in Week 3 without Tom Brady. This time, the future Hall-of-Famer will be under center, but the Texans still boast the best defense in the NFL in total yards allowed, but can Brock Osweiler lead this Houston offense against New England?... 

Can we expect the postseason legend of Russell Wilson to continue? The Atlanta Falcons could not take care of the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle back in Week 6 and will look get some revenge. They did score 21 in the third quarter, winning the second half to keep the game very close. They’ll also have home field advantage this time around. They enter the game as notable favorites, but the Seahawks have the postseason pedigree behind them and some favorable matchups in the air with Atlanta’s Desmond Trufant out.... 

The Green Bay Packers are red hot, having won their last seven games en route to a NFC North Division Title, but now must face the best team in the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas is ready to shed the label of playoff choke artists, but the line indicates that there are a lot of bettors who like Green Bay to win this one. Green Bay has come into its own in recent weeks and although Dallas finished with the best record, the Pack are on a roll.... 

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a trendy pick to knock off New England and win the AFC, but first they have to get past the Kansas City Chiefs. Pittsburgh dominated Miami all day long in the Wildcard Round, but Kansas City is a much more complete team. The Chiefs don’t have glaring weaknesses on either side of the ball and one of the best special teams units in the league. However, no team has more talent at the skill positions than Pittsburgh.... 

The Houston Texans are the biggest underdogs in 18 years this weekend. Nobody believes in Houston after its win over a Derek Carr-less Oakland Raiders squad even though Jadeveon Clowney looks unstoppable. That’s because when Houston traveled to take on the New England Patriots earlier this season, the Pats shut out the Texans 27-0 with Jacoby Brissett under center in place of Tom Brady. The dominating victory gave Houston the label of pretender once again, but it has the chance to prove everyone wrong on Saturday night.... 

One of the best games of the regular season will get a deserved rematch, but a change of venue, when the Atlanta Falcons host the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday. Seattle won the regular season battle between these two sides, but Atlanta felt rightfully hosed after video replay showed that Richard Sherman had pulled down Julio Jones on Atlanta’s last gasp effort. The Falcons have been wanting a taste of revenge ever since this game and will have the perfect opportunity for it on Saturday afternoon.... 

The fact of the matter is that the Super Bowl odds rarely change all that much between the Wild Card weekend and the Divisional Round of the playoffs. All of the top teams and favorites were off this week, so none of them could be upset, and this year, all of the chalk held up to essentially keep all of the odds exactly the same on paper. What we're left with now, is the business that has to be taken care of, and we're going to see that play out over the course of one fantastic weekend of footba... 

As far as most NFL fans are concerned, the opening round of the playoffs is kiddie stuff. The teams that are playing in that first weekend aren't the ones who are really supposed to win the Super Bowl, but they're the ones who can take out the teams who might in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Typically, home field advantage means a ton this weekend, but outside of New England, there isn't a home team most would feel comfortable slotting into the conference championship game at this point.... 

If the old saying of defense wins championships holds true, the Seattle Seahawks might be on their way to another Super Bowl. Seattle stymied the Lions last weekend, holding them without a touchdown in the Wild Card game, but that old adage will get a severe test in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs when the top ranked offense of the Atlanta Falcons gets a shot at home to take down the Seahawks. Competing in the postseason is nothing new to the Seahawks, who have won eight playoff games in the last five years.... 

The Houston Texans don’t have much of a chance to upset the Super Bowl favorite New England Patriots in the Divisional Round and oddsmakers have noted such. The Pats opened as a 16-point favorite in their matchup, the largest spread for this round in nearly 20 years. And it’s not hard to figure out why. Without Tom Brady, the Pats slaughtered the Texans 27-0 back in Week 3, and now New England is healthy and has the best quarterback playing at the top of his game.... 

With their three stars on offense all playing together in the postseason for the first time, the Pittsburgh Steelers whacked the Dolphins and have the look of a team that could make a trip to the AFC Championship game. In order to get there, however, the Steelers must overcome the stingy defense of the Kansas City Chiefs. They did that already this season, posting a big win over K.C. in October, but this is a playoff game in unruly Arrowhead where fans have waited over 20 years to witness a postseason victory.... 

The Green Bay Packers are the hottest team in the NFL and they’re coming off a Wild Card game in which they scored 38 points against one of the better defensive units. It would be hard to bet against Aaron Rodgers and what he’s done to carry the Pack to the postseason, and the rookie sensations of the Dallas Cowboys have never experienced playoff football, though they have had an extended period of rest. This game sets up to be the marquee matchup of the Divisional Round.... 

After years of futility, the Oakland Raiders have put together an impressive season that could all be tumbling down as a result of an untimely injury to Derek Carr. Now the Carr-less Raiders will host the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs with hopes of advancing, but little chance of capitalizing on what has been a great season. Houston, meanwhile, gets a boost as their now favored to win.... 

For just the third time in the last 17 seasons, the NFL play offs features the Detroit Lions. This time around, the Lions will collide with the Seattle Seahawks. The Lions have lost seven straight Wild Card Games and have last found themselves in a non-Wild Card playoff game back in 1991. Can the No. 6 Lions beat history and advance against the No. 3 Seahawks? It seems unlikely given Detroit is sliding into the playoffs having lost three straight games.... 

An injury to Ryan Tannehill has put a damper on what would otherwise be a very intriguing rematch of a showdown between the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Miami won the first meeting, but this game will be played at Heinz Field and Pittsburgh’s offense will turn to Le’Veon Bell to exploit a Miami defense ranked 30^th in the NFL against the run while the combination of Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio is the most dynamic in the sport.... 

Just how much can a single player do in football? We’re about to get the answer to this question on Sunday when Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers face the New York Giants in the NFC Wild Card Game. The Packers’ defense is battered and bruised and Eli Manning has shown the ability to play up in big games over the years. Green Bay is a dangerous team and they’re playing in the frozen tundra, but the Giants aren’t strangers to cold weather.... 

If any team is going to upset the apple cart and disrupt a potential New England-Dallas Super Bowl, odds are it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh has an elite trio of skill position players in Ben Roethlisberger, LeVeon Bell, and Antonio Brown and a defense that is starting to peak at just the right time. The Steelers came within a hair of missing out on the playoffs, needing Brown to break the plane of the end zone with 10 seconds remaining to knock off Baltimore and win the AFC North. Now, Pittsburgh is looking to take revenge from a loss earlier this season when it faces the Miami Dolphins.... 

Come on Seattle! There is a lot of buzz about this Seattle Seahawks team, even though they are the No. 3 seed in the NFC. Seattle has already defeated Atlanta and New England this season, but unlike the past few seasons where the Seahawks were the darlings of the advanced metrics community, this season the advanced numbers only have them as the 9^th best team in the NFL. However, they will be facing one of the lowest ranked teams by DVOA when they face the 27^th ranked Detroit Lions at home on Saturday night.... 

We may have the worst quarterback match-up we have ever seen in the Wild Card Round when the Oakland Raiders travel to take on the Houston Texans in the first game of the 2017 NFL Playoffs on Saturday. Oakland was seen as a trendy upset pick to win the AFC until Derek Carr suffered a broken leg late in the Raiders victory over the Colts, but now looks like an also-ran in the conference. As for Houston, the Texans thought they had their quarterback when they signed Brock Osweiler to a big deal in the offseason, but he has played so poorly that he was replaced by Tom Savage, but may be the starter for this one....