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In terms of excitement, wild-card weekend could have been better.
At least we did identify Los Angeles Rams at Detroit Lions as the game to watch in this space last week. That was the one thriller in the first round, as the Lions moved on with a 24-23 win. The other five were decided by an average of 20.6 points. The second-closest game was a 14-point win by Buffalo Bills. There was certainly intrigue, especially with the NFC East teams taking miserable losses, but not great games.
Maybe that sets up a great divisional round. There are certainly some fun matchups. Here are the four games for the divisional round, ranked by the watchability of each:
The beauty of the divisional round is we get the best teams in the league all on the same weekend. If there’s an outlier in this elite eight, it’s a Buccaneers team that went 9-8 and won a weak NFC South. Still, the Buccaneers did have some good performances late in the season, their defense is capable and Baker Mayfield looked good on Monday night against the Eagles. And the Lions have the best story going in these playoffs. Their home crowd should be even louder on Sunday afternoon. If this is our fourth-best game, we’re in good shape.
It was a tough call between No. 2 and No. 3. Texans vs. Ravens could be very entertaining. On one side there’s the soon-to-be NFL MVP Lamar Jackson, trying to build a playoff resume to match his fantastic regular-season one, with a Ravens team that looked dominant for much of the season. He’ll face arguably the best rookie quarterback in NFL history. C.J. Stroud reset the bar for what is possible from a rookie quarterback in the NFL. He has raised his game even higher the last two weeks, a winner-take-all Week 18 game against the Colts that got the Texans in the playoffs, then a fantastic performance in a playoff win over the Browns. The Texans have come a long way since the Ravens beat them 25-9 in the opener. It’ll be a great showdown between two of the NFL’s top quarterbacks. Maybe…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-divisional-round-watchability-ranking-the-4-games-by-which-were-looking-forward-to-most-143623468.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-01-17 14:36:23
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