The wildcard weekend saw a boatload of wipeouts as the Cowboys continued their playoff pratfall and got crushed by the Pack. the surprising DeMeco-Ryans-led Houstons beat the shit out of the vaunted Browns defense, the injury-depleted Dolphins couldn’t slow down the resilient Chiefs, the Bills continued their late-season roll by beating the playoff-starved Steelers, the the Iggles finished their Jeckyll/Hyde season with a resounding thud at the feet of Baker’s Boys, and the surprising Lions defense stopped the Rams and won their first playoff game since King George I was president.
So, on Saturday we get the other hottest team in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers, and the Bucs get the surprising Lions in Deetroit.
The AFC #1 seed Ravens gets Houston at home, and the Chiefs head to Buffalo for their yearly playoff matchup.
Kinda bummed Cleveland got washed out, as the playoffs seem to be the same-old same old with the usual teams. Only Cleve and Deetroit are the newcomers to the playoff parade, as Houston was in fairly recently, and the Dolphins have had their share of playoff action. So here we are:
Saturday, Jan. 20
(4) Houston Texans vs. (1) Baltimore Ravens 4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
(7) Green Bay Packers vs. (1) San Francisco 49ers, 8:15 p.m. ET, Fox
Sunday, Jan. 21
(4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. (3) Detroit Lions, 3 p.m. ET, NBC
(3) Kansas City Chiefs vs. (2) Buffalo Bills, 6:30 p.m. ET, CBS
At first glance, I think the #1s both move on. Houston is on a roll, but Balt is tough as hell.
The Baker Show ends on Sunday as Jared Goff continues his Rams revenge dash through the playoffs, and KC outlasts the now-injury-depleted Buffaloes.
San Francisco 49ers Forever 
Yeah, it might not happen but I think all the home teams win. The Niner/Packer game should be fun.
Yeah, that sounds right. I think KC and Green Bay have the best shot at breaking that though.
Although I think we can disrupt GBs passing game enough to slow down their offense. And their run game, despite Aaaron Jones yesterday, won;t be nearly as successful.
Their defense isn’t anything spectacular so we should be able to take this. Something like 33-20.
Thing about Buffalo is they got wasted by injuries yesterday, esp on defense, so they may not be able to slow down the middling KC defense.
This’ll be like 24 – 17 KC.
Turns out the KC puffer jacket Travis Kelce’s GF wore to freezing stadium was made and designed by Juice’s wife Kristyn, per story in Chron today.
She also did one for Deebo and GB one for Simone Biles husband who plays for the Pack. Mrs. Juszczyk is onto something, and after announcers originally flubbed where Swift got it, she got her name rightfully mentioned.
The vest for Deebo is a Purdy jersey!
Just read they are expecting an atmospheric river for Niners game. I don’t know who that would favor in a game like this. I know Purdy has had some trouble in the rain.
Atmospheric river? Jesus. Love these terms. Armageddon deluge. Satan’s piss fire.
It’s gonna fucking rain.
We have the better run game so that should be to our advantage.
But as we all know, turnovers are the issue. CMC had a little patch of fumbling early in the year. It fucked up the Minnesota game on the opening drive, but didn’t affect the Dallas game when he fumbled on the Dallas 1.
Purdy also struggled in that Cleveland game in the rain.
Good article
https://apple.news/AqsRyYIz2Ta-fDxnaZXoVfg
Yeah, anyone with more than a passing knowledge of the game can see that Purdy is making plays out of the pocket, on the move, and throwing mid-range passes all the time. And he’s one of the most accurate throwing deep balls.
The gist of the article:
The myth: Brock Purdy’s numbers are inflated by the Niners’ run-after-catch ability.
Why it’s a myth: Yes, the 49ers have great run-after-catch ability. And yes, Shanahan does a great job of scheming up plays that maximize it. But Purdy’s not considerably more reliant on that than other quarterbacks. The 49ers are sixth in the league in receiving yards (4,577) and fourth in yards after the catch (2,189). To translate, they get 47.8% of their receiving yards after the catch. For comparison’s sake, the Chiefs get 61.1% of their receiving yards after the catch. Is Patrick Mahomes a system quarterback?
QBR is a stat that directly measures a quarterback’s contribution to plays that help the team win, and Purdy’s 72.8 was the highest in the NFL this season. He also ranked seventh in air yards per pass attempt at 8.0. He might be well-suited for Shanahan’s offense, but to call Purdy a system quarterback underrates what he has accomplished.
All you hqve to do to note the difference is to see how much better Purdy’s numbers are than Garoppolo’s.
But it all goes out the window come Saturday night. Hope the cataclysmic drizzle isn’t too bad.
Mark Chmura advocates for cheap-shotting Purdy. Bad enough he said it, but even worse, this is ESPN putting this shit out there.
Looks like the weather isn’t gonna be too bad Saturday night.
CMC and Trent Williams are full-go at practice.
Hurry up!!!! The wait is killing me.
I truly hope the weather is good.
Scattered showers with light winds.
Clelin Ferrell ruled out.
Greenlaw questionable.
Not terrible but certainly a concern.
Greenlaw will play.
This game is now way a given GB has been playing really good and they are gonna be giving it all they have. We should take em but all it takes is a couple of mistakes.
Greenlaw practiced on Wednesday and was given the day off yesterday.
He’s good to go unless otherwise told. Everyone but Ferrell is back.
Picks: Niners, Lions, Texans and Bill’s all straight up, no spread.
Hmmmmm. Texans is a pretty gutsy call. Gonna be a great weekend of football.
Ooops. New thread is up.