The San Francisco 49’s in the National Conference (NFC) and the Buffalo Bills, in the American Conference (AFC), start as favorites to overcome the NFL wild card round that starts this weekend.
In the NFC, the 49ers, champions of the West, will open the wild card round this Saturday. They will host the division rival Seattle Seahawks, whom they beat twice in the regular season. In week two they beat them 27-7 and in week 15, 21-13.
San Francisco, which finished the regular season as the second-best team in the NFC, comes into this game on a 10-game winning streak. It boasts the best defense in the NFL and the fifth most productive offense.
Seattle finished in step seven of the NFC. He has the 13th-ranked offense in the league and one of the worst defenses ranked 26th out of 32 teams, a situation that puts him at a disadvantage to eliminate San Francisco, confessed his coach, Pete Carroll.
“Unfortunately we will play the 49ers. They are on a roll and as hot as it gets. They play in a dominant way. It will be a great challenge,” Carroll acknowledged.
On Monday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, champions of the NFC South, led by Tom Brady, will play in their stadium against the Dallas Cowboys.
The “Bucs”, fourth seed in the NFC, appear as candidates to advance due to the dominance that Brady exercises over the Cowboys, number five, whom he has faced seven times in his career with a clean record of defeats, something that the quarterback trusted to repeat in this duel.
“We will be ready and healthy to play our best football next Monday,” the seven-time Super Bowl ring winner said.
In their game on Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings, champions of the North and third place in the NFC, are favorites over the New York Giants, who finished in sixth place.
Bills, favorites
In the American Conference the champions of the East, the Buffalo Bills, with Josh Allen at the controls, look better than the Miami Dolphins, who still do not know if they will have their star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who has been out in the last two games for being in concussion protocol.
The Bills, the second strongest offense and the number two defense in points allowed, come off a seven-game winning streak.
Miami closed the season with five losses that they broke in the last week by beating the Jets, a victory that qualified them to the wild card round.
Also on Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals, led by Joe Burros, will begin their AFC title defense against the Baltimore Ravens. The Bengals come in with eight wins in a row.
A different situation for the Ravens, who have their star quarterback Lamar Jackson injured in the knee. According to their coach, John Harbaugh, they are hopeful of having Lamar to have a chance of passing Cincinnati.
In another game, the Los Angeles Chargers are expected to win Saturday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the champions of the South.
The Philadelphia Eagles, number one in the NFC, and the Kansas City Chiefs, number one in the AFC, who rest this weekend thanks to their position, will wait for their rivals for the division series.— efe
