Coming off the most bizarre and scary week, probably in NFL history, JLD has delayed predictions for this week until things were ironed out. Our tagline (Sports without emotion) has taken a bit of a hit this last week because there was nothing but emotion surrounding the events of last Monday night. We are happy to hear that Damar Hamlin is recovering and looks like he will make a full recovery.
That being said, we now will get back to our bread and butter, predicting and analyzing games. To be clear, no potential underlying effects of the last week will be considered, just the stats. That’s just what we do here.
Power Rankings
Will let these simmer here, but to point out the highest and lowest ranking playoff teams in each conference.
NFC Top Playoff contenders
49ers (#1)
Dallas (#3)
Philly (#4)
Detroit (#7)
Seattle (#9)
Tampa Bay (#15)
Packers (#16)
Giant (#17)
Vikings (#24)
AFC Top Playoff contenders
Bills (#2)
Chiefs (#5)
Bengals (#6)
Ravens (#8)
Jaguars (#10)
Chargers (#11)
Patriots (#12)
Dolphins (#18)
Steelers (#20)
Titans (#28)
Week 18 Predictions
Games JLD will be watching:
Lions vs. Packers - Detroit can ruin the Packers plan to sneak into the playoffs. JLD is predicting that the Lions will indeed beat the Packers, but they will be rewarded by losing out on the playoffs themselves because of…
Rams vs. Seahawks - Seattle will secure their playoff spot by beating the Rams and the Packers losing to Detroit. They better send the Lions a nice note and a gift card for this one.
Browns vs. Steelers - All the Browns can do at this point is keep the Steelers out of the playoffs. They will beat the Steelers, but the Steelers need the Dolphins and the Patriots to both lose…
Jets vs. Dolphins - Miami will beat the Jets, but they will need the Patriots to lose…
Patriots vs. Bills - We believe the Bills will overcome a very emotional week and win one for their fallen teammate. Supported by data, not emotion. The Bills will possibly be playing for the #1 seed only if Kansas City loses…
Chiefs vs. Raiders - The Raiders would love nothing more than to keep the Chiefs from their bye week. But with a new QB and the Chiefs getting back a big contributor on offense (Hardman), the Chiefs will not allow this to keep them from the bye.
Playoff Prediction
The wild card game between the Bengals and the Ravens will be the second game in two weeks for them AND there will be a coin flip for home field advantage.
Philly will secure the first seed and Seattle will sneak into the last spot in the playoffs.
Next week, will obviously do picks for the playoff round, but we’ll do a whole playoff projection for each round. Bengals-Eagles has been my pick from preseason and we are still on track for that, though I will be rooting for my Chiefs to be there instead!
Enjoy your weekend and all of the great games that are likely to be close and fun!