How good was the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs!  The first five games were absolute belters and they more than made up for the abject snore-fest of that final game.  Those games have set up four cracking encounters as we move into Week 2 of the NFL playoffs – the Divisional Round.

SUNDAY 22 JANUARY 

10.30am – AFC – Jacksonville Jaguars (4) at Kansas City Chiefs (1) 

Last week Jacksonville produced a comeback performance ladened with resilience, belief, skill, calmness and courage.  However if the Jags find themselves that same kind of hole this week, they ain’t coming back, even as good as Doug Petersen is as a coach … and Dougie P is an outstanding coach.  The Chiefs are too stacked on offence, solid enough on defence and are extremely well coached … oh yeah, and they have Patrick Mahomes at quarterback; suspect this is one game too many for a Jaguars side that, if they draft and recruit well – and that’s a massive IF – should be a playoff fixture for the next five years.

Prediction: Chiefs by 17 points

2.15pm – NFC – New York Giants (6) at Philadelphia Eagles (1) 

Gees, those Giants were super-impressive in disposing of the Vikings last week.  However the Vikings,  to quote the great Denny Green, “were who we thought they were” (more fool me for thinking otherwise).  The Eagles have the best record in the NFC for a reason.  They have consistently been the best team in that division (and arguably the NFL) all season.  And while I believe that consistency of performance and overall higher quality of roster will see Philadelphia through to victory, make no mistake that the Giants are going to give them one heck of scrap, maybe to the Eagles detriment in a weeks time

Prediction: Eagles by 4 points 

Image sourced from the NFL twitter account

MONDAY 23 JANUARY 

9am – AFC – Cincinnati Bengals (3) at Buffalo Bills (2)

This game comes down to what your belief in turning negativity to positivity is.  Most sports fans know about what happened the last time these two teams met.  Most sports fans now know the name Damar Hamlin because of that harrowing-for-all-concerned incident three weeks ago.  Mine isn’t a belief; mine is based on personal experience, Turning a negative incident into positive energy wears you out.  At first you don’t notice but over time, the adrenaline boost of energy fades quicker than the week before, then the day before, then the hour before.  That’s my concern for Buffalo more than Cincinnati.  These two teams are so evenly matched, more so with the Bengals offensive line losses of Cappa and Williams, that I think the emotional energy may sap some much needed physical energy late in a close game that will ultimately prove the difference.

Prediction: Bengals by 3 points 

12.30pm – NFC – Dallas Cowboys (5) at San Francisco 49ers (2) 

A confident Cowboys are dangerous Cowboys.  But as it was when assessing the Giants, are we looking at a good football team that beat a poor team?  And in the case of Tampa Bay, one that topped a very, VERY, poor division.  That said, those two teams are a lot more even than many think however I’m happy to back the 49ers on the basis of better coaching and that better system and adaptability within that system will see them pull away late and set the “Sean-Payton-to-Dallas” media frenzy off at a Top-Gun-Maverick-Darkstar-esque mach 10.3 speed.

Prediction: 49ers by 10 points