Poll: Which team is most at risk of getting upset in WC Round?
The NFL playoffs kick off on Saturday when the No. 4 seed Houston Texans host the No. 5 seed Cleveland Browns at 4:30 p.m. on NBC, followed by a frigid affair in Kansas City, where the 3-seeded Chiefs will host the 6-seeded Dolphins at 8:15 p.m. with a forecasted game-time windchill temperature of negative degrees.
The regular season did not feature any runaway dominant teams, which should make for an exciting postseason up for anyone's grab.
The biggest spread of the weekend is in Buffalo, where the AFC's No. 2 seeded Bills are 10-point favorites against a Steelers team that secured their spot in the playoffs just last Sunday. After that contest and the Dallas-Green Bay game on Sunday, which features a 7.5-point advantage for the Cowboys, all the other weekend contests have a spread of four points or fewer.
I would not be shocked to see an upset or two in the six games to be played during Wild Card Weekend, but forecasting where they will take place is a bit tougher of a challenge.
A team that seems most ripe for an upset is the Philadelphia Eagles, who backed their way into the playoffs by losing five of their final six regular season contests. Philly is the lower seed in their 4 vs. 5 matchup on the road in Tampa Bay, yet the 11-6 Eagles are still 3-point favorites against the 9-8 NFC South champions.
The Detroit Lions could be another team on upset alert, with the city preparing to host its first NFL playoff game since 1993, and the Lions looking for their first postseason win since '91. But Detroit will face a Rams team that ended the regular season 7-1 down the stretch, with their lone loss coming in overtime on the road in Baltimore.
Which team(s) are you putting on notice entering this weekend's opening round of the NFL playoffs?