GEORGE: 11 NFL Thoughts from Wild Card Weekend:
Wild Card Thrills, Divisional Round Predictions, Patriots Face Texans
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We certainly had a weekend of exciting football.
1) It began with the Rams surviving a strong performance by the Panthers at Charlotte. Then, the Chicago Bears put their division rival to sleep. Bear Nation loves to beat the Green Bay Packers in what is the longest running rival in NFL history. Don’t believe me? Ask Bears head coach Ben Johnson what he thinks of the Packers. The 49ers made up for their substandard performance at home against Seattle by dismissing the defending champion Eagles in Philadelphia. Eagle fans want their offensive coordinator dismissed as well. I say send Nick Sirianni packing, also.
Over in the AFC, the Buffalo Bills made franchise history by defeating the Jaguars in Jacksonville. It was their first road playoff win since 1992. Buffalo got a late touchdown by Josh Allen to put them ahead to stay.
Stop it right here. Never before in NFL history had there ever been a playoff weekend with four games decided by four or less points. It was mostly scintillating and very entertaining football.
Then came the Patriots and the Texans, who get to face each other next weekend in Foxborough.
These last two games were rockfights, single-digit scores by both teams at the half. Strong fourth quarters by the winners. The Patriots won by 13 points, and the Texans won by 24 points. By virtue of beating Pittsburgh, Houston gets a date with the Patriots at Gillette Stadium next Sunday, a place where they have never won in the postseason.
And so, the Divisional round is set. Many folks call this weekend the best weekend of the year in the NFL. Sorry, gang, but I’ll still take the Super Bowl weekend. Then again, my favorite March Madness weekend is the Regional Semifinals and Finals. Maybe my subconscious loves the Divisional weekend also.
2) Geek of the Week: Can’t wait for the first Packers-Bears meeting in fall 2026. What Johnson did (and I’m not plagiarizing the Globe, this is my honest opinion) was both stupid and unprofessional. Johnson cussed out the Packers, using a vulgar word that not even Tom E. Curran can use in his very informative and thought provoking podcasts. His rant did go viral on social media. The Packers know.
3) Oh, for the days of the wife of a former head coach sticking her feet out the car window just to satisfy all those out there with a foot fetish.
4) In the NFC, you have the Rams at the Bears and the 49ers at the Seahawks.
You, the Patriots fan, may be scared to death of going to Denver or Josh Allen coming to Foxborough. The 12th man in Seattle feels about the same regarding the 49ers or Rams.
That’s because the Niners and Rams are division opponents. They go there yearly anyway. Why should San Francisco fear the Seahawks?
Weather? It never rains in Southern California. It pours up north. In the Bay Area and Sea-Tac.
Seattle could get snow. Maybe that would faze the 49ers a little bit.
The fans? Aaaaah. You can prepare for that. Silent counts. Loud music at practices.
It may come down to which quarterback outplays the other. You have Mister Irrelevant against Mister I See Ghosts. The smart money here is on Seattle. We’re going home field here. Yes, Seattle won the last get-together. At home, Seattle will scrape by in what could be a barnburner. San Francisco can cut a stinker just as well as Seattle can.
5) In Chicago, the Rams should take this one.
Green Bay perhaps did more to lose the game this past week than Chicago did to win it. Unless it is a bugnutty blizzard out there, the Rams can and should outplay the Bears.
Caleb Williams, though he does have some good offensive weapons, will likely succumb to a lot of Rams pressure. Matthew Stafford will make his case for MVP, then get out his phone and make like Johnson except directed at the Patriots, and maybe even Drake Maye.
Then the Rams had better pray they don’t face the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
6) Back to school: Next Monday is the title game, Indiana versus Miami in the Hurricanes’ back yard. The Hoosiers are 8.5 point favorites. What if this game were at Lucas Oil Stadium? Anyway, yes, Miami will have a home-field advantage. Doesn’t matter. Indiana is so good right now that I would favor them over the Raiders and Giants.
But this will be sobering to Indiana fans. Probably beyond the 2026 season, some big-money/big-name/high-profile school will come along and make Curt Cignetti a Don Vito Corleone offer. And Cignetti will leave Bloomington, Indiana. And Indiana will go back to what it always has been: a basketball school with everyone outside of Indiana hating it because of Bobby Knight. And the IU football team will regress to what it has always been: a bottom-end Big Ten team with a tiny stadium and a fan base that will go back to worshipping Knight and Assembly Hall.
I will be hornswaggled if Cignetti ever threw a chair or punched a student in his life.
7) We get to enjoy a unique game on Saturday. We are entitling it “The Mother Of All ‘Who Do You Root For?’ Games.
Yep. Buffalo at Denver. Two things can happen, and both are bad for the Patriots.
Josh Allen could succumb to the altitude. But that would send the Patriots (if they win) to Denver.
The game could be too big for Bo Nix. But that would send Allen and the Bills to Foxborough (if they beat Houston).
8) Let’s talk Allen first. There are two stadiums in the USA which are at a higher altitude than Empower Field at Mile High. One of them is at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. This place is about 6,000 feet above sea level. What and where is the other?
Hahahaha. War Memorial Stadium, Laramie, Wyoming. That’s where the Cowboys of the University of Wyoming play. It’s just over 7,000 feet above sea level.
Now, where did Allen play his college ball at? No, Bob, not Wyoming. What?! Seriously?
Fresno State, much closer to Allen’s hometown of Firebaugh, California (perhaps 400 feet above sea level), didn’t try hard enough to recruit this nearby quarterback. Allen wound up going to Wyoming.
So, if you think Allen is going to be fazed by 5,280 feet above sea level, you also perhaps think that Allen will be scared of cold weather, maybe snow, and loud, fanatical fans who will taunt him every time he misfires on a pass.
So let’s pick Buffalo to win, just for the hell of it. Buffalo’s defense might just shut down the young Broncos, and Allen is playing like a man obsessed with going back to his home state in February and finally playing for the whole thing.
9) Remember him: A few weeks ago, we gave a shout-out to this guy’s brother. Now we pay homage to the former top draft pick of the Texans, David Carr. I played trumpet at this guy’s wedding. I know his mother-in-law. She and I worked together in the same school district for a very long time. Carr deserved a better career than what he got. The Texans decided to build the defense before they built the offense, and Carr paid the price with a ton of hits and sacks. Carr now lives in the Los Angeles area and does work for the NFL Network. Oh, yeah, Carr did also get a ring, and I don’t mean the wedding band from Melody. It was for winning Super Bowl XLII as a backup quarterback for the Giants. At least he wasn’t the one who threw those backbreaking passes to David Tyree and Plaxico Burress.
10) Okay, that leaves our Patriots. On Monday night, we saw the Texans dispatch the Steelers 30-6 to punch their tickets to Logan Airport.
Or T.F. Green Airport. I’ve been to both.
Anyway, let’s make it simple. If Houston plays like it did Monday night, advantage Patriots. They can and should win if C.J. Stroud commits three turnovers again.
Drake Maye will have to deal with still another terrific defense. Let’s hope the Patriot defense remains as terrific as they were Sunday night. Ask Justin Herbert what he thinks of the Patriot defense.
Stroud is a mobile quarterback. Oops, so was Herbert. So is Maye. At worst, that should be a push.
Maye got lucky in that he had the perfect environment to get any playoff yips he may have had last Sunday. He no longer has to say “Well, I’ll play in a playoff game someday!” He also might possibly make fewer mistakes this weekend.
11) The Patriots do have to take the Texans’ defense seriously. The Patriots also have a blueprint as to how to contain Stroud.
Bad weather would be advantageous to the Patriots. A freezing night with snow would help the Patriots. Advance weather forecast says overcast skies with a high of 36 (remember it’s an afternoon game).
Overall, let’s say the Patriots (-3 to open) have enough material to win, and they eventually do.
Try to enjoy the win, and not think about high altitudes or Josh Allen until you absolutely have to.
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