Which teams could cause an upset on Wildcard Weekend?
The wildcard round of the playoffs is upon us. The regular season went by in a flash, but the excitement will continue with some blockbuster matchups in the first round of the playoffs. I’m going to talk you through three possible upsets that I wouldn’t be surprised to see happen.
Houston Texans
The Texans have been one of the brightest storylines of this season. Rookie quarterback and a rookie head coach hasn’t stopped them from completely flipping the script and bulldozing their way into the playoffs. They have a tough task against the league’s best defense when they host the Cleveland Browns, though that won’t faze this new look Texans team.
The Texans have shown on many occasions this season that when the stakes are high, that they are up to the challenge. They have faced many strong teams and have come out victorious. C.J Stroud has put together arguably one of the greatest rookie quarterback campaigns this season and he has an incredible chance to add to that story this weekend.
Houston has a really talented roster and this team is more than capable of keeping this ride going, they can spring an upset here.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers won’t be a team that many people expect to win when they travel to Buffalo to face the Bills. I however think there may be a surprise result here. Now the Steelers haven’t looked like a playoff team in many games, but they have won and they have gotten into the mix. The loss of T.J Watt is devastating and the Steelers record without their star defender is poor, very poor.
But I believe that this could be a catalyst to bring the group together even more and they can go out and produce a win for their defensive player of the year. Tomlin is a coach who can find a way to rally his team and he is no stranger to the task he faces this week.
The Bills have put together a great run to get into the playoffs but if you look into each of their wins, you can see that there have been opportunities for their opponents. The Steelers be optimistic knowing that the Bills are likely to make some mistakes.
The big question is, what can the Steelers do to capitalise on the mistakes and produce an upset that not many saw coming? Expect the D Line to put on a massive display to disrupt Allen and watch out for their run game to carry them to the win.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers have a real challenge when they travel to Dallas. The Cowboys are formidable at home, though their form has started to slip as the season has gone on. The pressure is unthinkable for the Cowboys who almost have to win, but this youthful and exciting Green Bay team is here to make sure that doesn’t happen. One of the great things about a young team is that they are fearless and that describes this Packers team very well.
They don’t have any negative memories, they aren’t reliving the past, they are zoned in on proving all the doubters wrong. Farve and Rodgers both came up short in reaching the playoffs in their debut season as the starter, Jordan Love however has done what they couldn’t and this young quarterback looks to have a very promising career ahead of him in Green Bay.
It would be easy to dismiss the Packers but something tells me that they could produce a result that has a huge outcome for their former coach and current Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy. I like the chances that Green Bay can keep this close and cause an upset in the NFC. Many wondered what would happen after the Rodgers era, looks like it’s set to be another successful period for one of the league’s most storied franchises.
There is no easy game in the playoffs. The small details will have huge impacts and it might come down to who has the ball last. I can see some surprises coming and if each of the above teams win, I wouldn’t be shocked in any way. Enjoy and let’s see what happens.
