The two games that have already played out on Saturday proved yet again that the best and most exciting football is played in Divisional playoff round. On Saturday the Ravens beat the Broncos in double overtime and the 49ers beat the Packers to advance to Conference Championship games. I went 1-1 with Saturday Divisional playoff picks, here are my picks for 2 Sunday Divisional round games.
Seattle Seahawks (12-5) @ Atlanta Falcons (13-3), Sunday 1:00 PM (ET)
Prediction
This is supposed to be a great matchup between physical Seahawks’ secondary going against one of the best air attack in the league. Seattle is playing great on defense in general and I think they’ll be able to limit Atlanta’s passing game especially if they can stuff their running game early on in the game. For Atlanta on other hand it will be even more crucial to stop Seattle’s ground game, not only Seattle’s running backs but also rookie quarterback Russell Wilson who can make plays on the ground. Atlanta had plenty of time to prepare for dangerous Seattle team and the Falcons have an important home-field advantage in a game that will be played at 1 PM Eastern Time. The last two Seattle losses were against Detroit and Miami and both games were early games played on East Coast. This is a second consecutive trip to East Coast for Seattle Seahawks and I think they won’t be able to overcome that even tough I expect another solid performance from their defensive unit.
Pick: Falcons 24-23, Result: Falcons 30-28
Against The Spread: Seahawks (+2.5)
Over/Under: Over 45.5
Houston Texans (13-4) @ New England Patriots (12-4), Sunday 4:30 PM (ET)
Prediction
This is a rematch from regular season game in which the Patriots beat up the Texans 42-14. I expect it to be much closer battle than it was in Week 14 on Monday Night when nothing seemed to go Texans’ way and I think Houston will be hungry to revenge regular season loss and will be difficult to beat. With a couple of late season losses Texans lost the right to host this playoff game which could end up being a big disadvantage. With Tom Brady at quarterback the Patriots are 10-2 when playing at home and will look to improve on that record. Like I said I anticipate much closer game but I’m going with New England to win this one at home and advance to AFC championship game for the second year in a row.
The Instant Replay 