It’s the NFL Wildcard weekend. The first of two weekends with four NFL playoff games spread across Saturday and Sunday like an octopus with each limb representing a team still alive to make the Super Bowl. Wildcard weekend is, in my mind, the second best weekend of the NFL season. This year, my friend Brendan and I recorded 10-15 minute preview podcasts of each of the games. I’ve linked to those in the game titles below. But, lucky for you, it’s not just Brendan and me blathering on about the NFL. Fresh of a season of previewing all the NFL games, our favorite police duo bring their good cop, bad cop act into the playoffs and preview all the matchups in the National Football League this weekend.
Wildcard Weekend
Saturday, January 3, at 4:35 p.m. ET, on ESPN
Arizona Cardinals at Carolina Panthers
Good cop: I think this is the most compelling of all this weekend’s playoff games! The Panthers have been much maligned because of making the playoffs with a losing record! But you know what? The NFL isn’t like the NBA where the top seeds almost always win! Anything can happen in the NFL! The Panthers are coming off four wins in a row and I think they’re a dangerous team! Meanwhile, Arizona is a battle-tested team that’s had to rely on each other all year to overcome injuries! Not only have they overcome, but they thrived in the most difficult division in football, the NFC West! Don’t write off the Cardinals!
Bad cop: On any given Sunday, this game would be about the tenth most interesting on the NFL schedule. Just because these two terminally flawed teams made the playoffs and will play each other doesn’t mean the game will be worth watching. If it sounds like a mediocre game and it smells like a mediocre game and it looks like a mediocre game… it probably will be a mediocre game; even in the playoffs.
Saturday, January 3, at 8:15 p.m. ET on NBC
Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers
Good cop: If you don’t like this game, then you don’t like football! This is the perfect blend of old-timey smash mouth football and new-age innovative offensive football! The Steelers and Ravens really, actually, more than what is normal even for football teams, don’t like each other! And they play harder against each other than against any other teams! Add that to the additional playoff intensity and you’re going to get a game that’s blisteringly exciting! I know I’m not alone in being excited for this game! The NFL schedulers always put the most exciting game on Saturday night of these four game playoff weekends!!
Bad cop: Everything you said is true. Also true is the fact that the vast, silent majority of people, even football fans, are cringing now more than ever when they see a player get injured, especially with a brain injury. All that extra intensity? It’s not going to create better performances, it’s going to create more chaos and more injuries. I think I’ll take a pass on this one and abuse my own brain in an acceptable way, like drinking beer and watching the entire last season of Downton Abbey to prep for Sunday’s season premiere.
Sunday, January 4, at 1:05 p.m. ET on CBS
Cincinnati Bengals at Indianapolis Colts
Good cop: I am totally fascinated by this game! It’s the perfect test of the power of sports narrative! Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is known for collapsing in big games, like playoff games where he’s 0-3 and primetime games where he’s 3-6! At least this game is only in the playoffs and not also in primetime! On the other side of the field, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is known for coming through in big games! Last year in the playoffs he actually managed to recover his running back’s fumble on the two yard line and run it into the endzone for a touchdown! This game is football and fate intertwined!
Bad cop: You talk about fate? I’m the one who feels like Cassandra all the time here. This game is going to be so bad. It’s the worst of the four. I keep telling everyone this and no one will listen to me. Dalton is bad at football, his best receiver AJ Green is injured in seventeen different ways, and just to top it off, this game is going to be played indoors on carpet. That’s no place to play a playoff game. Pah.
Sunday, January 4, at 4:40 p.m. ET on Fox
Detroit Lions at Dallas Cowboys
Good cop: The weekend ends with the best matchup of the four games! For most of the year, the Cowboys had the best offense in the NFL and Detroit had the best defense! This game matches strength against strength! The Cowboy’s offensive line against Detroit’s defensive line! A gigantic game between the two traditional Thanksgiving day hosts?!! It’s like it’s Thanksgiving all over again! A cornucopia of wonderful football!
Bad cop: Mmm. Just like the Turkey at your Thanksgiving dinner this year, this one is a little overcooked. As good of a matchup as this looked a month ago, now it’s dry and less tasty. Sure, both teams won four of their last five games but look who they played. Dallas beat up on Bears, Eagles, Colts, and Redskins (only one playoff team) while the Lions feasted on the Buccaneers, Vikings, and Bears twice (no playoff teams.) Talk about turkeys. Whoever wins this game will be sure to lose next weekend, so why even bother watching?.?