PLAYOFF PREVIEWS:
Welcome to NFL Divisional Playoff weekend, when the stakes are raised, heroes are made, goats are born and everyone has got some money on the line. Here are 10 fearless predictions beginning with a statement from The Evil Empire. 1 Tom Brady will unleash holy hell on the poor Titans. Hide the women and children, Tennessee fans. TB12 and the rest of The Evil Empire are out for blood in the wake of an explosive report claiming ego-driven dissension among the Patriots power brokers. Let’s be real: Brady, who is 6-0 against Mike Mularkey-coached teams, was going to destroy the Titans anyway. But now the vegetable-loving 40-year-old quarterback is going to make sure everyone knows just how ticked off he really is on Saturday night. 2 (Tom Brady’s anger + Bill Belichick’s annoyance) X Robert Kraft’s outrage = 25-point win for the Patriots. 3 The Eagles give a collective middle finger to the oddsmakers who made them three-point underdogs to the Falcons. Philly’s pass rush and rushing attack will be just enough to dethrone the reigning NFC champs. Of course, Nick Foles, who completed fewer than 47 percent of his passes in his two starts after Carson Wentz’s injury, could screw it all up. 4 Case Keenum’s fairytale season comes to a crashing end in his first career playoff start. The journeyman signal caller fails to become the first quarterback without a postseason start to beat a quarterback with at least 10 postseason starts since Tim Tebow toppled Ben Roethlisberger in 2011. 5 Dynamic rookie running back Alvin Kamara, who only had six touches for six yards against the Vikings in Week 1, erupts for more than 150 total yards to help the Saints advance to the conference title game. 6 Jaguars piñata Blake Bortles will implode. (And Jacksonville will be looking for a new quarterback in the offseason.) 7 Ben Roethlisberger won’t throw any interceptions after his five-pick disaster in a blowout loss to the Jags in Week 5. (I’m a little shaky on this one, but what the heck.) 8 Le’Veon Bell will rack up 100 total yards and two touchdowns against the stingy Jaguars defense. Bell will then announce that he will not retire after the season if he does have to play on the measly $14 million franchise tag next season. (How will he ever feed his loved ones?!) 9 The best matchups of the weekend will be Steelers wide receivers Antonio Brown and JuJu SmithSchuster vs. Jaguars cornerbacks A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey. Brown and Schuster won’t have eye-popping numbers, but they will make just enough key plays to help Pittsburgh advance. 10 Darrelle Revis will give as much effort sitting on his couch this week as he did during Kansas City’s wild-card collapse. Then again, tweeting total strangers about how he’s going to the Hall of Fame one day does take a lot of energy.