Wild-card players to watch as playoffs begin
This season’s NFL wild-card round will literally be like nothing we’ve ever seen.
Billed by the league as “Super Wild Card Weekend,” the 2020 playoffs – the first to feature a seven-team bracket per conference – will kick off with an unprecedented pair of back-to-back postseason tripleheaders Saturday and Sunday.
The competition should be typically fierce, and the two additional games should only further whet the appetites of football fans ... while adding to the league’s most valuable inventory of premium games heading into its next round of broadcast negotiations.
But the “Super Wild Card” as we lurch toward the kickoff of the Super Bowl LV tournament seems likely to be the unwelcome variable that has pervaded the country at large: COVID-19. The pandemic is already wreaking havoc as teams prepare for the biggest games of their season.
The status of Saints running back Alvin Kamara, who missed Week 17 while on the reserve/COVID-19 list, remains in question as New Orleans prepares to host Chicago on Sunday afternoon.
Buccaneers linebacker Devin White (133 tackles, nine sacks in 2020) probably won’t play Saturday at Washington.
The status of several other less prominent players also remains undetermined.
No team has been hit harder than the Cleveland Browns, playoff participants for the first time since 2002. They will be without head coach Kevin Stefanski and Pro Bowl guard Joel Bitonio – the club’s longest-tenured player – among others going into their Sunday night game in Pittsburgh.
“All of our guys that can’t be a part of this is disappointing to me,” Stefanski said Wednesday, “but we have to find a way. They understand that we have a job to do, and they are excited to do that. They know that this thing is not stopping for me or anybody so they are full speed ahead.”
Even if full speed ahead while the team is unable to practice so far at the facility, instead forced to prepare for Pittsburgh virtually.
It’s part and parcel of what could be the wildest of wild-card weekends.
Tampa Bay WR Antonio Brown
One of the greatest receivers in the history of the league before personal issues sidelined him most of the past two seasons, AB is once again performing at an elite level. Over the past three weeks, he has caught 20 passes for 266 yards and four TDs as the Bucs’ star-studded offense finally found an extended groove. His role may have to expand further Saturday night against Washington if fellow WR Mike Evans’ knee injury doesn’t allow for his playoff debut.
Tennessee WR Corey Davis
The fifth pick of the 2017 draft belatedly had a breakout season which should earn him some nice coin in free agency. More immediately, he’s quite capable of making the Ravens pay if they focus too narrowly on RB Derrick Henry and WR A.J. Brown. Davis has done it before, piling up 113 yards on five catches in the Titans’ Week 11 over Baltimore and catching a backbreaking TD from Henry in last season’s playoff upset at M&T Bank Stadium.
Buffalo WR Gabriel Davis
The rookie from Central Florida is effectively QB Josh Allen’s No. 3 receiver, but he may be this offense’s premier bigplay threat. Davis’ 17.1 yards per catch lead the team, and his seven TD grabs trail only Stefon Diggs (8), who had 104 additional targets. The Colts have given up five TD passes of 20+ yards over the past four weeks.
Baltimore RB J.K. Dobbins
The second-rounder only started once during his rookie year but has been the most effective back for Baltimore’s top-ranked ground game – particularly late in the season. Dobbins’ 805 rushing yards trail only QB Lamar Jackson among Ravens players, and his per-carry average of 6 yards was the highest of any running back in the league in 2020. The Ravens will surely need to establish the run early Sunday if they’re to avenge last year’s playoff loss to Tennessee.
Indianapolis RB Nyheim Hines
This offense has largely run through rookie RB Jonathan Taylor over the last six weeks. But keep an eye on speedy third-down back Hines, who leads the Colts with 63 catches and scores in bunches – he has multiple TDs in three games. He could be a difference maker.
New Orleans Saints WR Michael Thomas
Admittedly, odd to classify a two-time All-Pro as a “wild card.” But Thomas is currently a bit of an unknown commodity, an ankle injury costing him most of the season – one that ended prematurely when the Saints shut him down the past three weeks. Thomas, who caught a record 149 balls in 2019 but just 40 in 2020, has not yet been reactivated from injured reserve ahead of Sunday’s game. But he’s expected to play and may need to quickly recapture his chemistry with QB Drew Brees if Kamara is unavailable.