Buckle up; this ride sure to have twists, turns
50 things we’re looking forward to during wild-card weekend:
1. Playoffs. Second season. Win and move on. That’s all that matters.
2. Four home underdogs to start it off. Parity? Parody? Somewhere in between?
3. Doesn’t matter. It’s the playoffs! 4. We’ll bring the popcorn. 5. The four games: 6. Pittsburgh at Cincinnati.
7. That is the hold-all-calls game of the weekend.
8. Division rivals. Don’t buy all of the talk you heard this week. This will be nasty.
9. Can Ben Roethlisberger throw the Steelers to victory? It seems the only way.
10. The Bengals are going to be judged for one thing this season: how they do in the playoffs. And that now falls on AJ McCarron. It will be interesting to see how he performs on this stage.
11. The Steelers were the one team nobody wanted to play in the AFC playoffs — right, Bill Belichick? — but haven’t looked the part the past two weeks. Pretenders or contenders? We’re about to find out.
12. Poor Marvin Lewis. He’s 0-6 in the playoffs, and if he earns his first win he probably faces the biggest quarterback decision of his coaching career.
13. McCarron or Andy Dalton next weekend if Dalton is healthy?
14. If he stays with McCarron and loses, he will be criticized for not going to Dalton.
15. If he goes to Dalton and loses, Dalton might never recover, knowing another quarterback can win a playoff game for the Bengals and he can’t.
16. Good luck with that one, Marvin.
17. Stat alert I: After they lost No. 1 running back Le’Veon Bell in Week 17 last year, no Steeler rushed for more than 25 yards in their wild-card loss the next week. And no DeAngelo Williams on Saturday? Hmmm.
18. Yes, popcorn for this one. 19. Seattle at Minnesota. 20. Outdoors. In January. 21. They say the temperature will be below zero at kickoff. Wind chill: minus 15 to minus 20.
22. Somewhere, Bud Grant is smiling. (If you don’t know who Grant is, Google it.)
23. Adrian Peterson vs. Marshawn Lynch.
24. Peterson has eclipsed 100 rushing yards once in four career playoff games, though he has averaged more than 90 yards. Lynch has averaged 91.7 rushing yards in 10 playoff games, but that drops to 64.2 in games not played at Century-Link Field.
25. Yeah, yeah, we know they don’t play “against” each other on the field, but you know they will be judged by two things: a) who wins; b) how they did against each other.
26. We are all eager to see if this is the beginning of a third consecutive Seahawks run.
27. No popcorn, but we’ll bring blankets. (And a flask, of course.)
28. Green Bay at Washington.
29. “You like that” towels. Really, Washington?
30. If things don’t go your way and Clay Matthews is waving one of those towels behind the Packers bench as the final seconds tick away, well, you have been warned.
31. The Packers’ injury report listed 17 players this week. Yikes.
32. That includes most of the offensive line. Yes, Aaron Rodgers will be running for his life again.
33. Is the country about to find out just how good of a tight end Jordan Reed is? We think so.
34. The Redskins had 14 turnovers in the first half of the season but eight in the second half (and only three in their last six games). That is a good formula for winning playoff games.
35. Aside from their Super Bowl XLV run after the 2010 season, the Packers are 2-5 in the playoffs with Rodgers as their starter.
36. Popcorn? Wrapped in a towel?
37. Kansas City at Houston.
38. The Chiefs started 1-5. The Texans started 2-5.
39. And one of those teams will reach the divisional round. That’s cool. And a reminder that it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
40. With these defenses, the first one to 10 points wins, we think.
41. Will we see more points or more sacks? Houston’s J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus combined for 291⁄ 2, most in the NFL by a duo. For the Chiefs, Tamba Hali and Justin Houston take aim at a Texans O-line that lost LT Duane Brown in Week 17.
42. Of course, this could turn into a national coming-out party for Texans wideout DeAndre Hopkins, which he deserves.
43. Stat alert: In his 11-year career, Chiefs QB Alex Smith has averaged 193.2 passing yards and 1.1 touchdown passes a game with an 84.5 rating. In the playoffs, he averages 291 yards and three TDs with a 108.6 rating.
44. If you like defense, this is the popcorn game for you. 45. And just sayin’ … 46. Brian Hoyer. Kirk Cousins. Sparty On!
47. Catch-rule controversy. We guarantee there will be at least one.
48. We understand the Vikings and Seahawks have both ordered “warm” underwear for the game. So much for the tough-guy image.
49. It seems like if you are a Bengals coach and don’t have a head coaching interview scheduled for Sunday, well, awkward.
50. Looking ahead: Possibly New England-Cincinnati, Seattle-Carolina in the divisional round. Wow. We better save some popcorn.