The 2021 NFL playoffs are finally here, with Super Wild Card Weekend kicking off Saturday. With 12 teams squaring off in six different games across three days, there will be plenty of action before the top-seeded Packers and Titans even enter the mix. We've got Tom Brady in a rematch with the Eagles, who edged him in the Super Bowl four years ago. We've got Bill Belichick taking on the Bills for a third time this season and who topped the Patriots in their last meeting. We've got a third showdown between NFC West rivals. We've got it all!
And as many a postseason have taught us, anything can happen this time of year. With that in mind, here are a couple of bold predictions for the opening weekend of action:
Dak Prescott and Co. went 12-5 with the NFL's top offense and a playmaking defense this year, and they just dropped 51 against the rival Eagles to close the regular season. On paper, they should be favorites to challenge for the NFC throne. But they have just three playoff wins since 1997, and more importantly, their vaunted offense has been largely mediocre outside of wins against Philly backups and a battered Washington team over the last month. The 49ers, meanwhile, are feasting up front and know how to control the ball. With a strong run game and efficient Jimmy Garoppolo, they're poised to steal one from America's Team.
Matthew Stafford has gotten his fair share of criticism lately, and rightly so. He's made some very untimely bad decisions, even during L.A.'s late-season wins, and the team around him struggled to distance itself from opponents down the stretch. But if anyone can give them a confidence boost, it's the Cardinals -- a similarly talented unit that's been even uglier late in the year. Kyler Murray can't be counted out, but Kliff Kingsbury's track record is chock-full of bad finishes, and the Rams had the recipe to edge them in their last outing. Sean McVay will come prepared to run and set up the big play, and Stafford has been better at home.
Patriots go one-and-done vs. BillsIn 21 years as Patriots coach, Bill Belichick has been knocked out of the playoffs in the first matchup just three times. The catch is that one of those times came in 2019, his last trip to the postseason. And now, of course, he enters not with the ageless Tom Brady at QB but rather the rookie Mac Jones. That's the chief reason Buffalo is poised to take the 2021 series against New England and advance to the Divisional Round. Even if Belichick finds a way to slow Josh Allen and the Bills' explosive offense, Sean McDermott is equally capable of putting too much pressure on Jones, who has been solid but also streaky this year.
The Buccaneers' opening matchup with the Eagles could go many different ways. Maybe Nick Sirianni finds a way to get the ground game going in potentially sloppy weather, keeping things close much like Washington did against the Bucs at the start of the 2020 postseason. Maybe Brady dices up Philly's secondary in a blowout. Either way, the Eagles have struggled against tight ends this year, and Gronk will surely be a hot target on Sunday with Tampa Bay's receiving depth cut down and Darius Slay
