Let’s just start with some of the news that has been breaking over the past few days:

Atlanta

will be the host of the AFC Championship game if it’s Bills vs. Chiefs. I don’t like it. Those are two cold-weather, outdoor stadium teams. Why put them in a dome? It would be a fun game if indeed we get it, and the dome conditions will probably produce an electrifying shootout, but that game should be played in Pittsburgh or Chicago or something.

Tua

He’s out for the Wild Card game against Buffalo. Buffalo is now the biggest Wild Card weekend favorite ever at -13, and Miami will be running with Skylar Thompson at QB because Teddy Bridgewater can’t go either. Miami is screwed. But even if they somehow win, I don’t think Tua will even be back for the Divisional round. I think he’s done for the season regardless. I actually think he may never play again. The concussions may just be too much. He’s already on his third in like the past 3 months. At some point you’ve got to think about your long term health, don’t you? I think there’s a 50-50 chance we never see Tua play football again. I really do.

Tua is 24 turning 25 in March. Do you think he’ll be able to sufficiently change his play style enough to avoid concussions from now on? There are a lot of QBs out there that don’t get concussions: Brady, Mahomes, Burrow, Josh Allen, etc. They’ve each got their own specific ways of avoiding those kinds of hits that Tua takes, and it would be very difficult for Tua to change his play style to the point where he can avoid these kinds of hits. It may have changed over the past few years, but as of 2017, Tom Brady had never gotten a concussion in the NFL. Tua had three in one year!

A few years later, Brady disclosed that he has had several concussions throughout the course of his career. But I doubt he ever had three in a single season. The trajectory Tua is on, I don’t see him being able to get to a place where he can consistently avoid them. I really don’t.

I don’t know, man. I’m at the point where I’m concerned about Tua’s long-term health and well-being if he keeps playing. I want him to keep playing, I want him to succeed because I like him and I like what he does with those receivers and that offense. But that’s from my selfish football fan point of view. I feel like I’m at a point where I almost feel guilty watching him play because of how many concussions he’s suffered. What if he comes back and gets 2-3 concussions next year? That’s just awful. It would get to a point where somebody would have to save the guy from himself.

It sucks but if you let him play, you are putting him in serious danger. It’s a really shitty situation for both him and the Dolphins, but my gut feeling tells me it’s in his best interest to stop playing football.

Lamar

His knee is still in bad shape and he’s officially out for the wild card game against the Bengals. It was originally said to be a 1-3 week injury, now it’s turned into 5 weeks and counting, likely going to be a season-ending injury when they lose this playoff game. Is it possible Lamar has played his last game for the Ravens? We know at the very least his contract negotiations have not been going well. He apparently wants a 5 year, fully guaranteed contract like DeShaun Watson got, but the Ravens are understandably reluctant to give him that.

In fact, nobody in the NFL wants to hand that type of contract out and the 31 other teams are pissed at the Browns for giving Watson a fully guaranteed contract in the first place. Sets a precedent that the owners and general managers don’t want. Lamar wants it anyway, and it seems he and the Ravens are at an impasse. Nobody in their right mind is going to give a 5 year, fully guaranteed contract to a 26 year old running quarterback. That will not be a good contract in even 3-4 years. Lamar’s rushing output has decreased in each of the past 2 seasons, and he has missed 5 games in each of the past two seasons due to injury. It’s not going to get better with his play-style.

I feel like the Ravens will come to some sort of agreement with Lamar after a long, drawn-out process in the offseason that leaves neither the team nor Lamar happy, but it’s totally possible they don’t and he goes elsewhere. There is a lot of speculation that he has just straight up quit on his team. It won’t be a big deal if his team doesn’t feel he quit on them–in that case he’s fine, it doesn’t matter what the media says. But from the way his coach is talking about him (i.e. basically refusing to talk about him, but giving off a sense of exasperation), I don’t know if that’s the case.

I’m just interested to see what his next contract ends up looking like, given the tread on the tires with him, the durability concerns, and his overall play style. I think he should’ve gotten a big contract 2 years ago, when he was first eligible. Strike while the iron’s hot. But now that he’s waited til the end of his contract, it’s not looking good for him.

Tom Brady’s Next Team

People are assuming the Raiders, or perhaps the Niners. But here’s why I wouldn’t go to the Raiders if I were Brady: the owner. Mark Davis is cash-poor and doesn’t know what he’s doing. Brady doesn’t want to play for an incompetent owner. It’s not difficult: bad teams generally have bad owners, good teams generally have good owners. More than coaching, more than the GM, it’s the owner who really sets the tone. Show me a consistently bad team and chances are they’ve got an owner that either doesn’t know what he’s doing, doesn’t care, is cash-poor, is helplessly out of touch–or all four.

I also don’t see Brady going to the Niners. If they didn’t want him in 2020 when he was 43, why would they want him now when he’s about to be 46 and coming off the worst season of his career in a long time? I know we all want to see the homecoming, and I know it makes sense, but I think the ship has sailed.

I think the move for Brady is Miami. Why? Well, first and foremost, the weapons and the offense. Brady would excel in that offense with Mike McDaniel calling plays. He’d have Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. They could upgrade the offense line for sure, and Brady will definitely want to make sure of that before committing. But here’s the big thing: Miami is where his kids are going to be living.

In November, Gisele bought a home in Miami Beach right on the water. On the other side of that water, a small waterway known as Indian Creek, is a mansion being built by Tom Brady:

Brady’s new home is on the right closer to us, while Gisele’s is on the left. Brady is going to want to be close to his kids, I’m sure, and playing for the Dolphins is the best way to ensure that. In fact, building that mansion there might be the obvious tell that he does plan on going to the Dolphins. He already tried to do it last year with Sean Payton, but it blew up in their faces due to the Brian Flores lawsuit against the Dolphins. I’m not sure if the Dolphins will give Mike McDaniel the boot for Sean Payton, but if Brady wants it, I’m sure they will.

The key thing here is that Brady can go wherever he wants; he’s a free agent.

But Sean Payton isn’t, funny enough.

The complication here is that the Dolphins had to forfeit their first round pick for this year due to the whole Brady-Payton fiasco and the tampering that went on, and it will likely take a first round pick for the Saints to trade away Sean Payton, because after all, Payton is still under contract with New Orleans, and whoever wants to hire him will have to pay up. Of course, the Dolphins could just offer next year’s first round pick, so that may be an easy fix.

Combined with the fact that there’s a very real chance Tua’s NFL career is over due to excessive concussions, I think the most likely scenario here is that we see Tom Brady playing for the Dolphins next season, and that’s where he’ll finish his career.

The “Playing the 49ers Curse”

It’s official. Every team the 49ers played this season lost their next game. Their opponents went 0-15 the next week. The reason it’s 0-15 instead of 0-17 is because there was a bye week in there, and the end of the season.

0-15 is too large of a sample size to ignore or chalk up to pure coincidence. It’s impossible to deny now: playing the 49ers really takes a toll on you. San Fran is so physical, so violent, and so bullying that after playing them, you are not yourself for at least another week. The Chiefs were the only team that didn’t fall victim to the curse, but they also had a bye after playing the 49ers.

Here are the results:

1. 49ers played Chicago Bears in Week 1 — Bears result in Week 2: Loss to Packers
2. 49ers played Seattle Seahawks in Week 2 — Seahawks result in Week 3: Loss to Falcons
3. 49ers played Denver Broncos in Week 3 — Broncos result in Week 4: Loss to Raiders
4. 49ers played Los Angeles Rams in Week 4 — Rams result in Week 5: Loss to Cowboys
5. 49ers played Carolina Panthers in Week 5: Panthers result in Week 6: Loss to Rams
6. 49ers played Atlanta Falcons in Week 6 — Falcons result in Week 7: Loss to Bengals
7. 49ers played Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7 — Chiefs result in Week 8: Bye (Chiefs result in Week 9: Win over Titans)
8. 49ers played Los Angeles Rams in Week 8 — Rams result in Week 9: Loss to Bucs
9. 49ers had bye in Week 9
10. 49ers played Los Angeles Chargers in Week 10: Chargers result in Week 11: Loss to Chiefs
11. 49ers played Arizona Cardinals in Week 11 — Cardinals result in Week 12: Loss to Chargers
12. 49ers played New Orleans Saints in Week 12 — Saints result in Week 13: Loss to Bucs
13. 49ers played Miami Dolphins in Week 13 — Dolphins result in Week 14: Loss to Chargers
14. 49ers played Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 14 — Bucs result in Week 15: Loss to Bengals
15. 49ers played Seattle Seahawks in Week 15 — Seahawks result in Week 16: Loss to Chiefs
16. 49ers played Washington Commanders in Week 16 — Commanders result in Week 17: Loss to Browns
17. 49ers played Las Vegas Raiders in Week 17 — Raiders result in Week 18: Loss to Chiefs

Now, as I look at this, I can see that the 49ers played some pretty bad teams. I mean, other than the Chiefs and Chargers, are there really any scary teams on that schedule? They didn’t play the Bills, the Bengals, the Eagles, the Vikings–it was a pretty easy schedule. Their division was weak.

Still, it’s definitely something that teams that played San Fran went 0-15 the following week.

D-Hop On the Trade Block

With the Cardinals having fired their head coach and GM, it looks like a rebuild is in store in Arizona. That means D-Hop is now on the trade block. I can’t even begin to speculate as to where he’ll end up, because predicting wide receiver trades in the NFL is as much of a crapshoot as anything there is. Who would’ve thought Tyreek Hill would get traded to the Chiefs last year? Or Davante Adams traded to the Raiders? Or AJ Brown to the Eagles? Or even Stefon Diggs to the Bills a few years ago. So many of these trades come out of left field, it’s like, “Whoa, we did not see that coming.”

We all know Bill Belichick is a huge fan of D-Hop’s, so obviously the Patriots are going to be in the market. But will Hopkins want to go there? I don’t know about that. I know he’s got huge respect for Belichick, but I feel like Hopkins is Super Bowl or bust. He has a no trade clause so he’ll get to basically choose where he goes.

They’ve already got odds out on his next team:

The Packers being the favorites is laughable. We all know they won’t do shit. They’re the most “EAT YOUR DAMN VEGETABLES” franchise in the league, they don’t need any fancy pants wide receivers. They lead the league by a wide margin in almost trading for great receivers. They probably won’t even draft one; I’m sure they’ll take a safety out of Nevada or something. Plus, what if Rodgers retires or requests a trade? Nah, I don’t see it with the Packers.

The Cowboys? Maybe. That’s a realistic option.

The Browns? Well, D-Hop and Watson were teammates in Houston back in the day, it just depends on if the Browns can muster up a trade package.

The Ravens? No way. Receivers don’t want to play with Lamar. And if Lamar goes elsewhere, then Baltimore probably won’t even bother trying to trade for a receiver.

The Jags would be a very interesting destination especially because they have Calvin Ridley coming back in the fold next year. Trevor Lawrence would be an MVP favorite if he had D-Hop and Ridley to throw to next year. Making this trade idea more interesting: D-Hop and T-Law are both Clemson guys. Obviously they never played together, but there is that alma mater bond regardless there.

We’ll see. I’m sure he’ll wind up with a team that nobody saw coming. He might just end up on the Chiefs, although I’m sure they don’t want to pay his high salary–that’s the reason they got rid of Tyreek Hill in the first place. It’ll be about $31 million to have Hopkins on your team next year–and the issue here is that he’s about to turn 31 in the summer. So you’re paying top dollar for a receiver who, while still very good, is on the wrong side of 30.

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The 2022 All Pro teams have been announced. Let’s go over the first team:

• Quarterback: Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs)
• Running back: Josh Jacobs (Raiders)
• Tight End: Travis Kelce (Chiefs)
• Wide Receivers: Justin Jefferson (Vikings), Tyreek Hill (Dolphins) Davante Adams (Raiders)
• LT: Trent Williams (49ers)
• RT: Lane Johnson (Eagles)
• LG: Joel Bitonio (Browns)
• RG: Zack Martin (Cowboys)
• C: Jason Kelce (Eagles)
• Edge Rushers: Nick Bosa (49ers), Micah Parsons (Cowboys)
• Interior DL: Chris Jones (Chiefs), Quinnen Williams (Jets)
• Linebackers: Fred Warner (49ers), Roquan Smith (Ravens), Matt Milano (Bills)
• CBs: Sauce Gardner (Jets), Pat Surtain II (Broncos)
• Safeties: Minkah Fitzpatrick (Steelers), Talanoa Hufanga (49ers)

Now for the second team:

• Quarterback: Jalen Hurts (Eagles)
• Running back: Nick Chubb (Browns)
• Tight End: George Kittle (49ers)
• Wide receivers: AJ Brown (Eagles), Stefon Diggs (Bills), CeeDee Lamb (Cowboys)
• LT: Andrew Thomas (Giants)
• RT: Tristan Wirfs (Bucs)
• LG: Joe Thuney (Chiefs)
• RG: Chris Lindstrom (Falcons)
• C: Creed Humphrey (Chiefs)
• Edge Rushers: Myles Garrett (Browns), Haason Reddick (Eagles)
• Interior DL: Dexter Lawrence (Giants), Jeffrey Simmons (Titans)
• Linebackers: Bobby Wagner (Rams), CJ Mosley (Jets), Demario Davis (Saints)
• Cornerbacks: Jaire Alexander (Packers), James Bradberry (Eagles)
• Safeties: Derwin James (Chargers), Justin Simmons (Broncos)

Total All-Pro selections by team (playoff teams in bold):

1. Eagles, 6: Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce, Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Haason Reddick, James Bradberry
2. 49ers, 5: Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Talanoa Hufanga, George Kittle
3. Chiefs, 5: Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey
4. Browns, 3: Joel Bitonio, Nick Chubb, Myles Garrett
5. Cowboys, 3: Zack Martin, Micah Parsons, CeeDee Lamb
6. Jets, 3: Quinnen Williams, Sauce Gardner, CJ Mosley
7. Raiders, 2: Josh Jacobs, Davante Adams
8. Bills, 2: Matt Milano, Stefon Diggs
9. Giants, 2: Andrew Thomas, Dexter Lawrence
10. Broncos, 2: Pat Surtain II, Justin Simmons
11. Dolphins, 1: Tyreek Hill
12. Ravens, 1: Roquan Smith
13. Vikings, 1: Justin Jefferson
14. Falcons, 1: Chris Lindstrom
15. Chargers: 1, Derwin James
16. Packers, 1: Jaire Alexander
17. Bucs, 1: Tristan Wirfs
18. Titans, 1: Jeffrey Simmons
19. Rams, 1: Bobby Wagner
20. Saints, 1: Demario Davis
21. Steelers, 1: Minkah Fitzpatrick

So the Eagles lead the way with 6 of the 44 All Pro selections, followed by the Chiefs and 49ers who each have 5 apiece. The Browns and Jets lead the non-playoff teams with 3 All Pro selections each, while there are three playoff teams that don’t have a single All Pro player: the Jaguars, Seahawks and the Bengals.

Interesting that the Bengals didn’t even have one.

21 of the 32 teams had at least one All Pro selection. Teams that did not have any: Bears, Texans, Cardinals, Panthers, Seahawks, Colts, Bengals, Lions, Commanders, Jaguars and the Patriots.

At least on offense or defense, because in fairness, there are also All Pros for special teams. We’ll do both in one list here, with the first teamer listed first and the second teamer listed second:

• K: Daniel Carlson (Raiders), Justin Tucker (Ravens)
• P: Tommy Townsend (Chiefs), Ryan Stonehouse (Titans)
• Kick returner: Keisean Nixon (Packers), Kene Nwangwu (Vikings)
• Punt returner: Marcus Jones (Patriots), Kalif Raymond (Lions)
• Special teamer: Jeremy Reaves (Commanders), George Odum (49ers)
• Long snapper: Andrew DePaola (Vikings), Nick Moore (Ravens)

So if we include the special teams players, then the Lions, Commanders and Patriots have All Pro players, and it’s 24 out of 32 teams that had at least one All Pro player.

One of the teams with no All Pro players is the Bears, however, if you look at the All Pro First Team, there is only one player on that list that was traded mid-season, and it’s Roquan Smith. In fact, most of the players on that list are playing for the team that drafted them.

I know a lot of people applauded the Bears trading Roquan Smith to the Ravens, but I hated the move at the time and I hate it even more now. Baltimore’s defense has become certifiably elite since acquiring him, and they just gave him a contract that makes him the highest paid linebacker in the league. The Bears, despite coming into this offseason with $108 million in cap space–by far the most in the league–had no interest in paying arguably the best linebacker in the league, and a guy who is only 26. They chose to trade him away for a second round draft pick.

Because who the hell wants to have the best linebacker in the league on their team, right?

You’ll hear this from people: “He’s an off-ball linebacker! You shouldn’t pay that position big money!”

Well, the Ravens are a much smarter organization than the Bears and they were happy to pay him.

The Bears are just one of those foolish, incompetent franchises that doesn’t understand that you win games in the NFL by accumulating good players. They simply don’t understand it. They think, for some reason, draft picks are more valuable than having players who are already good.

It’s simple: get and keep as many good players as you can, regardless of position. People in Chicago act like Roquan Smith is a long-snapper the way they downplayed his importance. “He’s just an off-ball linebacker! Let somebody else pay him!”

All 22 positions are important. The only position that is significantly more important than the others is quarterback.

The name of the game is acquiring and keeping talented players. Generally, the teams with the most great players win the most. Who has the most great players? Philly, Kansas City and San Fran. Guess what? They’re the three best teams in the league! Wow!

And look at the other First Team All Pro linebackers: Fred Warner and Matt Milano. They play on really good teams. I guess maybe there is some value in having a great linebacker? Who would’ve thought! If the linebacker position is irrelevant and unimportant, nobody told the 49ers and Bills.

Players like Roquan Smith don’t hit the open market very often. When Baltimore saw that Chicago was practically giving him away for a second round pick, they must have been thrilled. You are not going to find a player as good as him with a second round pick–especially a late second round pick. That trade is a no-brainer. And this is a Bears team that gave up a high second round pick for Chase Claypool in a season when they were tanking.

Talent has a way of moving from bad, dumb teams to good, smart teams. It just happens. It’s like the old saying, “A fool and his money are soon parted.” Foolish people cannot hang on to money. Similarly, foolish NFL teams cannot hold on to talent. They’re always trying to “blow it up” and rebuild, and that entails giving away all their currently good players for draft picks–in other words, giving away good players in exchange for the hope that they will one day acquire a good player.

Classic Bears. Nobody over there seems to understand that good players acquired by the previous regime are still good players. You don’t need to get rid of everybody just because they’re “not my guys.” That’s an ego thing; arrogance. That’s being insecure. “If I keep the old GM’s good players and we get good again, then people are going to give credit to the old guy, not me!” I guarantee you that was part of the thought process that went into getting rid of Roquan Smith. Also, “I can find another Roquan Smith.” It’s a lot of arrogance and insecurity.

Dumb teams are constantly trading away their good players in exchange for draft picks. Constantly. They don’t understand that the whole objective of NFL general managing is acquiring and keeping talent. They would rather have draft picks. They don’t understand that it’s nearly impossible to hit on all your draft picks, and that a player who is currently good is immensely more valuable than a draft pick, which only represents the possibility of acquiring a good player.

Good players have a tendency of making their way from bad teams to good teams–from dumb teams to smart teams. Bad, dumb teams don’t understand the value of a great player. They don’t understand that you build around the guys you have. You make do with what you’ve already got. You play to your strengths. You tailor your system to your players.

Bad, dumb teams come in with a rigid and inflexible plan, and then they force the players to conform to the plan. Any player that doesn’t conform to the plan is out. The Bears are probably a team that thinks, “Well, we want to prioritize cornerback and edge rusher on defense, we don’t really care too much about an off-ball linebacker.” The Bears would rather get rid of a player they currently have who is elite, because they think they’ll be able to find some player in the draft that fits their ideal system.

It’s idiotic. When you have a great player, you do everything you can to keep him. You find a way to make him work in your system. You build a system around your players, rather than forcing your players to conform to your system.

The Bears letting Roquan Smith go for a second round pick is one of the most idiotic decisions I’ve seen in years, yet at the same time par for the course for a stupid, incompetent poverty franchise like the Bears. They are all too eager to give away their best players. This is the way of the league, though. Good players on bad teams typically don’t stay there for long. But the bad teams stay the bad teams, typically for a long time. They don’t understand the value of acquiring and keeping good players.

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Without further ado, the Official 2022-23 Fade the Public Sports NFL Playoff Bracket:

Yes, I am choosing Brock Purdy to lead the 49ers to a Super Bowl Championship. A rookie, Mr. Irrelevant.

It’s probably dumb as hell, but I just love all the talent on that roster, and I feel like Brock Purdy has done a great job in remaining cool under pressure.

Obviously the playoffs are a different story, and we’ll see how he handles it, but their path to the Super Bowl is easy. Seattle will be a slugfest but San Fran is clearly the superior team.

If they play Dallas in the next round, I would absolutely lean San Fran in that game–especially because it’ll be played in Santa Clara on a grass field, which is bad news for the Cowboys. Dallas is just 1-4 on natural grass this year, 11-1 on turf. What a stark disparity that is, huh?

I’m having doubts about even picking Dallas to beat Tampa, as Tampa has natural grass. But I just think Tampa is so flawed and, well, let’s call a spade a spade here: bad.

Tampa is not a good team. They’re 23rd in offensive yards per play, but 8th in defensive yards per play allowed.

In fact, let’s just get into the YPP figures for all the playoff teams:

I was surprised to see that the Chiefs are low-key pretty damn good on defense. I had a feeling they’d be #1 in offensive yard per play, but I didn’t think they’d be so good defensively, and that’s why they’re ahead of everyone else in Net YPP.

The Eagles come in second, but with all their injuries and the way they’ve kind of fallen off a cliff lately, I’m not sure how much stock I put into that. The Bills and 49ers are both really good, as are the Dolphins, but the Dolphins are also down to their third string quarterback, too, so they definitely aren’t hitting anywhere close to 6.1 yards per play on offense.

This is the point where I stop talking about the Dolphins, Seahawks and Ravens from now on. I just don’t think there’s any chance any of those three teams win, so why waste time talking about them?

Then there’s a pretty stark drop-off after the Dolphins, from Miami’s 0.8 Net YPP to Dallas’ 0.3 Net YPP. The Jags are, somewhat surprisingly, a strong 0.3 Net YPP–they’re pretty damn good, although it’s mostly due to their offense.

I’m a bit surprised that the Bengals are only +0.1 in Net YPP, which is barely positive. Their offense just hasn’t been quite as elite as you’d expect, and their defense isn’t elite either.

I’m seriously having doubts about my pick of Cincy to go to the AFC Championship game over America’s Team, Buffalo, and yet when I think back to that game a couple weeks ago that got cut short, it looked like Cincy was straight dominating Buffalo. They were up 7-3 and driving.

And there have been times where I watched this Buffalo team play and thought to myself, “Damn, they’re broken.” It always seems like they’re screwing something up–and usually it’s Josh Allen throwing a pick in the red zone. I just feel like they never play their best game. They seem out of sorts.

They were even struggling against the Patriots last week in their first game since the Damar Hamlin injury. You would’ve thought the Bills would beat New England by 40 in that game, but they didn’t. Yes, it was 35-23, but Buffalo needed TWO kick return touchdowns to win. When Hines housed his second kick return, it only put Buffalo ahead 21-17. And that was his second kick return touchdown.

I understand the Patriots were fighting to make the playoffs, but Buffalo was playing for Hamlin. They should have kicked the living hell out of the Patriots.

There’s just something wrong with the Bills, and it predated the Hamlin injury. They finished the season on a 7-game win streak, but man, it was not pretty. 31-23 over Cleveland, 28-25 over Detroit, 24-10 over New England, 20-12 over the Jets, 32-29 over Miami, 35-13 over the Bears (game was closer than the final score), 35-23 over New England (also closer than the score).

The Bears were beating Buffalo 10-6 at halftime.

There’s just something not quite right about the Bills, and I don’t know what it is, but I’m fading them. I hope I’m wrong, because my heart wants to see them win the whole damn thing, obviously. But I’m going with my head here. I do not think they’re capable of getting it done this year. There’s just something off about them.

I’m surprised by the Chargers having the worst Net YPP of all the playoff teams, but then again, they dealt with a ton of injuries all season, including to Justin Herbert. They’re constantly one of the most banged-up teams in the league, and not just this year. They will be missing left tackle Rashawn Slater, Mike Williams is officially OUT, but Joey Bosa is expected to play.

The issue is that Mike Williams hurt his back in the week 18 game against the Broncos, when the Chargers shouldn’t have even been playing their starters at all. Mike Williams shouldn’t have even been out there, but he was, he got hurt, and now he’s going to miss the playoff game.

To be honest, it’s hard for me to see the young, upstart Jags winning this playoff game against LA. The more I think about it, the more I want to switch my pick.

But I’m sticking with the Jags. They beat the Chargers 38-10 in LA back in week 3, they’re healthier, they’re at home.

The Vikings and Giants are both tied with a -0.4 net YPP. Fitting that they play each other.

As you probably remember, the Vikes and Giants played in Minnesota just a few weeks ago, and the Vikings needed a 61 yard field goal as time expired to win the game. So the Giants can play with the Vikings. This should be a close game, although part of me wouldn’t be surprised if the Vikings win big. They just have so much more playoff experience than New York. I don’t know, that’s a tough one to pick. I’m going to pick the Giants to pull the (slight) upset but I’m not confident in it.

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I was going to go into the divisional round games and then all the way through the Super Bowl, but I’m just going to leave it at this. This is already a long post, plus, I’m sure my wild card picks will be half wrong, so it would kind of be a waste of everyone’s time for me to being talking about hypothetical matchups that may not even happen.

I’ll wait until next week to actually talk about the Divisional Round games–once they’re actually finalized IRL.