#7 Green Bay Packers (9-8) AT #2 Dallas Cowboys (12-5)

The #7 seed Green Bay Packers are heading south to Dallas, Texas to face the #2 seed Dallas Cowboys, and plenty of stories could be written about this matchup – like Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is facing the team who fired him in 2018, or Packers head coach Matt Lafleur is facing his old boss in Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn – or even how the Packers have won 9 out of the 10 last games and are 5-0 in AT&T Stadium.

The Packers are the youngest team in NFL history to make the playoffs: the average age of their players is 25.13 years old. Green Bay won their last 3 games of the regular season, 2 against division rivals. The Green and Gold has been led by first-year starting QB Jordan Love who finished the regular season 7th in the NFL in passing yards (4,159) and 2nd in passing touchdowns (32). Love has been on a tear in the second half of the season, in his last 8 games he has thrown 18 touchdowns and only 1 interception.

Green Bay is not just heating up in the passing game but they are heating up in the rush attack with Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. Jones has been out for 7 games this year with a hamstring injury that was aggravated in week 1 and a knee injury, but is back to full gear these past few weeks with rushing over 100 yards in 3+ consecutive games, which is the first time since a Packer has done that since 2006 (Ahman Green).

That said, this year might be the Cowboys’ year (but Dallas fans have been saying that since their last Super Bowl win, and that was in 1995). Dallas is 8-0 at home this season and is on a 16-game win streak at home. The Cowboys have 7 pro bowlers this year, but the 2 biggest stars in Dallas are QB Dak Prescott and WR CeeDee Lamb. Lamb is averaging 102 receiving yards a game and this week facing a Packers defense that lets up the 4th most yards to WRs in the NFL. Lamb is #1 in the NFL in receptions (135)  #2 in yards (1,749) and #3 in touchdowns this season (12). CeeDee’s Quarterback Dak Prescott who is in the conversation for MVP has been playing the best football of his career. Prescott is 3rd in the NFL in passing yards (4,516), 1st in passing touchdowns (36), and 2nd in QBR (72.6). Ever since the playoff expansion the #7 has never beaten the #2.

#6 Los Angeles Rams (10-7) AT #3 Detroit Lions (12-5).

One of the biggest headlines going into Super Wild Card Weekend is QB Matthew Stafford going back home to Detroit and Rams’ QB Jared Goff facing the team that traded him in 2021. One of the biggest reasons the Rams make it in the playoffs is because of their young weapons on offense, wide receiver Puka Nacua, just rewrote the NFL rookie record for receiving yards (1,486) and receptions (105), and Kyren Williams is in his sophomore season and his first year as a starter after the Rams traded Cam Akers away in late September to the Vikings. Williams rushed for 12 touchdowns, 5th in the NFL in rushing yards per attempt with 5 yards per rush and 3rd in rushing yards (1,144).  Stafford finished in the middle of the pack in most of his stats and was pretty solid for most of the year, even though he was without his main receiver, Cooper Kupp, who missed 6 games with a high ankle sprain.

The Detroit Lions have won the NFC North for the first time since 1993 and are looking for their first playoff win since 1991. Head Coach Dan Campbell has been a huge reason why the Lions are where they are. A big addition to this Lions team is running back Jahmyr Gibbs who they drafted in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft to help out in the backfield with David Montgomery. Gibbs is 4th in the NFL in rushing yards per attempt with 5.2 yards and is 10th in touchdowns this season (10).

One of Detroit’s other stars on offense is Wide Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who led the NFL in yards after catch (YAC) and is a very viable option for his QB Jared Goff.  Goff had a high-quality regular season by throwing the second most yards in the NFL with 4,575 and 4th in the NFL in touchdown passes with 30.

Both teams’ defenses are eerily similar and because of that, it is going to be which teams’ offense makes the least mistakes – that is the team who will move on to the divisional round.

#5 Philadelphia Eagles (11-6) AT #4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-8)

The Philadelphia Eagles are coming in as favorites via DraftKings despite them being 1-5 in their last 6 games.

Philadelphia has gone from a Super Bowl favorite to people thinking that they might not think they will make it past the wild card round. The Eagles as a whole have not played a complete game of football since week 12, when they hosted the Buffalo Bills and won in overtime (37-34). Philadelphia has weapons all over their offense, from their receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, to their quarterback, Jalen Hurts. However, in week 18, Hurts and Brown both got injured. Brown left the game after falling to the ground with a hamstring injury and Hurts left the game with a dislocated finger on his throwing hand. If they both are out for this big match-up in the Bay, then the Eagles’ defense needs to step up – which would be out of character for them since in the last 6 games they have let up 31 points a game, and their opponents in the past 3 weeks are both last or second to last in their respected divisions (Arizona Cardinals, New York Giants).

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers snuck into the playoffs after winning a tight race in the NFC South, and they are coming off a bad win over the Carolina Panthers (9-0). Quarterback and former #1 overall pick Baker Mayfield has thrown for over 4,000 yards for the first time in his 7-year career: it helps when one has targets like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Every season Evans has played in the league (9), he has had over 1,000+ receiving yards, no matter who the quarterback has been. Evans knows how to get open and help his team win.

An X factor on the defense for the Bucs is Antoine Winfield Jr. Winfield has 41 tackles, 3 force fumbles, and 2 interceptions all in December and January.

For Drew Zeman’s report on the AFC teams, click here.