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Sunday Games
Cleveland at Kansas City – Well, the Browns have to be feeling very good, after earning two of their biggest wins in recent franchise history on back-to-back weekends. However, both of those wins were against the Steelers. And while that is huge for Cleveland, specifically, since that is the franchise that has most tormented this team for a very long time, it seems quite clear now that Pittsburgh, rather uncharacteristically, had suffered an almost complete collapse following a historic, franchise best 11-0 start. Now, the Browns head to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City to take on the defending Super Bowl champions, and it is going to be a tough one, to be sure. While it seems true that the Chiefs almost appeared bored through most of the regular season, doing just enough to keep winning in mostly close games, the fact of the matter is that they sure seem to know how to win, having won 14 of their first 15 games before losing what to them was a meaningless regular season finale with many of their starters sitting the game out. The offense did not look as explosive as they did in the past two seasons, but make no mistake: they still have Patrick Mahomes, and they still can score points in a hurry. No lead is necessarily safe with them, as all of their playoff opponents from a year ago can attest to. And their defense is much improved, as well. The Browns offense ca be explosive, but they will likely not have an easy time in getting past KC’s defense. As for the Browns and their defense matching up against that dangerous Chiefs offense, it will be stretched thin and tested to the limit. Hard to imagine that KC will not score quite a few points, and that the defense should be fired up to give the Browns a hard time. An upset is not impossible, but still seems highly unlikely, as Kansas City comes into this game with seemingly every advantage. They have more experience, having advanced to the AFC Championship Game in both of the two prior seasons. They enjoy home field advantage, and seem to have the better and overall more complete team. Plus, Andy Reid is one of the greatest head coaches of all time. That is a lot going for the Chiefs in this one, and it feels like a bit too much for the Browns to overcome. My pick: Kansas City
Tampa Bay at New Orleans – These two teams are division rivals, and so they met already twice before this season. Both times, the Saints won convincingly. In the last meeting in Tampa, however, the Saints absolutely crushed and embarrassed the Buccaneers, completely dominating in a 38-3 laugher. That would suggest that New Orleans enters this game with a decisive advantage, especially since they are at home. Indeed, this game could play out like that, and it would not be surprising. However, I suspect that firstly, the Bucs learned some things from those two earlier meetings, and that secondly, they have the revenge factor on their side. Both teams also appear to be different teams than when they met in those two games. The first was the season opener, and while most expected the Saints to be an elite team, many were not certain what to expect from Tampa Bay. In the second meeting, the Bucs were seemingly emerging as one of the elite teams, but that loss seemed to shake their confidence, and they struggled quite a bit, before getting red hot and storming into the playoffs and, last weekend, getting their first playoff win for the franchise in a decade and a half. Meanwhile, the Saints were really peaking at the time when they last beat Tampa Bay, as that was right in the middle of their most dominant period as they posted their fifth straight win in what would turn out to be nine straight wins. It was a streak that put the division title out of reach for everyone else. But the Saints struggled a bit after that with two straight losses, before getting back on track with dominant wins in their final two games, and then a relatively easy win against Chicago last weekend. My suspicion is that this will be a tighter game this time around than it was last time, but that the Saints still find a way to just edge the Bucs, who should put in a solid effort and surprise some people, but likely will ultimately fall just short in a game that could come down to the last play. My pick: New Orleans
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