🏈🏈 NFL 2022-23 Divisional Round Sunday Games Preview 🏈🏈

             

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So now we are down to the Elite Eight of the NFL for this season. Some of the teams - particularly on the AFC side, are among the usual suspects. Others, like the Giants and Jacksonville, are new faces, not having seen the playoffs in at least five years.

It should be interesting, and likely unpredictable, if last week's wildcard round is anything to go on. 

Here are my picks for the upcoming divisional round weekend:

Sunday:

Cincinnati at Buffalo - This was a classic playoff rivalry in the eighties. Well, in two different seasons, in 1981 and again in 1988. The Bengals won both meetings, beating the Bills in the divisional round in '81, and then defeating them in the AFC Championship Game in '88. Both times, the Bengals reached the Super Bowl. But both times, also, the game was played in Cincinnati. This time, the Bills will host it at Orchard Park. Each team is on a tear, with the Bills having won eight straight games, and the Bengals having won nine straight, entering this huge divisional round showdown. What a game this one should be! My guess is that this will be a tight game, going back and forth between the two teams. In the end, I suspect that the Bills will eke out a narrow victory, although it will come down right to the end of the fourth quarter, and possibly even beyond. My pick: Buffalo

Dallas at San Francisco - Speaking of rivalries from the past including the 80's, and between these two teams, especially the 90's! This is a rematch of two franchises which have met numerous times in the postseason. Twice in the seventies, once in the eighties, and three times in the nineties, when these two teams were considered easily the best in the NFL from around 1992 almost through the 1995 season, four straight years. Obviously, times have changed. Yet, the two teams met in a memorable playoff battle last season, with the Cowboys losing it in a controversial ending, basically running out of time, with the ref bumping into quarterback Dak Prescott in order to touch the ball. Well, they meet again! The 49ers have home field advantage this time. They also enter this game red hot, with the longest active winning streak of any team at 11 straight games. They have probably the best defense in the league, and an offense led by a young quarterback who seems to be growing in confidence and getting better with each passing weak. By contrast, the Cowboys feel like an erratic team. When they are playing at their best, they can probably beat anyone. But you never know which Cowboys team will show up. I suspect that this will be a tough battle, with both teams showing some major highlight reels. Yet in the end, the hometown team still feels like the better one. My pick: San Francisco