Sports on Draft

The NFL Playoffs are here and is already living up to the postseason hype with surprising upsets in the Wild Card Round – Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Buffalo Bills with the lowest combined points in playoff history and the Saints just nearly edged the Panthers in a back-and-forth shootout at home.

The First Round started off with one of the biggest surprises this postseason when the Tennessee Titans upset the Kansas City Chiefs by just one point at Arrowhead Stadium. Mariota and company scored 19 unanswered points in the second half to knock off the Chiefs in a tough road playoff game, shattering Alex Smith/Andy Reid’s potential with Kansas City.

Alex Smith is now 1-4, even with weapons like Kareem Hunt and Tyreek Hill. This talented Chiefs roster has failed to live up to expectations the past several seasons, losing five playoff games in a row, now dropping to a 2-6 record all-time in Arrowhead Stadium.

The expression and overall feeling from the postgame conference with Head Coach Andy Reid, basically had said it all for the state of the Chiefs. It looks like there will be whole sale changes next season, especially with winding-down contracts from the quarterback and head coach.

Will Alex Smith or Andy Reid return next season with the Chiefs?

The Chiefs were the catalyst as a tough road block in the AFC, now that the Patriots will be facing the Titans instead, the pathway to the Super Bowl is now an easier one for the defending champs. While Tennessee looked impressive in it’s first playoff win in years, they don’t necessarily stack up like their opponent to a team like the Patriots.

Patriots will win easily at home this Saturday, muting all the outside noise and negativity from the media. Unless Mariota throws for over 400 yards and 3 touchdowns, Titans don’t have much of a chance against an angry Patriots team.

Being a huge fan for underdogs, I couldn’t be happier for the Jacksonville Jaguars this season. The past few years I had always rooted for the Jaguars to do well, because they have had one of the longest droughts in the NFL for any success whatsoever.

A team that used to have the worst winning percentage in the league for the past decade (besides the Browns), is now moving on to the next round of the playoffs. I love it.

Excited as I am for the Jaguars, I don’t see them defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers again, especially in a playoff game atmosphere on the road. I hope I am wrong though, remember anything can happen on any given Sunday in the NFL.

Go Jags!

The Saints have to be the most dangerous team in the NFC, defeating a tough Carolina team and Brees’ spectacular play make them scary opponent in the playoffs. If the Ingrid-Kamara running back tandem show up against the Falcons, Brees will take his team to the Super Bowl.

Will Matt Ryan and the Falcons redeem themselves from last year’s Super Bowl heartbreak?

Photo by Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA (Blake Bortles) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons