AFC Wild Card
5. Oakland Raiders (12-4) @ 4. Houston Texans (9-7)
- Sat, Jan. 7, 4:35 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC
Yet again, the family of networks gets screwed. ESPN/ABC gets the worst game of Wild Card Weekend and oh baby is it a doozy.
A terrific squad in the Oakland Raiders head to Houston to take on the Texans, David Carr-less. Despite Matt McGloin under center, Oakland will show up. Jack Del Rio will make sure of it.
Expect a close, yet horribly played game. We’ll take Bill O’Brien‘s squad to scratch and claw their way to a close one. In a season Brock Osweiler was so bad, expect the kid to actually redeem himself a bit in this one.
Texans 23, Raiders 13
3. Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5) @ 6. Miami Dolphins (10-6)
- Sun, Jan. 8, 1:05 p.m. ET, CBS
Don’t think for one moment the Miami Dolphins can’t win this game. They certainly can.
While many pundits love the Pittsburgh Steelers in the tournament — thanks to the high-powered offense led by Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown — this defense can be horrific at times, especially the secondary.
Even with Ryan Tannehill out due to injury, Matt Moore and Jay Ajayi can easily control the tempo of the contest. A No. 12 ranking in total defense only masks the issues the Steelers have on the defensive side of the ball. Without Dick LeBeau, experts should think twice about choosing that pesky yellow towel to run the table.
All things considered, however, we’ll take the legendary clutch QB in the contest. Big Ben will somehow pull this one out at home.
