The first predictions, early lines, and quick analysis of all the 2022 NFL playoff games.
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NFL Playoff Divisional Round First Thought Predictions
– San Francisco at Green Bay
– Buffalo at Kansas City
– Los Angeles or Arizona at Tampa Bay
Let’s just hope that all of that will bring us something wonderful.
Oh sure, Las Vegas made things interesting against Cincinnati at the end, and the world is still waiting for Dallas to finally wake up and start playing against San Francisco, but Tampa Bay over Philadelphia was a dud.
Kansas City over Pittsburgh turned into breathtaking dud. Buffalo over New England became a shocking dud.
Fortunately, here come the killer matchups that should be a whole lot more fun. So what’s going to happen?
As we do for the college side, we go with the first-guess picks and then work from there. Like they tell you in third grade, always go with your first answer.
I don’t look at the lines, guess at what they are, and then add them at the end.
Last year I totally rocked the Wild Card round – 6-0 straight up and 5-1 against the spread – but this time around? Uhhhhh, as the man said, it’s on to Cincinnati – or, Cincinnati vs Tennessee – going 3-2 both straight up and against the spread with the Rams-Arizona game pending.
When our game previews come out – after the news of the week happens and there’s even more of a deep dive happening – these can and might change, but …
2022 NFL Playoffs Divisional Round: Saturday
4 Cincinnati at 1 Tennessee
Saturday, January 22
CBS, 4:30 ET
Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN
Knee-Jerk Instant Analysis: Just how healthy is Derrick Henry?
That’s it. That’s everything.
D’Onta Foreman has done a nice job over the back half of the season for the Titans, and the defense has been terrific, but this comes down to whether or not the offense can control the tempo of the game and take the will away from the Cincinnati defense.
The Bengals were great against Las Vegas. Joe Burrow was sharp, Joe Mixon ran well, and the offense popped for over 300 yards in the 26-19 win.
However, there was a stretch in the second half when the Raider offensive line took over and Josh Jacobs was effective enough to change the overall energy of the game. That’s what Henry has to do, and if he can’t get rolling, then it’ll be Foreman.
Originally, the call was that New England was going to roll on into Nashville and grind its way to a win … oops. Cincinnati will get the offense going, but the rested Titans will come back in the second half with the ground game and fantastic run defense getting this done.
Knee-Jerk No Research Prediction: Tennessee 26, Cincinnati 20
Early Line No-Look Guess: Tennessee -3.5
Actual Line: Tennessee -3.5, o/u: 47
NFL Playoff Divisional Round First Thought Predictions
– San Francisco at Green Bay
– Buffalo at Kansas City
– Los Angeles or Arizona at Tampa Bay