Tag: NFL playoffs divisional round

Los Angeles vs Cincinnati prediction, game preview, how to watch and lines for the Super Bowl, Sunday, February 13

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Los Angeles vs Cincinnati Super Bowl How To Watch

Date: Sunday, February 13
Game Time: 6:30 ET
Venue: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA
How To Watch: CBS
Record: Cincinnati (11-7), Los Angeles (12-5)
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Los Angeles vs Cincinnati Super Bowl Game Preview

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Why Cincinnati Will Win the Super Bowl

No one likes or buys into the idea of “playing with house money” once you get to the Super Bowl, but that’s what Cincinnati is doing.

You never, ever know when you’re going to get back to this thing, and it’s hardly a guarantee that Joe Burrow and company will have more than just this one shot, but there’s a general belief and feeling that this whole thing is just getting going.

Young superstar quarterback, young superstar receivers, young rising head coach, and fixable issues – like the offensive line – that can only make everything stronger.

In other words, the pressure is off as much as can possibly be.

The game is in Los Angeles, the Rams have been in the Super Bowl relatively recently, the 2021-2022 was built to win right now with the future mortgaged away, and with a 34-year-old Matthew Stafford just about to be on the other side of his prime.

On the field, it starts with takeaways. Both teams can crank up the offense, Cincinnati can’t do this, though, without winning the turnover battle.

That was what ended up undoing Kansas City – with several close calls before the overtime interception that changed everything – and it’s going to take at least two to stay alive.

For all the great things Cincinnati has done over the second half of the season and the playoff run, being careful with the ball is at the top of the list.

There was an interception against the Chiefs and one giveaway against Tennessee, and that’s been it. The Bengal offense has been totally clean outside of that since early December with a grand total of zero turnovers over a five-game stretch before the win over the Titans.

On the other side, the defense that was feast-or-famine in takeaways has come up with two or more in each of the last four game with the three against Tennessee making the difference.

The Rams didn’t give it away against Arizona, but they almost gave up the Tampa Bay game with four turnovers. There was just the one in the NFC Championship against the 49ers, but the O had a whole slew of problems over the final stretch of the season with eight turnovers in the final three games.

– Why Los Angeles Will Win
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NEXT: Why Los Angeles Will Win the Super Bowl

San Francisco vs Los Angeles Rams prediction, game preview, how to watch and lines for the NFC Championship, Sunday, January 30

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San Francisco vs Los Angeles Rams NFC Championship How To Watch

Date: Sunday, January 30
Game Time: 6:30 ET
Venue: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, CA
How To Watch: FOX
Record: San Francisco (10-7), Los Angles Rams (12-5)
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San Francisco vs Los Angeles Rams NFC Championship Game Preview

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Why San Francisco Will Win the NFC Championship

Some teams just have another team’s number.

Tampa Bay has struggled lately with New Orleans. San Francisco couldn’t figure out Seattle this year. Houston gave Tennessee fits.

The Rams can’t push past San Francisco.

The first loss back in Week 10 wasn’t that much of an outlier. Los Angeles was coming off a beating by Tennessee and got rolled by Green Bay after a bye, but it was still a 31-10 loss with nothing going quite right.

There weren’t any issues in Week 18 with the Rams up 17-0 on the 49ers, and then the mistakes started coming, Jimmy Garoppolo settled in, and the defensive line bounced around Matthew Stafford like a pinball on the way to a 27-24 overtime win.

That’s what San Francisco is.

It’s not always pretty, but it manages to come up with big chunks of yards down the field with the passing game – it least the league in passing yards per attempt. It’s not always consistent, but the running game rolls for 100 yards a game without too much of a problem.

When everyone is healthy and right, the pass rush is relentless, the defense that’s third in the NFL finds ways to get off the field, and somehow it all comes together even without a superstar quarterback or a whole slew of A-list, nationally known playmakers.

As good and as talented as this Los Angeles team is, it has to be able to put this away early. It can’t let San Francisco hang around, it can’t allow the running game to get rolling, and it can’t let the – frightfully sorry for using this term – physicality of the tougher team on the other side take over.

Pressure? The 49ers seemed able to handle it just fine in the cold of Green Bay.

San Francisco was the fair weather team that was supposed to buckle in the snowy conditions, and instead it was Aaron Rodgers who played tentative and – despite the decent numbers – wasn’t up to the moment.

The Rams might have come up massive when they absolutely had to, but they did a slow burn over the final 20 minutes in Tampa Bay when they did everything possible to gag that away.

However …

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Cincinnati vs Kansas City prediction, game preview, how to watch and lines for the AFC Championship, Sunday, January 30

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Kansas City vs Cincinnati AFC Championship How To Watch

Date: Sunday, January 30
Game Time: 3:00 ET
Venue: GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, MO
How To Watch: CBS
Record: Cincinnati (10-7), Kansas City (12-5)
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Cincinnati vs Kansas City AFC Championship Game Preview

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Why Cincinnati Will Win the AFC Championship

Firepower.

Nah, Joe Burrow and JaMarr Chase aren’t going to light up the Chiefs like they did in their 34-31 win back in Week 17 – Burrow threw for almost 450 yards and Chase went off for 266 yards and three scores – but the offense has the ability to rip apart a beaten up Kansas City secondary.

The hope is for Tyann Mathieu to be back after suffering a concussion early on in the win over Buffalo, and there’s decent depth – at least brand name-wise – in the secondary, but the same crew that couldn’t handle Gabriel Davis now has to deal with Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.

The Chiefs were able to erase Stefan Diggs, but Josh Allen was able to buy just enough time to get the ball to the other parts. The Bengal other parts are better.

Defensively, the secondary might be getting hit hard, but it’s forcing mistakes. Patrick Mahomes won’t make the same forced throws Ryan Tannehill did in Cincinnati’s win over the Titans, but the Bengal D has forced seven takeaways – three against Tennessee – in the last three games.

It didn’t come up with any against Kansas City the first time around and still managed to win.

Yeah, the Bengal defense has to at least pressure Mahomes and make him improvise a bit. Yeah, the run defense has been great over the second half of the season and Kansas City doesn’t have to worry that much about the running backs. But …

Again, this will come down to being able to keep up the pace. The Bengals can do that just fine, and in the playoffs so far, they’ve been able to win even when they’re not bombing away for a gajillion yards.

However …

– Why Kansas City Will Win
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NEXT: Why Kansas City Will Win the AFC Championship