Sunday night sees the second of the wild card games from each conference and again it features a rerun of one of last weeks games as The Packers travel to the Cardinals again.
The games are:
Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots – The Patriots looked to be coming nicely into form just in time for the playoffs again but are missing Wes Welker who ironically got injured in a game the Pats looked like they didnt care about last week against Houston and he will be a big miss. However Julian Edelman looks like a good prospect and The Patriots will be expecting him to fill in ok. The Ravens like to run the football and Vince Wilfork will be expected to close up the middle forcing the runners to the outsides.
As for the Ravens well they will feel a little unlucky this year with dropped passes and missed field goals bein the difference between this tough trip to new England and what might have been an easier route to the Superbowl. They have a good running game and their defense is as strong as ever with Ray Lewis still managing to plug the running lanes. One worry here is if Terrell Suggs is missing they might not get enough pressure on Brady but they do have plenty of strength in depth so they should be ok. Flacco has had a good season and with Mason and Tyree to throw to he might get some success through the air.
This is an incredibly tough one to call and despite picking the Ravens as superbowl winners back in September I am now not too sure abouth their capabilities in the big games. Still I just have a sneaking suspision that they are due a change of luck and I will go with the Ravens to win this by 3-7 points.
Game Two Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals is a repeat of last weeks game and the Packers absolutely hammered the Cards. However this is nothing new for the Cardinals, who slepwalked into the playoffs last year before waking up and powering their way to the Superbowl where they were very unlucky losers.
I dont expect the Packers to have such an easy game tonight but they have the players to win this especially as it looks like Anquan Boldin will be missing which should allow the Packers to put Charles Woodson on Larry Fitzgerald which could take away Kurt Warner’s best offensive weapon.
Overall I do expect plenty of points in this game and I am predicting a Packers win by 7 points in a bit of a shoot out.