So who is going to win the AFC and NFC wild-card round playoff games this weekend?
Let’s go with the Oakland Raiders over the Houston Texans in the AFC in Saturday’sfirst game. Then in Saturday’s nightcap, an NFC contest, take the Seattle Seahawks over the Detroit Lions.
On Sunday in the AFC, the Pittsburgh Steelers will top the Miami Dolphins in the first game. In the NFC contest to follow, the Green Bay Packers will freeze out the New York Giants.
Why those predictions? Why those teams?
Because they have the edge – in some cases a slight one and in others a significant one – at quarterback, the most important position in team sports.
If you’ve got a good quarterback, you’ve got a chance. And if you don’t, you don’t. It’s just that simple. Really, it’s no more complicated than that.
The Raiders don’t have Derek Carr, perhaps the best young quarterback in the game, or his backup, Matt McGloin, both of whom have been lost to injury. That leaves rookie Connor Cook, from Hinckley Township in Medina County and Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, as the starter.
We don’t know what kind of pro that Cook will be, but he has to better than the Texans’ Brock Ostweiler, who is awful. Plus the Raiders are much better than the Texans otherwise.
The Lions, in Matthew Stafford, and the Seahawks (Russell Wilson) both have good quarterbacks, but Wilson is a little better. And Seattle is also a little better overall than Detroit.
The Steelers have Ben Roethlisberger, who is headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the Dolphins have Matt Moore, who will probably start, and Ryan Tannehill, who is trying to get healthy. Do Dan Marino or Bon Griese have any throws left in them?
And finally, the most intriguing quarterback – and team — matchup in the first round has the red-hot Packers, with red-hot Aaron Rodgers, against the Giants with two-time Super Bowl-winner Eli Manning. Manning isn’t what he used to be, but Rodgers still has it going.
All this is why it’s so important for the Browns to get their guy at quarterback. They can’t to get where they want to go without him – whoever and wherever he is right now.
