NFL Computerized Power Ranks: Wild Card Playoffs

We are now into the divisional playoffs, and I don’t believe we saw any surprising results this first week.  Seattle proved to be the hotter team against Washington, while the other 3 division champs took care of business to make it into the divisional round.  The ranks correctly picked 3 of the 4 games correctly, only missing the Houston-Cincinnati game since the Texans tanked the final few weeks of the season.

The 4 losers all dropped some spots in the ranks, with the Redskins falling to #9, Bengals to #10, Vikings to #14, and Colts to #18, while the Packers advanced to #5, Texans to #7, and Ravens to #11.  The Seahawks were #1 coming into the week and stayed there.

So let’s look at the ranks’ predictions for this week:

#2 Broncos over #11 Ravens: Denver destroyed Baltimore in Baltimore less than a month ago, and the Ravens haven’t looked all that great for the past 5 weeks, except when they ended the Giants season. I don’t expect things to be much different this time in Denver, and the ranks agree.

#4 49ers over #5 Packers: This is looking like it will be the most exciting game of the week, and the closest matchup by ranking.  A slight edge goes to the Niners, who beat the Packers in Green Bay way back in Week 1.  Things are a lot different though, now.  The game will be in San Francisco and the Niners have Colin Kaepernick starting at QB.  This is the matchup everyone wanted to see in the playoffs last year, but the Giants spoiled that.  This year, neither team seems to be quite as good as the year before, but we could see a repeat of the Week 1 excitement.

#1 Seahawks over #6 Falcons: Seattle is still the best team in the NFL according to the ranks, despite Atlanta’s 13-3 record.  With Atlanta’s recent history of playoff disappointments, doesn’t this just seem like the perfect situation for Seattle to go into Atlanta and just crush them?  The ranks seem to think so.  I think the ranks are saying a lot when the team that is tied for the best record in the NFL is only ranked #6.  We’ll see if that holds true.

#3 Patriots over #7 Texans: The Texans’ late season collapse seemed to begin with their blowout loss at New England.  It will likely end there as well.

So it’s looking like the top 4 in the ranks, Seattle, Denver, New England, and San Francisco have the opportunity to be the final 4 teams this year.  We’ll see if that holds true this weekend.