rams
On Saturday the 2 seeded Buccaneers took care of business against the 7 seed Philadelphia Eagles. The Buccaneers dominated the Eagles from start to finish, and lead 31-0 at one point. Tom Brady had a great game throwing for 271 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions, and got everyone involved in the passing attack. Brady’s leading receiver Mike Evans had an incredible game catching 9 balls for 117 yards and 1 touchdown. Brady’s longtime teammate and best friend Rob Gronkowski made a big impact in this game also with 5 receptions for 31 yards and a touchdown. The Bucs ended up winning easily over the Eagles 31-15.
The winner of Monday night’s matchup between the Rams and Cardinals would go to Tampa Bay to face the Buccaneers. Matthew Stafford came in to this game looking for his first playoff win in his career, and he delivered in a big way for the Rams at home. Stafford threw for 202 yards with 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. The interceptions for Stafford was something that was really hurting him throughout the entire season, but not in the wildcard round against the Cardinals. In this game I predicted that the Cardinals would win because I thought Stafford would turn the ball over a couple of times, but that wasn’t the case. I was also concerned that Los Angeles were without safeties Jordan Fuller and Taylor Rapp who are two key pieces to their defense. The Rams dominated this game from start to finish getting out to a 28-0 lead, and eventually winning 34-11 over Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals.
This sets up an incredible Matchup between the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Bucs. I think if Stafford plays like the way he did against Arizona and doesn’t turn the ball over the Rams will have a really good shot at winning this game. I do think however that if Jordan Fuller and Taylor Rapp miss this game, that Brady will be exploit their secondary and 37 year old Eric Weddle in particular which worries me if I’m Los Angeles. The Rams beat the Bucs back in week 3 34-24 at home. This game will be different because the playoffs are a whole different animal, and the Bucs are at home, while in week 3 they were on the road. I think this game will come down to the turnover battle, and whoever turns the ball over less will win. In the end I think Brady and the Bucs will avenge their week 3 loss on the road and get a close 34-28 win over the Rams at home in the divisional round.
