NFL Play-off previews

NFC

The  NFC teams that have made the play-offs are; Carolina Panthers (1), Arizona Cardinals (2), Minnesota Vikings (3), Washington Redskins (4), Green Bay Packers (5) and last years NFC champions Seattle Seahawks (6).

In the Wildcard round the NFC North champions, the Vikings, will play the 2nd wildcard, the Seahawks, at Minnesota. The Seahawks didn’t have the season they would have liked after losing to the Patriots in Superbowl 49. They managed to find form towards the end of the season to scrape a wildcard place. The Vikings looked to have a hard time as the Packers looked to dominate the NFC North, however the Vikings managed to capitalize on the Packers poor form towards the end of the season and win the NFC North.

The other match see’s the NFC East champions, the Redskins, face the 1st wild card, the Packers, in Washington. The Redskins have the worst record of any team in the NFC play-off’s however they hold the 4th seed as they won their division. The Packers had a lapse in form towards the end of their season. This cost them the NFC North title but they managed to get a wild card place. This is the first time since 2010 that they haven’t won the NFC North and have entered the play-offs as a wild card.

The two teams with a first round bye are the Carolina Panthers and the Arizona Cardinals. The Panthers nearly had an unbeaten year but they lost 20-13 to the Atlanta Falcons in week 16 and ended with a 15-1 record. They have beaten big NFC teams and dominated their division. They are the first seed and have home field advantage in their play off games.

The Arizona Cardinals are big scorers and have come out of no where. They ended last season out of form and in a wild card place. This season it took teams a lot of work to beat them and they secured a first round bye. They have the largest average points per game with 31.2 points and they have 500 points this season.