NFL Playoff Predictions: Analyzing, Forecasting Sunday's Divisional-Round Games

The NFL playoffs have been a lot of fun so far, but Sunday's divisional round should deliver the best single day of action so far.

On one side, you've got the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos facing off, featuring a most intriguing quarterback battle. On the other, the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys add another chapter to their playoff rivalry.

It doesn't get much better than this for such an early stage of the postseason.

Time (ET)	Away	Home	Spread	TV Info	Live Stream
1:05 p.m.	Dallas Cowboys	Green Bay Packers	GB -6	FOX	FOX Sports GO
4:40 p.m.	Indianapolis Colts	Denver Broncos	DEN -7	CBS	CBSSports.com

Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers

How healthy is Aaron Rodgers?

Nobody should be all that surprised that Rodgers was officially listed as probable yesterday despite dealing with a calf injury. He wasn't going to miss Sunday's game as long as all four of his limbs were intact. Heck, even if he was missing an arm or a leg, Rodgers would just go the Black Knight route from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy allayed the fears of Packers fans everywhere when he said on Friday that Rodgers wasn't showing any ill effects from the injury, per the team's Twitter account:

Bleacher Report's injury expert Will Carroll was similarly carefree after all of the manufactured concern about Rodgers' calf:

There's no question that the Packers will need their star QB at 100 percent, or close to it, to defeat the Cowboys, who finished a perfect 8-0 away from Dallas this year.

For as much praise as Rodgers has received for his high level of play at Lambeau Field, Tony Romo's thrown for 1,933 yards, 20 touchdowns and just two interceptions in his team's eight road victories.

Romo downplayed the Cowboys' strong away form providing any sort of tangible boost heading into the divisional round, per ESPNDallas.com's Todd Archer:

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I don't think anything that happened before this is necessarily going to help you when you're on the field on Sunday. What matters is if you do the things that you've done before, but you've got to still go do it. We feel confident whenever we step on the football field, whether it's at home or on the road, that we're going to give ourselves a chance to win the football game. I think we're not going to feel any different going into this game.

We understand that we have a great team that we're going against who is going to be a great test, and you can't give them anything easy. You've got to make it hard on them. This game is going to go all the way to the end. Things like that you figure are going to happen, and you just have to play one of your better games, and we understand that.

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The Cowboys didn't exactly look convincing in their 24-20 win over the Detroit Lions. Dallas gained 315 total yards and never led until the final two minutes and 32 seconds of the game. Romo getting sacked six times wasn't exactly reassuring, either.

At home, the Packers are averaging 8.04 yards a play, which is over a full yard higher than the league average. Meanwhile, the Cowboys are allowing 7.16 yards a play on the road, which is good but not great. The Dallas defense hasn't been an area of strength in 2014, ranking 22nd in Football Outsiders' DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average).

The margin for error when playing Green Bay at Lambeau is so small, as the New England Patriots learned back in Week 13. The Packers have fewer question marks right now than the Cowboys and should edge out a narrow victory.

Prediction: Green Bay 27, Dallas 21

Indianapolis Colts at Denver Broncos

It's impossible to ignore the Andrew Luck vs. Peyton Manning storyline with respect to this game. It would be fitting for Luck to take the next step in his career by beating Manning in the playoffs.

These teams met way back in Week 1, with the Broncos earning a 31-24 home win. It was kind of a weird game. Denver was up 31-10 early in the fourth quarter before giving up two touchdowns, and Indianapolis actually had 47 more yards of offense despite possessing the ball for roughly five fewer minutes.

"We've got to find a way to play all four quarters as an offense," Manning said after the game, per The Associated Press, via ESPN.com. "Thank goodness the defense picked us up when the offense wasn't doing their job quite as well."

As much attention is being paid to the respective quarterbacks, the running game could decide this one. Neither Luck nor Manning can do it on his own.

The emergence of C.J. Anderson has been a massive boost for the Broncos. He played in the win over the Colts but carried the ball only four times. He'll get a lot more touches on Sunday given his strong run of form heading into the playoffs.

NFL on ESPN and ESPN's Louis Riddick provided some stats to illustrate just how good Anderson's run is in the second half of the season:

The Colts have been unspectacular against the run this year, surrendering 113.4 yards a game and 4.3 yards a carry. Those numbers increased to 124.4 and 4.5, respectively, when Indy was on the road. Football Outsiders ranked the team 19th in run defense DVOA.

Indianapolis did well to shut down Jeremy Hill last week, but it's not like the Cincinnati Bengals had a Manning-level quarterback under center to offer an aerial threat.

To counter Anderson, the Colts will rely on Dan Herron, who had 12 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown, in addition to 10 receptions for 85 yards. ESPN Stats & Info found a couple of noteworthy bests among Herron's numbers:

Former NFL veteran and current 120 Sports analyst Derek Rackley praised Herron's performance when asked by Sports on Earth about the most surprising Colts player from Wild Card Weekend:

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He provided a bit of a spark in both the rushing and passing game with 22 touches and over 100 yards of total offense. I liked the way he attacked the line of scrimmage and, even though he coughed up the ball a couple of times, overall he gave the Colts an extra dimension to their offense. They can't have Andrew Luck shoulder the burden week after week. Showing his versatility, Herron may have earned some more carries and could be in the mix going forward.

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The problem for the Colts is that the Broncos own perhaps the best rushing defense in the league. They allowed just 79.8 yards a game and 3.7 yards a carry. Denver's also given up two rushing touchdowns at home the entire season.

The Broncos have the better offensive balance. Couple that with their defensive advantage against the run, and they should seal the victory.

Prediction: Denver 24, Indianapolis 14

Notes: Spread info is courtesy of Odds Shark and stats are courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com.