NFL Playoffs: 3 Top Seeds to Get Upset in Playoffs

Now that we know the playoff matchups, there are many intriguing matchups on the line. I think this can be a year of enormous upsets since there’s really no clear-cut favorite.

In both the AFC and NFC the top seeds' defenses are the worst in the league. They also rank pretty low in the running categories.

Usually in playoff football it’s all about how effective your run game is going and how well the defense is playing. Both teams are struggling to stop opponents and New England may be the worst defense I’ve ever seen.

Another intriguing fact is the six AFC teams are built more for defense and the NFC for offense.

Four of the six AFC teams rank in the top seven in the NFL in defense, with three of them taking the top-three spots in the league. Only New England (31st), and Denver (20th) rank outside of the top-10 in defense.

On the NFC side, five of the six teams rank 1-5 in the league in passing offense. Only Atlanta ranks outside of the top five, and they rank eighth.

Only one NFC team ranks in the top-10 in defense, and that’s San Francisco as they rank fourth. The next best is Atlanta at 12th, and the rest are in the 20s with Green Bay ranking dead last.

With every team being so even in their respective conferences, I feel these will be the top seeds to get upset.

New England Patriots

If the first round plays like I think it will, Pittsburgh will travel to New England next weekend. I absolutely think New England will have no shot in this game.

Pittsburgh has already beaten New England once this season, and with the way they play defense, New England will struggle to score.

The Steelers rank first in total defense, and first against the pass. New England ranks second in total offense and second in passing, but with the tight coverage Pittsburgh plays and the blitz schemes, I think Brady will struggle.

New England may not score more than 17 points next weekend

Another reason New England will get knocked out early is due to the horrid defensive play. New England ranks 31st in the league in defense out of 32 teams. Only New England and Green Bay gave up more than 4,700 yards in total offense.

Pittsburgh has a stout running game and an improving passing game. I think Ben Roethlisberger will once again eat the 31st-ranked passing defense up and advance the Steelers past New England.

The Patriots have wide receivers playing in the secondary for crying out loud. There’s no way this team advances past this game.

Green Bay Packers

This could definitely be a long shot, but I feel if New York and New Orleans win in the Wild Card round of the NFC playoffs, then Green Bay can have some troubles with the Giants in the divisional round.

It’s hard to predict a 15-1 regular-season team and defending Super Bowl champs will go out in the divisional round, but I’m going to go out on a limb here.

I hope the fans in Green Bay don’t hate me as I do feel like they have the most talent, but with the way the defense is playing, I think New York can take them out.

The Giants are playing good football right now, and if the Giants team of the last two weeks—not the Giants team that lost to Washington—shows up, they will be a tough out.

New York has a great way of pressuring the quarterback and stopping teams with great defensive play. If they can do this to slow Green Bay in what will probably be a cold game outside in Lambeau, then they will have a shot.

After all, Green Bay isn’t built for an outdoor cold game like you would think. They’re built more on finesse and timing. Weather can play a huge factor in this game.

On the other side of the ball, Green Bay’s defense is horrible after two great seasons and ranks dead last. New York’s offense is playing great and Eli Manning is having one of his best seasons ever.

In the past, Manning would throw huge interceptions and put New York in bad situations. This year he’s not turning the ball over.  The Giants rank eighth in total offense and fifth in passing offense. Green Bay ranks last in passing defense, so this can be a key.

Also, New York has a good enough running game with Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs to win a game up there.

New York almost handed Green Bay their first loss of the season about a month ago. If the Giants can play like that and like they did against New England, they can win.

I think this will be like the NFC Championship Game of a few years ago when the New York Giants won the game and the Super Bowl. New York will go into Lambeau and upset Green Bay.

If Green Bay’s defense was better then I’d say Green Bay would win, but I just think the offense from the Packers will be stopped for a change against New York, and New York’s offense will score at will on a bad Green Bay defense.

San Francisco 49ers

I think Jim Harbaugh has done an incredible job in San Francisco. He’s turned this team around in just one season with virtually no offseason.

I do think the run will end against New Orleans in the divisional round.

The Saints offense is just too good with the top-ranked offense in the league, and I feel San Francisco, even though they have the fourth-ranked defense, will have a hard time slowing them down.

San Francisco won’t be too cold next weekend, so I don’t think weather will be a factor in slowing New Orleans down. I know the Saints don’t play as well outdoors as they do indoors, but San Francisco struggles against the pass and New Orleans thrives in that area.

San Francisco ranks 16th against the pass and New Orleans leads the league in passing.

Where San Francisco is good at is defending the rush. They rank first in the league on rush defense, but I don’t think that will be good enough against a pass-happy Saints team.

San Francisco’s offense doesn’t have enough firepower this year to keep up like they will need to in this game. They rank 26th in the league, and in a game that will come down to passing, the 49ers rank 29th out of 32 teams in the league.

This will be a close game, but I feel New Orleans will have too much offense.