NFL Playoffs 2013: Best Individual Matchups to Watch on Wild-Card Sunday

One half of Wild Card Weekend is in the books, as the rest of the action will now shift to CBS and FOX to weed out the competition for the rest of the NFL playoffs.

Waiting to face that reality are four teams with Super Bowl aspirations. In the AFC, Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts will have their hands full with the Baltimore Ravens, a team now left to pick up the pieces of a disappointing end to the regular season.

In the NFC, Robert Griffin III and the Washington Redskins will square off against Russell Wilson and the upstart Seattle Seahawks in a matchup of rookie QBs. We're guaranteed to see a rookie win at least one game this weekend, and that guarantee comes from this game.

Here's a look at three individual matchups to pay attention to on Sunday.

LB Ray Lewis vs. QB Andrew Luck

One of the league's oldest players, Ray Lewis, is retiring. With him leaving, the game must find new stars to take his place. One of those stars is Luck, who has set numerous rookie records while cementing his validity as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft.

These two guys are the captains of their respective units.

Luck is ready to prove that he can handle facing a top defense on the road in the playoffs, while Lewis aims to shuck doubters one final time before he rides off into the sunset.

As for their time against each other, don't expect the Ravens to send Lewis on a blitz and see these guys go head-to-head. This matchup is more about the mental aspect of the game and who can will their team to win in a more effective manner.

It should be a classic game and one that helps change the guard in the AFC. As ESPN's Ed Werder notes, it's an extremely tall task for the rookie.

"

The man standing between fire-breathing Ray Lewis and another game is Andrew Luck. Talk about a rookie's challenge for first playoff game!

— Ed Werder (@Edwerderespn) January 5, 2013"

QB Robert Griffin III vs. OLB/DE Bruce Irvin

If you're having trouble remembering this past year's draft, these are both top-15 picks. RG3 has taken the NFL by storm with his dual-threat ability and postseason appearance, while Irvin has quietly silenced doubters with a nice rookie campaign.

RG3 has 3,200 yards passing and 815 yards rushing, accounting for 27 touchdowns in the process during his rookie season. Irvin has eight sacks and a forced fumble, contributing to the defensive nightmare that looms from Seattle.

If you watched Griffin make DeMarcus Ware look like an eighth-grader on the read option in Week 17, you'll know that the game plan in Washington is likely going to be centered on making Irvin ineffective in passing situations.

Granted, he's not banged up like Ware was, but you can bet these two will find themselves in situations where one will best the other. Can Griffin pull off his read option magic one more time?

Mike Shanahan vs. Pete Carroll

In a battle of coaches on the fringe of getting back to prominence, either of these two would happily knock the other down to get there. Sure, both have had good seasons, but playoff wins merit more than any regular season one ever could.

Shanahan is at home, and long gone are his doubts about what he has from a team standpoint. Washington is healthy, hungry, and it has a QB that the league hasn't quite figured out yet.

Carroll boasts an impressive defense and a rookie QB as well, but he faces the challenge of winning away from home, where his team hasn't had quite the moxie it does when the 12th man is making Seattle the league's toughest place to play.

These two teams are closely matched, and any subtle moves on either side of the ball could pay big dividends. It isn't a flashy matchup, but Shanahan versus Carroll might be the deciding factor on which team heads back to the drawing board and which one books vacation flights.

Ethan Grant is a featured columnist for B/R's Breaking News Team.

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