NFL Wild Card Weekend 2014-15: Full Predictions for Postseason's Opening Round

Welcome to Wild Card Weekend, where eight NFL teams will fight for their playoff lives right after an unforgiving season.

There's no rest for these clubs vying to advance past the opening round. Anything can happen during sports' shortest postseason tournament, meaning almost all participants can run the gauntlet and hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

Well, almost anyone. Whereas three Wild Card Round matchups offer intrigue and storylines galore, another seems sad in comparison. That's because league rules require an NFC South representative, and that fortunate champion happens to face the postseason's coldest club.

The least assuming games often dish up the most excitement, so don't skip this NFC clash.

Date	Home	Away	Time (ET)	Pick
Saturday, Jan. 3	No. 4 Carolina Panthers	No. 5 Arizona Cardinals	4:35 p.m.	CAR
Saturday, Jan. 3	No. 3 Pittsburgh Steelers	No. 6 Baltimore Ravens	8:15 p.m.	PIT
Sunday, Jan. 4	No. 4 Indianapolis Colts	No. 5 Cincinnati Bengals	1:05 p.m.	IND
Sunday, Jan. 4	No. 3 Dallas Cowboys	No. 6 Detroit Lions	4:40 p.m.	DAL

Is This Really a Playoff Game (of the Week): Arizona Cardinals at Carolina Panthers

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On Nov. 22, how would you have responded to news of the Carolina Panthers hosting the Arizona Cardinals in a playoff game?

At that juncture of the season, Carolina stood 3-7-1 while Arizona ran the league at 9-1. Now the 7-8-1 Panthers, recovering from a two-month victory drought, are riding a four-game winning streak into the playoffs against the Cardinals, who dropped four of their last six.

When discussing Arizona's decline, everyone is quick to point to Carson Palmer's season-ending injury suffered during Week 10. That has obviously hurt the offense, which scored a combined 77 points through the remaining seven games without its starting quarterback.

Ryan Lindley compiled 316 yards and two touchdowns against the San Francisco 49ers, but he also telegraphed three costly interceptions. He looked competent enough to get Arizona by, if quarterback was the team's only issue.

Palmer's absence, however, is far from the Cardinals' only flaw. The rushing offense floundered all season, averaging 3.3 yards per carry behind the disappointing, and now inactive Andre Ellington. They have mustered just six runs of 20 or more yards all year.

The defense isn't blameless, either. The third-worst passing defense entering Week 17 allowed 7.8 yards per attempt to a struggling Colin Kaepernick on Sunday. Even more concerning, the unit's strength crumbled down the stretch, issuing more than 200 yards through the ground in back-to-back games.

Fox Sports' Craig Morgan plotted the defense's struggles even further.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Stewart is surging for Carolina, averaging 5.3 yards per rush during the final five games. A healthy Cam Newton has also fired up his engine, as noted by ESPN Stats & Info.

Over those three games, Newton has tallied 197 rushing yards. He had accumulated 190 during the prior six contests. The full body of the work doesn't depict a playoff team, but now that the Panthers are here, they're well positioned to inflict damage against a deteriorating opponent.

Based on Football Outsiders' weighted Defensive-adjusted Value Above Average (DVOA), a measure of team efficiency, neither is truly a playoff crew right now. Entering the final week, Carolina placed No. 25 in the metric while Arizona fared only slightly better at No. 23. Given the former's 34-3 smashing of the Atlanta Falcons, that order will change.

What should be a gift for a lucky wild-card winner instead turns into another opportunity for a losing squad to reach the second round. It happened four years ago, when the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks upset the New Orleans Saints. 

As linebacker Thomas Davis told ESPN.com's David Newton last week, Carolina's road to becoming the NFC South's first back-to-back champion doesn't matter as long as it ends with a playoff bid.

"Throw out the record. Throw out what has happened this season," Davis said. "We have a chance to do something special, something that hasn’t been done." 

Seattle or the Green Bay Packers will truly benefit from this bracket. Neither Arizona nor Carolina stand a chance at CenturyLink Field or Lambeau. For now, let's accept that a seven-win team will win a playoff matchup this weekend.

Prediction: Panthers 20, Cardinals 13