NFL Playoff Bracket 2015: Complete Guide to Saturday's Divisional Games
This NFL playoff weekend, it's all about the quarterbacks.
Anyone who consistently reads my work knows I dislike distilling the wonderful prism of the game of football down to one person or zero-sum reasoning for wins and losses. As important as the quarterback position is—and it's one of the most important positions in all of sports—teams win games, not just quarterbacks.
Still, this week, it's difficult to ignore the guys under center
The early game features Joe Flacco of the Baltimore Ravens and Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. Just two seasons ago, Flacco put together one of the truly great postseason runs of our lifetime en route to a Super Bowl victory, while Brady is set to retire as one of the best quarterbacks not only of our era, but in NFL history.
After that matchup, we have a bit of an "eye of the beholder" game in the later slot. Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers head to Seattle to take on Russell Wilson and the Seahawks. Wilson is just a season removed from a great Super Bowl performance, but both of these passers have struggled as pocket passers this season and have largely trusted their defenses to win games. Yet both have the tremendous physical talent to overcome this weekend.
Click ahead for everything you need to know about both games Saturday.
The Starting Lineups
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Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots (4:35 p.m. ET on NBC)
- Adam Lefkoe and Chris Simms on X-factors for Ravens/Patriots
- Full Ravens/Patriots Preview from Lefkoe and Simms
- Ravens Preview from Featured Columnist Jason Marcum
- Patriots Preview from Featured Columnist James Christensen
This game has an interesting angle to it thanks to the Ravens' historical owning of the Patriots in the postseason, despite New England's incredible home-field advantage at Gillette Stadium. Pete Damilatis of Pro Football Focus recently noted that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is 11-1 against every other head coach at home in the postseason, but only 1-2 against the John Harbaugh-led Ravens.
Both sides of that stat are incredible for different reasons. Although the Patriots are the better overall team here (with the better quarterback), the Ravens' ability not just in the playoffs, but especially in the playoffs against New England, could give them a puncher's chance.
Carolina Panthers at Seattle Seahawks (8:15 p.m. ET on Fox)
- Lefkoe and Simms on X-factors for Panthers/Seahawks
- Full Panthers/Seahawks Preview from Lefkoe and Simms
- Panthers Preview from Featured Columnist Charles Edwards
- Seahawks Preview from Featured Columnist Marlon Maloney
Our friends at OddsShark have the spread at minus-11 for the Seahawks in this game, and that has to do with the fact that this game is in Seattle, and that the Seahawks were a much better team over the course of the entire season. The Panthers, at 7-8-1 for the year, are only in the playoffs thanks to winning a terrible NFC South and beating the Ryan Lindley-quarterbacked Arizona Cardinals in the first round in a mistake-prone game that looked like bad junior varsity for much of the first half.
I give the Panthers a little bit of a shot here for a couple of reasons: First, they've played the Seahawks a bunch of times in recent seasons (in Carolina) and have typically played them very close. This season, they held them to only 13 points, scoring nine. Also, the Panthers are on a five-game winning streak and defensively are a much better team than they were earlier in the year.
I'm not saying the Panthers win, but there's a solid chance they make life a lot more difficult for the Seahawks than their records suggest.
Second-Screen Swag
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- Bleacher Report can serve as the perfect complement for game-day viewing, as our live events team will gather all the stats, tweets, replays and more right on the B/R homepage.
- If you prefer to follow on your mobile device or tablet, make sure you have the Bleacher Report Team Stream app for the latest in news and highlights.
Must-Follow Tweeters
- Bleacher Report National Lead Writer Matt Bowen
- Bleacher Report/Rant Sports Contributor Sean Jensen
- Pro Football Talk Columnist/Former Panthers Beat Reporter Darin Gantt
- Bleacher Report AFC North Lead Writer Andrea Hangst
- Yahoo Sports Writer Eric Edholm
- Bleacher Report AFC East Writer Erik Frenz
- Ravens Super Fan/Blogger/Senior Matt Ryan Hater Lindsey OK
- Bleacher Report NFC South Lead Writer Brent Sobleski
- Sports Illustrated Writer/Former Patriots Beat Writer Greg Bedard
- Bleacher Report NFC West Lead Writer Sean Tomlinson
Biggest Questions
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Can Greg Olsen Continue His Impressive Play Against the Legion of Boom?
This season, the Seahawks allowed 11 touchdowns to tight ends, which was tied for third-worst in the league with a handful of other teams. Olsen, meanwhile, was one of the better tight ends in the game. He led the Panthers with over 1,000 yards receiving, but Seattle shut him down in their last matchup, holding him to one catch for 16 yards.
Olsen will be needed as a blocker in this game—a facet of his game he has improved greatly and excelled at this season—but how he matches up with safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor, along with the rest of the defensive backfield, might determine this game.
When Does the Seattle Offense Hit its Stride?
Last season, we all sat around and clutched our proverbial pearls about the Seahawks offense not scoring any points. Then for the Super Bowl, it looked like the defense might stop Peyton Manning, while the offense could score a few points.
Instead, what happened was sheer dominance with quarterback Russell Wilson playing out of his mind and a bunch of their "no name" receivers stepping up (read: talented receivers who play on the West Coast and no one pays attention to).
This season, we're full circle. The Seahawks offense is just as moribund as it was last season, and the Panthers are a tough matchup, but when Wilson and running back Marshawn Lynch get rolling, this team has more talent than they've been showing.
Can the Ravens Get to Tom Brady without Blitzing?
The Ravens blitzed the daylights out of the Pittsburgh Steelers last weekend, but much of that had to do with the matchup. The Steelers are weak on the offensive line and were missing running back Le'Veon Bell, who had been excellent in pass protection all season, in addition to being the overwhelming bulk of their running game.
If the Ravens hadn't blitzed, that would have been the story (and they would've likely lost).
Tom Brady and the Patriots, however, are a completely different matchup. Blitzing Brady is a fool's errand. The second a spot opens up on the field, Brady will get the ball there—whether or not it's a catch, of course, is a different story with his cast of offensive weapons. Add in a good run game, a line that is at least better than the Steelers' and a tight end like Rob Gronkowski, and it's clear the Ravens need to find pressure with three or four instead of sending five or six.
Ravens safety Will Hill claims to be up to the task of covering the towering tight end should he asked to do so, per Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun.
"I hope so, it's like, 'What are we here for?' We're in the NFL to be at our best and go against the best, and he's one of the best," Hill said. "I have to be at my best against him, so I would love that. It's not just a one-man job, it's a team effort."
Part of that "team effort" includes Baltimore's defensive line getting to Brady without needing too much in the way of reinforcements.
Who Plays Well for the Patriots?
There are a lot of "givens" or "known commodities" for the Patriots offense (Brady and Gronk being first among them), but there are also a lot of unknowns. Does the offensive line give Brady the protection he needs for one of the few times this season? Which wide receiver has a big day, or is will it be one of the backup tight ends?
A lot of this has to do with how Bill Belichick and Brady decide to play the matchup, but it also has a lot to do with the fact that the offensive talent around Brady isn't nearly as dependable as he's used to. If the answer to the question is no one, and the Ravens pressure Brady effectively while shutting down Gronk (relatively speaking), this could be one of those Ravens victories at Gillette we talked about earlier.
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Important Matchups
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Haloti Ngata (DT Ravens) vs. Patriots Interior Defensive Line
The Patriots spent much of the early part of the season shuffling their offensive line, and the results were...well, what's that old saying about making chicken salad out of chicken excrement? Yeah, they didn't do that. Their interior line is especially bad, and that's hurt Brady this season in a handful of matchups.
Ngata has been a force this season and was a force last weekend against the Steelers. Though I said in the last slide that the Patriots line is better overall than Pittsburgh, that's truer on the outside than in the middle, and Ngata could feast here.
Charles Johnson (DE Panthers) vs. Justin Britt (RT Seahawks)
Johnson's re-emergence back from the land of the average this season has helped the Panthers turn things around from their terrible middle part of the season. With his pressure—sometimes almost single-handedly on a defensive line that has been down just as much as up this year—the rest of the defense seems to fire on all cylinders.
Britt, though, has been a typical rookie. He's had great games, and he's had stinkers. Against Johnson, he'll need to be at his absolute best. In their last matchup, he gave up a handful of pressures, but no hits or sacks.
Bobby Wagner (LB Seahawks) vs. Cam Newton (QB Panthers)
Last week, I said the Cardinals needed to manage Newton if he broke the pocket. They didn't. Though Newton didn't have a ton of rushing yards, he both extended passing plays and was enough of a threat with read-option plays that it helped running back Jonathan Stewart and got the Panthers much-needed yardage in crucial situations.
Wagner is not Cardinals linebacker Larry Foote. He is both a better athlete and has all of Foote's veteran savvy even at a young age. He's as effective a linebacker as Newton can face since Luke Kuechly is on his own team.
Darrelle Revis (CB Patriots) vs. Steve Smith/Torrey Smith (WR Ravens)
The elder Smith has been the far better receiver for the Ravens this season and will be the person to draw Revis' coverage for most of the game, but the Patriots have been experts at shifting coverages in key moments. They'll move Revis around in attempts to shift coverage and will go sparingly to zone just to throw Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco off his game.
When Revis switches off Steve Smith, he'll likely switch over to Torrey, who needs to do his best to get off of press and move Revis down the field. He's not going to beat Revis consistently, but he's got the speed to win a few deep shots.
More important, when Revis is on Steve Smith, he needs to create enough of a problem to force the Patriots to roll their coverages.
For an X's and O's look at even more matchups, take a seat in Matt Bowen's film study.
Injury Report
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Baltimore Ravens
Timmy Jernigan (DT)—Probable, Foot/Ankle
Eugene Monroe (OT)—Questionable, Ankle
New England Patriots
Brandon LaFell (WR)—Questionable, Toe
Jonas Gray (RB)—Questionable, Ankle
Julian Edelman (WR)—Questionable, Concussion
Carolina Panthers
Philly Brown (WR/KR)—Questionable, Shoulder
Thomas DeCoud (S)—Questionable, Hamstring
Star Lotulelei (DT)—Out, Foot
Seattle Seahawks
Jermaine Kearse (WR)—Probable, Hamstring
Marshawn Lynch (RB)—Probable, Back
Bleacher Report Consensus Predictions and Links
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Michael Schottey is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and an award-winning member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Find more of his stuff on his archive page and follow him on Twitter.
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