NFL Wild Card Saturday: Our staff foresees what will happen

NFL Wild Card Saturday kicks off the NFL playoffs and while the Seattle Seahawks are not in the postseason this year they normally do make it every season and could easily be back in 2022. Let’s hope anyway.

So while we may be sad that the Seahawks aren’t in the postseason, this also makes it a more stress-free playoffs. Basically, pick a team to pull for in the short term and hope they win. For me, I am going for the Bengals as I know a family member of receiver Tee Higgins. There could be lots of reasons you choose to root for a team that isn’t the Seahawks.

And NFL Wild Card Saturday has some very interesting games. Cincinnati is young and talented but doesn’t know yet how to win in the playoffs. The Raiders could have fallen apart this year with the fiasco that was Jon Gruden and the off-field issues they faced. Yet, Las Vegas is still playing.

Staff predictions for NFL Wild Card Saturday

No one really wants the Patriots to win, right? But the Bills also seem to be just a bit south of being a true Super Bowl contender. Plus, this is outside in Buffalo! Fans going to the game should expect wind chills in the minus 10-15 degree range. Seriously.

WynnBet has the Bengals favored by -5.5 over Las Vegas and by Buffalo by -4.5 over New England. Both of these odds will be wrong, however, as there is no way to score half-a-point in football. Am I right? Anyway, this is how our staff sees the games playing out.

Las Vegas Raiders at the Cincinnati Bengals

Geoff Schull: Bengals 33 Raiders 20

Todd Vandenberg: Bengals 38 Raiders 23

Jake Luppino: Raiders 24 Bengals 22

Carson Schroer: Bengals 27 Raiders 20

Andrew Bailie: Raiders 24 Bengals 23

Max Downard: Bengals 33 Raiders 27

Lee Vowell: Bengals 35 Raiders 21

New England Patriots at the Buffalo Bills

Geoff Schull: Patriots 24 Bills 17

Todd Vandenberg: Bills 31 Patriots 19

Jake Luppino: Bills 17 Patriots 14

Carson Schroer: Patriots 20 Bills 17

Andrew Bailie: Bills 20 Patriots 13

Max Downard: Bills 20 Patriots 13

Lee Vowell: Bills 16 Patriots 13