– Wildcard Weekend Preview –

Cardinals-Panthers

• Arizona (11-5) has to go to Carolina (7-8-1) because Panthers were the division winners in blighted NFC-South…Cardinals skidded to finish line, losing 4-of-6 at end of season..QB-Ryan Lindley will start in place of Drew Stanton…Lindley career stats (1-5) record (2TD-11Int)-career QBR (50)…WR-Larry Fitzgerald could be playing final game in Big Red colors…has salary cap figure of 23M on contract for next season…Panthers reeled off 4-wins in a row to end the season..QB-Cam Newton back following truck accident-finished season career lows (18TD-5Int)…but has been impressive throwing-running in final two games of season..RB-Jon Stewart-DeAngelo Williams strong on the ground down the stretch…Panther defense very strong finishing the season allowing just 10-Points a game in final 4-games….Carolina hot streak continues one more week-Arizona QB play ends their season.

Ravens-Steelers

• Pittsburgh will try to continue to dominate Heinz Field advantage vs Baltimore..Ravens (0-3) in postseason games in Pittsburgh…Joe Flacco-strong season thru the air (3986P-27TD)…RB-Justin Forsett over 1,000-rushing yards…Ravens need big games from Smith & Smith (Steve-Torrie) to be in the game…Baltimore gets NT-Hloti Ngata back after 4-game suspension…Loses NT-Tim Jernigan with knee injury and LT-Eugene Monroe with ongoing foot problem….Pittsburgh likely won’t have RB-Le’Veon Bell with hyper extended knee…Signed FA-RB-Ben Tate just cut by Minnesota…Ben Roethlisberger coming off huge MVP-type season (4952P-32TD-67%)…Offensive line vastly improved-less sacks…WR-Antonio Brown (129R-13.2YPC-13TD)….Bell will be missed (2215APY-11TD)…Steelers secondary getting better despite injuries….Roethlisberger threw 6TDs vs Ravens in November game…Pittsburgh wins.

Bengals-Colts

• Cincinnati has bad history on its side in postseason as does QB-Andy Dalton…Marvin Lewis (0-5) in postseason…Dalton (0-3) in playoff games..Dalton postseason QBR in playoff games (25-15-14(….Bengals have not won a postseason game since 1990…Cincinnati got shutout (27-0) in last game in Indianapolis-held 135Y-offense in ugly loss..WR-AJ Green returned to practice Thursday after concussion last week…Colts QB-Andrew Luck (4761Y-40TD-61%) in record setting career year…Gets WR-Reggie Wayne-TY Hilton both back in starting lineup….Colts (4-1) in wildcard games at home…Indy loses OT-Gosder Cherilus-placed on IR with groin injury….Colts too much firepower-Bengals too much bad playoff history-Indy wins.

Lions-Cowboys

• Dallas embarks on postseason after illustrious bounce back regular season…Dallas won final 4-games of regular season..QB-Tony Romo (3705P-34TD)…RB-DeMarco Murray (1845R)…WR-Dez Bryant (88R-15YPC-16TD)….Romo just (1-3) in postseason..Cowboys average 29-points per game this year…Cowboys just (1-7) in postseason in last decade…Romo just (1-3) in career….Matthew Stafford (4257P-22TD) for Lions…Detroit no 1,000-yard running backs though….Stafford career record (0-16) on road vs teams with winning record……Lions lost 7-postseason games in a row…just (1-10) in postseason since 1970s….Cowboys too much firepower-should win.

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