Fill out your own NFL Playoff bracket! It's important to point out, that the lowest seed will ALWAYS play the highest seed, no matter the round. Which means, if BAL/DET win, they automatically get Patriots/Seahawks. If PIT/DAL win, they automatically get # 2 Denver/Green Bay. So keep that in mind when filling it out

Match-ups for this weekend's games:

AFC:

#5 Cincinnati Bengals AT #4 Indianapolis Colts
#6 Baltimore Ravens AT #3 Pittsburgh Steelers

NFC:

#5 Arizona Cardinals AT #4 Carolina Panthers
#6 Detroit Lions AT #3 Dallas Cowboys

Seedings for the first-round bye teams:

AFC: #1 New England Patriots / #2 Denver Broncos
NFC: #1 Seattle Seahawks / #2 Green Bay Packers

Bengals over Colts > This Colts team is pretty damn terrible, sans Andrew Luck.

Steelers over Ravens > Steelers have NEVER lost to the AFC North division in the playoffs. Bell is a huge loss, but Harris will surprise a lot of people tonight, Archer is a slot RB, himself. The real improvement this year has been the offensive line. Brown will run wild on a shaky, injury-plagued BAL secondary.

Cardinals over Panthers > Too much hype around the Panthers right now. Bruce will alter his gameplan, get Lindley to throw less. Defense will play well and lead them onto the next round.

Cowboys over Lions > Stafford can't score as many points as Romo. End of story.

Divisional Round:
#3 Steelers over #2 Broncos > Match-up problem for Denver. Ben has been a better QB this year, Ben has a better offensive-line. WR core might be around the same, but the moves the Broncos made this off-season haven't exactly paid dividends.

#1 Patriots over #5 Bengals > You're going to take Andy Dalton over Tom Brady?

#3 Cowboys over #2 Packers > A lot of Green Bay's flaws have been masked by Eddie Lacy and Aaron Rodgers this year. Cowboys surprisingly have a better defense, and I trust Bailey to make a difference-making kick more so than Mason Crosby. This is a FG game.

#1 Seahawks over #5 Cardinals > Cardinals just don't have enough on the offensive side of the ball to match-up. Close game for three quarters, Seattle pulls away with Lynch taking over in the 4th.

Championship Round:
#3 Steelers over #1 Patriots > TA-DA, ANOTHER MATCH-UP PROBLEM FOR AN AFC POWER. I can trust Tom Brady to beat Andy Dalton... but he isn't exactly Magic Man in the playoffs, anymore. Steelers defense has been great the past month, leading to a 4-0 record in December. Steelers might have no one to stop Gronk, but they can at least neutralize him if they stop the run, which has been the Steelers key all year long. Pass rush is coming, and Brady is just chop liver under duress. Steelers upset a giant.

#1 Seahawks over #3 Cowboys > Lightning rarely strikes twice. It won't here. Will be the end of a great season for the Cowboys, but I will say this: Wilson MUST be more of a game-manager to win this game for Seattle. But I suspect he'll be up to that task, because if not, Dallas WILL score points against this Seahawk defense.

Super Bowl:
AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers victorious over NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks, in due part because NOBODY can stop Antonio Brown. But it's much more than that. This won't be a Denver-Seattle situation where the pass-rush of Seattle will absolutely kill an offensive jugular. (DEN best offense last year, PIT 2nd-best this year). Ben has the HIGHEST Quarterback Rating out of ANY in the league, at 118% when under pressure. Seattle will get a pass rush, per usual, but that doesn't exactly mean Ben will have trouble with it. Steelers have trouble against mobile quarterbacks, that is definitely a minus for PIT. But at the end of the day... this is going to be a high-scoring playoff, high scoring-Super Bowl, and I'll simply take the better quarterback.


GENERAL THOUGHTS TO KEEP IN MIND:

- Since 2002, except for one year (Joe Flacco in 2012), only 3 Quarterbacks have represented the AFC in the Super Bowl: Tom Brady (5), Peyton Manning (3), and Ben Roethlisberger (3). Expect for that trend to continue in the 2014 NFL Playoffs (Yes, 2014 NFL Playoffs - Seattle is considered the 2013 Super Bowl Champions.)

- The four hottest teams in the month of December were the Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Seahawks, and Carolina Panthers. Expect at least 75% of these teams to make really loud thunder, loud noise, in the playoffs this year. I have Carolina losing to ARI, but I can see a scenario where they beat ARI and carry their momentum. What I'm basically saying is, it PAYS to have momentum going into the playoffs.

- 7 out of the last 12 Super Bowl Champions have played on Wild-card weekend. Great candidates to continue that trend this year would be the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, or even the Baltimore Ravens.

- This is going to be the highest scoring playoffs in history, in my opinion. No great defenses this year, and the pace of each offense has only increased in tempo. Would not be surprised to see AFC/NFC Championship games end up both like 34-31. What I'm saying is, when trying to say defense is going to be an X-Factor, or saying that "This team has a better defense slightly than Team B, so they're going to win the game", forget about it - awful reasoning. Reason I'm not fully sold on either of Arizona or Carolina. Every game is going to be based on what offense executes better.

- Enjoy the playoffs, it's an amazing bracket of teams this year. Hopefully it's a good one, regardless of your team affiliation and fandom!

Colts over Bengals > It'd be refreshing to see the Bengals to actually win something for once in the playoffs, but I'm taking my bet on Andrew Luck making one more big play than Dalton. AJ Green is unlikely to play, yeah I'm not trusting Dalton without AJ Green. 

Steelers over Ravens > Steelers are just a nightmare matchup when it comes to that offense. Even though Le'Von Bell is a special running back, Harris is good enough to carry the load for at least one game. 

Panthers over Cardinals > To be honest, I would've got the Cardinals if they didn't lose a lot of people to injuries. But considering I stated that, I'm rolling with one of the hottest NFL teams at the moment in Carolina Panthers. I will not doubt Bruce as he is the Head Coach of the Year for me, but Cam Newton or Lindley? I'm going with Newton. 

Cowboys over Lions > Uhhh, Romo-Dez > Stafford-Megatron as the best NFL QB-to-WR duo. 

Divisional Round:
Steelers over Broncos > The Broncos have not been the same ever since that Rams game. There are talks of Peyton losing velocity on his throws, Broncos are getting depleted due to injuries. I'm trusting Antonio Brown to steam-roll that Broncos' secondary. 

Patriots over Colts > The Patriots are going to expose the Colts for the second time again. 

Seahawks over Panthers > I see this game being very close for all 4 quarters until Russell Wilson goes berserk in the 4th quarter and lead the Seahawks to another NFC Championship appearance. 

Cowboys over Packers > The top two NFL QBs for MVP. One team is undefeated on the road while the other is undefeated at home. I think if Dallas' defense by this point isn't injured, Lacy could certainly be slow down. I'm taking my chances on Romo to torch that Packers' secondary and for Rodgers to throw a heartbreaking INT in the 4th quarter. (The Cowboys' defense have 13 takeaways in the 4th quarter)

Championship Round:
Patriots over Steelers > As dangerous as the Steelers are. I think their run is going to end due to one man, Darrelle Revis. Antonio Brown is going to be on Revis Island and as explosive as Brown could be, Revis isn't going to let Brown go off. I think it's down to how well the Steelers could run the ball and who knows if Bell is going to look like his usual self. I'm trusting Gronkowski to not be neutralized in this match-up. 

Cowboys over Seahawks > This game is going down to the wire. The Seahawks are not the same team back in October, but what about the Cowboys? I'm frankly more impressed by the Cowboys in the later stretch of the season just because their resolve has not been shattered. I do not think Murray's carries will plague the Cowboys. I think Jason Garrett's wise enough to give some playing time to Randle/Dunbar. Biggest X-Factor in my opinion? Jason Witten/Gavin Escobar. If those two goes off very early, it's going to be a long night for the Seahawks' defense because now you have a TE to ease the load on Murray/Bryant. It's going to be a long night for the Seahawks' offense if they can't be consistent as was in the first match-up. 

Super Bowl:
Cowboys over Patriots > In my opinion, this is the Cowboys' only chance to win a ring under Romo and I don't think they will fail. Romo will get a huge monkey off his back and what better way to do it against one of the most respected QBs in NFL history? I think Dez-Revis will be like Dez-Sherman I, Sherman winning a few battles, but Dez holding his own fort too. This game will likely go to whoever gets the last possession and honestly? I trust Romo to set up a Dan Bailey GW field goal for the Cowboys to win their sixth ring.

Steelers got beat. But Ravens are near identical to them. Match-up problem for both New England and Denver, more so New England. Expect Baltimore or Denver to represent the AFC. And this is coming from someone who respects Brady/New England these days. Just calling it like I see it.

Copying what I said in the NFL Thread (I didn't see this thread until just now)...

Baltimore @ Pittsburgh (Assumption- Bell isn't fit to go)- So I got this right. The loss of Bell and Baltimore's Front 7 was just too much. Also, fuck the Steelers for sending Big Ben and Miller both out, even though they were both probably concussed. I know it's an important game, but that was just messed up on so many levels.

Cincinatti @ Indianapolis (Assumption- Green isn't fit to go)- Yeah....Everyone predicted this just about.

NFC Wild Card:
Arizona @ Carolina (Assumption- Stanton is still hobbled by injury, either leading to Lindley starting or Stanton playing hurt)- Lindley might be the worst QB to ever start in the playoffs. God that was hard to watch, even as a divisional rival.

Detroit @ Dallas (Assumption- Suh gets suspended)- Well...My assumption failed, but I still technically got it right. It still seems a bit dirty, but fuck it. Dallas may have gotten away with murder, but Detroit still pissed the lead down their pants. They have no-one to blame but themselves.

AFC Divisional:
Baltimore @ New England- If there is one team who can beat New England, it is Baltimore. Still, wouldn't hate it if NE won at this point. Flacco's retard strength scares me more than Tom Brady against a strong offensive pass rush in a Super Bowl

Indianapolis @ Denver- I actually think the Colts defense is criminally underrated, but I can see why they aren't- They never give Luck a chance when he plays against really good offenses. Give him a team with a so-so attack, and they'll keep them to under 10. Throw them to the wolves, they'll give up 50. There's almost no middle ground for them.

NFC Divisional:
Carolina @ Seattle- Not TOO shocking a pick. I think it'll be closer than people expect, but Seattle just has to play typical Seahawks football, and a win should be self-evident. Benjamin is a shell of what he was even half the season ago, and he was the only shining light in the Panthers offense that week. Olsen and Williams might be problematic, but Seattle usually holds RB's and elite TE's well.

Dallas @ Green Bay- Undefeated at home vs Undefeated on the road, so something has got to give. Honestly, I think Murray is beginning to be worn out a little bit, and I think that is enough for Rodgers to take control and pull out the win. Nick said Dez and Romo were the best WR/QB combo in the NFL...Nah. I have to give that to Rodgers and Jordy.

Conference:
Baltimore @ Denver- The Mile High Miracle was just that- A miracle. Miracles have very little opportunity to repeat and, quite frankly, at home I can very much see Denver's Defense being too much for Flacco. I expect Peyton to also struggle, but I think we will see a low-scoring game which leads Peyton back to the promised land

Green Bay @ Seattle- Green Bay in Seattle...Does anyone remember this story? Yes there is the infamous Fail Mary, but earlier this year did show just how well Seattle matches against Green Bay. The Packers will try to smash it up the middle with Lacy, but Wagner should be equal to the task, while I think the combined forces of Maxwell, Thomas and Sherman can neutralise Cobb and Nelson (Rodgers won't be dumb enough to avoid Sherman completely this time around, so he should contribute- For better or worse). Meanwhile, I think Green Bay's rush defense is underrated, but Beast Mode is Beast Mode. Also, unless they keep Matthews as a Spy on Wilson all game, I think he might break out some good runs. If they do, however, Lynch will bust out some great runs. Pick your poison, really.

Super Bowl

Seattle vs Denver- Yes, yes, homer pick. Denver's defense unnerves me, but the Seahawks are very familiar with the University of Pheonix Stadium, and I think once again the Seahawks defense will help crown Seattle as the first back-to-back champions in 12 years, and at this point, I have a strong feeling that Wagner will be crowned MVP, if they don't give it to Wilson or Lynch.

I know I'm late, but yeah.

Divisional

Dallas over Green Bay > Don't know if I can trust Rodgers with the tear in his calf, it shouldn't stifle him too much, but I've been feeling an upset all week, plus I just feel the Cowboys have a more complete team, especially on offense.

Seattle over Carolina > Carolina got hot at the right time, this is going to be far closer than I think a lot of people are expecting it to be, but Seattle escapes.


New England over Baltimore > Fuck Flacco (Flukeo). Long Live Brady.

Denver over Indinapolis > I don't think the Colts are a good team, and despite what everyone else says, I'm still not fully sold on Luck, ESPECIALLY in the playoffs (despite what they did last year against KC, but that was more about KC than Indy)... I understand the Broncos aren't what they were last year either, but they're better than the Colts. 


Conference

Seattle over Dallas > I really want to go with the upset, but I don't think it's gonna happen. This Seahawks team isn't the one Dallas beat back in October, Seattle won't let it happen again.

New England over Denver > New England is a better team, Brady had a far better season than Peyton... Peyton picked a bad time to play his worst Football in a long time, I don't see how Denver can win.

I'M GONNA WAIT TO POST MY SUPERBOWL PREDICTION.