NFL's Wildcard Round To Be... Wild

Welcome to 2015 everyone, the college football playoff is real and it's spectacular. Ohio State versus Oregon? Yes please. There was so much energy and talk around the college football bowl season that the NFL's wildcard round is sort of sneaking up on us. I'm glad this is the case since we're coming off of the worst NFL season in terms of entertainment and respectability value in a long, long time. Yet, even though Roger Goodell still has the commissioning job a whopping five months after the second Ray Rice video was released, the playoffs are enough for everyone to kind of chill out and watch football again as we make our way through the most depressing month. 

Here are my Wildcard picks...

Carolina 45 - Arizona 10

There's going to be plenty of this happening in a home game that Carolina doesn't deserve.

The playoff format needs some tweaking. The Panthers earned the playoff spot, no doubt BUT... they don't deserve this home game. Thankfully for the Panthers, Arizona's Quarterback is Ryan Lindley, #1 Running Back is a Kerwynn Williams/Stepfan Taylor committee and the team's star defensive player (Patrick Peterson) has become the most overrated corner in the NFL and is the third best at his own position on the team. Arizona is practically dust at this point in time. Enjoy your win, Panthers.

Ravens 23 - Steelers 20

Josh Harris: Guy.

I don't really want to see either of these teams in the second round of the playoffs but, that's a problem considering these two AFC North teams face each other and each playoff game needs a winner. Neither team is good enough to make the conference championship with Pittsburgh's ancient defense and Baltimore's defensive backfield is made up of guys who were quite possibly Home Depot employees in 2014. Luckily for Baltimore, Pittsburgh's RB LeVeon Bell is out with a hyper-extended knee and un-drafted Wake Forest alumnus Josh Harris is starting despite only carrying the ball six times for twelve yards. Give me the team with a healthy offense and the better front seven, Baltimore.

Colts 41 - Bengals 20

Vontae Davis will likely only have to cover Mohamed Sanu.

Everyone and their mother is happy to see the Bengals in the playoffs because they are the easiest team to bet against in the playoffs. Andy Dalton in a playoff game? Good luck with that. He might not have A.J. Green either? Oh, this is a disaster for Cincinnati. I feel bad for Bengals' fans because it does not matter how many first round exits Marvin Lewis has on his record, he will never lose his job. Indy shut them out once, they should be fine Sunday afternoon.

Cowboys 34 - Lions 24

Can Dallas's defense match Detroit's playoff-ready D?

I'll take Tony Romo over Matthew Stafford every time. One of these teams has to win despite their recent playoff failures. Detroit does have Ndamukong Suh but, with Nick Fairley out at Defensive Tackle, the overachieving defense is not at 100%. Speaking of overachieving defenses, Dallas was supposed to be one of the worst defensive units in the history of the NFL. Instead, they were solid while never astonishing anyone. The key to this game is "who shall cover Dez Bryant?" and frankly, nobody on Detroit can.

So, enjoy the Wildcard round and don't blame me for picking against your team and that result becoming true.