2017 NFL Wildcard Picks + College Football Championship Info

The college football championship is set and for the second year in a row, it'll be Clemson versus Alabama on every imaginable ESPN platform. Instead of going through all of the x's and o's on how Alabama will defeat the Tigers, I'd like to take some time to shout out ESPN on their innovative programming during the college playoff games. As somebody who greatly misses ESPN.com's smooth-running gamecasts, I was absolutely giddy watching ESPN2's multiple camera angles along with the little gamecast-like stat updates along the bottom line.

Here is ESPN's official announcement of the vast amount of options viewers have for watching the championship.

The highlight from that announcement is right at the top...

• Traditional Telecast on ESPN; Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Samantha Ponder, and Tom Rinaldi on the Call
• Homers Telecast on ESPN2; Coaches Film Room with Limited Interruptions on ESPNEWS; ESPN Voices with Keyshawn Johnson and Bill Walton on ESPNU; Finebaum Filmroom on SEC Network among 14 Productions of College Football’s Finale
• ESPN Classic, ESPN Goal Line, and ESPN3 with Alternative Productions
• ESPN Deportes Provided Spanish-Language Telecast, ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes have English and Spanish Audio
• ESPNU Airs Pregame Field Pass 90-Minutes Before Kickoff

Personally, I will try every option available to me ESPECIALLY if the game turns into a blowout. Hopefully it is as highly competitive as last year and Clemson doesn't go for any loose balls.

On to the NFL!

I like.... okay, "like" is a strong word... I prefer Brock Osweiler to Connor Cook. Give me Houston 24 - Oakland 6.

One of the main reasons I have faith in Houston is the assumed lack of laser pointers this time around.

This game stinks but, in a fun and entertaining way. Oakland's Khalil Mack and Houston's Jadeveon Clowney should have enormous games against the two worst playoff quarterbacks, both of whom were backups coming into last week. The end result of this game will have no impact whatsoever on the landscape of the NFL playoffs since the winner of this garbage rendezvous is doomed to lose to either Kansas City or New England in the second round. That doesn't mean the game is totally unwatchable though, as Oakland snuck past Houston 27-20 in Mexico City earlier this season. The gap between Derek Carr and Connor Cook should be more than seven points but, in a game where the defenses might outscore the offenses, anything is possible.

Seattle's broken secondary is still better than Detroit's broken quarterback, Seattle wins 20-13.

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Golden Tate's revenge game will come up just short once again.

The last time these two faced, the Lions were one controversial goal line fumble from Calvin Johnson away from an upset win. One year and a couple months later and Megatron no longer plays for the team and Matthew Stafford was living life just as well as he had previously. Unfortunately for Jim Caldwell's team, Stafford is playing without the middle finger on his throwing hand and a white running back named Zach Zenner (best white running back in the league according to Seattle DE Michael Bennett. Apparently, he hasn't seen Rex Burkhead's week 17 highlights yet). Seattle is still incompetent up front and now, the running game is seeing the impact more than ever before. Losing Earl Thomas would have gotten this team destroyed against any healthy quarterback and Stafford is not healthy right now.

Miami covers their 10-point spread and the rest is a total guessing game, Pittsburgh rides Antonio Brown to a 30-24 victory.

In a game between two underrated offensive lines, Maurkice Pouncey guides Pittsburgh into the second round.

Do not let the coaching genius of Adam Gase fool you, Ryan Tannehill is still the superior option at quarterback when the other option is Matt Moore, who got Carolina Cam Newton thanks to being bad enough for the #1 pick six years ago. The entire wildcard round is much more about the quarterbacks than the average weekend considering the variety of terrible broken-down backups and past Super Bowl winners. Ben Roethlisberger is certainly a two-time champion but, he also suffered a sprained MCL back in late September that he still does not seem fully recovered from as he has been extremely inconsistent ever since. On paper, Pittsburgh has one of the three deadliest trio's offensively in the league with Ben-Bell-Brown, a great offensive line and a so-so defense where James Harrison still matters. At least we've seen Harrison win a playoff game before... I still have yet to see Ndamukong Suh or Cameron Wake accomplish that feat.

Some cold weather stalls both offenses as the playoff Giants are reborn in a 19-17 win at Lambeau.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images
The Giants paid a hefty price on players like DT Damon Harrison this offseason and they did so for games like this.

I do not believe in playoff Eli but, I am a firm believer in this Giants defense. Now, they may be a piece or two away from winning a Super Bowl singlehandedly like Denver's did last season but, they will still cause havoc for Packer team that they held to 23 points before the unit fully gelled the way it has the past month. Aaron Rodgers is so unstoppable that the combination of Olivier Vernon, "Snacks" Harrison, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Landon Collins might just be rendered useless and I could be 100% wrong in my prediction but, it wouldn't be the least believable thing an Eli-led postseason team has ever done.

Good luck to your playoff bandwagon of choice and may the QB play exceed our expectations!