NFL Postseason Preview, and where will Chip Kelly Land?

 

NFL Wildcard Weekend Preview

• The first game of the weekend (Saturday 4:30 on NBC) features the Cincinnati Bengals at the Houston Texans. Two teams going in opposite directions. The Bengals finished the season winning 7 of their last 8 games while the Texans, who won 11 of the first 12, lost 3 of their last 4 and dropped from #1 in the AFC to #3, and having to play the Bengals. Houston’s rushing attack should be too much for the Bengals. Anirudh’s prediction: Houston 24 Cincinnati 17.
• The second Saturday game (8 on NBC) features the Minnesota Vikings vs the Green Bay Packers. The high flying Packers will look to contain NFL rushing leader Adrian Peterson. The Packers, who were screwed out of a first round bye by the infamous replacement referee debacle, will look to cap off another impressive season with a second Super Bowl under quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Anirudh’s prediction: Green Bay 31 Minnesota 20.
• The first game on Sunday features the upstart Indianapolis Colts vs the Baltimore Ravens (1 on CBS). The Colts, who are riding a wave of emotion because of the heroic battle with cancer of head coach Chuck Pagano, over performed all expectations by winning 11 games and getting into the wildcard game. The Ravens, who lost 4 of their last 5 games, seemed to be coasting and trying to get healthy. Ravens All-Pro middle linebacker Ray Lewis has announced he will be retiring after this season, which should give the Ravens even more motivation. Anirudh’s Prediction: Ravens 17 Indianapolis 14.
• Finally, the biggest game of the weekend, features two big rookie quarterbacks, the Seattle Seahawks vs Washington Redksins (4:30 on Fox). This game should be a firecracker with two very similar offenses centering on explosive rookie quarterbacks. Robert Griffin III leads the Redskins and Russell Wilson leads the Seahawks, to 5 and 4 game improvements respectively. The difference in this game is the strong Seahawks defense. Anirudh’s prediction: Seattle 30 Washington 17.

Kelly to interview for NFL

• Possibly the best coach in college football over the past few years has a busy week. Just last night, Chip Kelly coached his #4 Oregon Ducks to an impressive 35-17 win over the #5 Kansas State Wildcats, all but assuring that his team will finish #2 in the final rankings at the end of the season. Then today, he will go to interview with the Buffalo Bills, the first of many interested teams who will get their shot at the offensive mastermind.
• Kelly's been the man most responsible for the spread of the lightning quick offense that calls plays before the defense can react and because of it, his Ducks have been atop the NCAA leaderboards in points scored (and rushing yards) for nearly every year during his tenure.
• Despite not being in the NFL yet, NFL teams have already started to copy his methods and Bill Belicheck even spent some time with Kelly this year, presumably to better understand the philosophy before implementing it for his Patriots this year.