After a emotion filled and jaw drooping wild card weekend for the AFC. The San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis colts have moved on to the next round of the AFC playoffs. The Indianapolis Colts will head to New England and play Sunday, while San Diego will travel to the Mile High City and face the Denver Broncos Saturday.
San Diego Chargers vs Denver Broncos
The San Diego Chargers are riding a five game winning streak from the end of the regular season, and just came off a hard fought and well deserved 27-10 win against the Cincinnati Bengals on the road while handing the Bengals their first home loss of the season.
Why?
Well, the San Diego Chargers are getting everything done on both sides of the football. San Diego has delivered a balanced attack on offense with a great running game and a quarterback who is on top of his game. Phillip Rivers is playing the best football in his career, he is taking care of the ball, making the right decisions and showing off his pin-point accuracy. Hes also has been fortunate enough to be equipped with some pretty good players too throw the ball too. Antonio Gates, Keenan Allen and Eddie Royal have all pieced together magnificent seasons and are making life tremendously easy for Rivers. In the backfield, Ryan Matthews and Danny Woodhead have been a terrific 1-2 punch duo. Both are extraordinary play-makers with their speed and toughness on every play they are involved in.
The Chargers defense has also steeped up at the most opportune time during the wining streak that boosted San Diego to the playoffs and they were key in their wildcard win over the Bengals. The front seven has been able to put consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks, and the secondary has been successful in getting turnovers, and getting the ball back in the hands of their red hot offense. San Diego caused three huge turnovers on the Bengals offense in the second half of the game, which lead to their offensive dominance in the 2nd half out scoring the Bengals 20-0..
This has been the Chargers the past 5 weeks. Good on both sides of the ball, and some great coaching by Head Coach Mike McCoy. "We've been in playoff mode for five weeks, knowing you lose 1 more from the last regular season games and obviously now in the playoffs that you're done" Phillip Rivers said after their win over the Bengals. The Chargers are hot at the right time, and playing a team that is hot like the Chargers right now in the playoffs will never be easy. This team can remind people very much of the 2008 and 2012 super bowl winning New York Football Giants. Getting hot at the end of the regular season, bringing it into the postseason, having great play from your quarterback, a good running game, and a defense that can make big stops and cause turnovers and confusion on offenses seems to be a pretty big key to success.
Waiting for San Diego are the Denver Broncos, who will come out fresh and fired up after a well earned first round bye. With a good week of rest to prepare themselves for this divisional round, Peyton Manning and receiver Wes Welker should be 100% for their game v. the Chargers. The Broncos dynamite offense led by Peyton Manning shattered defenses and records all season long. Their offense also helped cover a lackluster defense the whole season...
The biggest negative for Denver coming into the playoffs Is the news of Von Miller suffering a season ending injury in week 17. Von Miller is the best pass rusher on the team, and Denver will have to find other ways to get to Phillip Rivers against a offensive line that has played very good as of late. It is no secret that Peyton Manning's has a combined 9-11 record in the postseason, and Bronco fans have to be thinking still of last years heart-breaker in the divisional round in the playoffs to the ravens, and just hoping anything near of a letdown like that one is avoided. The crowd will be fired up just as much as the players are. They want and will expect a win. The pressure will be on Denver to preform, as it has been all year long. Denver has breezed by all pressure they have faced up to this point. Now the pressure will be larger on Peyton Manning and the Broncos to take care of business and get to the AFC title game. The task will not be easy, but in front of their home crowd and with that offense, it can easily happen.
This will be the 3rd meeting of the year between the Broncos and Chargers. The Broncos went into San Diego in week 10 and won 28-20. They played again five weeks later in Denver, and the Chargers came out with a great game plan on both sides of the ball and handed the Broncos their only home loss of the season in a 27-20 win. The Chargers gave the Broncos a punch in the mouth in week 15, holding the Broncos offense that has averaged a ton of points to only 20 points in that game. It also could've been a wake up call for the Broncos. Peyton Manning knows what is at stake, the Broncos will not slack an ounce in this game.
I expect Denver too come out with their most physical game of the year, and the offense to be much more tougher to stop this time around.
I am probably more excited for this game than the average neutral fan watching. I really believe in the Chargers with the way they are playing, and how they show no fear to anyone they go up against. They know how to play on the road, and are just playing top notch football right now. Do I see Peyton Manning being eliminated in the Divisional Round at home for the second year in the row? It is hard to imagine. Do I see the Chargers going into Denver for the second time this year and winning again? I wouldn't be surprised. It is hard to find anything to not like about the Chargers right now, they will give Denver a fight, but coming off a bye week and being home, the Broncos will be well rested and will show up in front of their home crowd. The Chargers are the Cinderella of these playoffs, unfourtunley for them I don't see Peyton Manning and that offense being held to 20 points again, and I don't see them losing at home for the second year in the row in the postseason, but in a win that will come down too the wire, I see Denver prevailing.
Prediction: Denver 34 San Diego 31
The Indianapolis Colts pulled off the second largest comeback in NFL playoff history last week at home against the Kansas City Chiefs in their wild card meeting. Down 38-10 in the 3rd quarter, the Colts rallied around their offense led by Andrew Luck and pulled off a jaw drooping comeback to move on to the AFC Divisional Round of playoffs. The Colts will be riding a wave of emotion and belief after that game. The legacy of Andrew Luck completed its first chapter after that game, but the Colts need to be concerned about the tale of two halves they played. The first half was a disaster, and boy have we seen first half disasters this season from the Colts. Twice the colts were completely blown out in the first half this year in the regular season. Cincinnati put a beating on them, and even the St. Louis Rams went up huge in the first half on the Colts in Indianapolis. LUCKily enough, the Colts were able to get it together in the second half and pulled the win in both of those games. The Colts are a very unpredictable team, they probably have the best resume of wins all season with victory's over the Seahawks, 49ers, and Denver, but then we see the ways they have played some games slumping out of the gates and playing like a team that shouldn't have made the playoffs. It's almost like they are the Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde of the NFL, but non the less, they are in and showed whatever number they are down they can put up a fight, play hard, and even come out on top.
The bad news for the Colts however is that they need to travel to New England and take on Tom Brady and Bill Belichick on their home turf, and take on Brady's 17-7 record in the postseason. Even with the numerous injuries New England has faced this year suffered from the likes of Rob Gronkowski, and key players on defense such as Jared Mayo, Vince Wilfork and now Brandon Spikes, the Pats have shown tremendous resiliency and showed they still know how to win games.
Running back Lagaerte Blount has given the Patriots added a powerful running game to this offense when Steven Ridley hit a huge slump. Brady knows how to make the most of the players around him on offense, even with losing Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski, he has made the remnants of his receivers offensive weapons and much more effective than they probably would be on a different team. Julian Edleman has become Bradys number one target, and has made Danny Amendola another good target who can make plays in open space. New England has been typical New England this season, but the Colts have shown to be a team of destiny.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick has been his usual self in putting his players in good situations and utilizing the most out of them, he knows how to coach under pressure, and the home crowd behind him will only make things more difficult for the Colts. Meanwhile Chuck Pagano, who shows the fight in him and his team too never give up with anything and fight to the finish. Both teams give it their all, and get plenty of motivation from their respective coaches. I have no doubt this game will be tight throughout. The Patriots are home and well rested, and Tom Brady will be his calm and effective self in this game, but will face some pressure from Robert Mathis, and a Colts defense that can get the job done.
On the other side of the ball for the Patriots, they will focus on containing T.Y Hilton and preventing him from getting the ball from Luck, but I see other players getting involved offensively for the Colts such as Coby Fleener, and Donald Brown. Andrew Luck is coming into the elite category of quarterbacks, and has proven to be very clutch in key situations. I see this game being concluded off a score from either side in the final two minutes in the game. The Colts will come into New England fired up and ready. Even with Andrew Luck throwing three interceptions last week in his comeback, I don't see him throwing 3 interceptions again on a secondary I believe he can take advantage of. I also think the Colts defense will come in better than most think, if they can play up to the level they did on defense in the second half of last weeks game, they can make it very tough on Tom Brady. With that said, I'm taking Andrew Luck to win the game off of a last minute drive in a thriller, and move on to the AFC championship game for the first time in the Andrew Luck era.
Prediction: Indianapolis 38 New England 34
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