Mike Ridaught
Let the trash talking begin.
This weekend the NFL playoffs will start.
I’m not sure what your office is like, but two of our Mainstreet Daily News staff (myself and publisher J.C. Derrick) are Cowboys fans, while C.J. Gish (associate editor) is a 49ers fan.
Dallas hosts San Francisco at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday in the NFL Wild Card Round.
The Cowboys, the NFC East champions, are loaded on offense with Dak Prescott at quarterback, Ezekiel Elliot at running back, and explosive receivers in CeeDee Lamb and Amari Cooper.
But could San Francisco, a three-point underdog, take advantage of a huge Dallas weakness?
Meanwhile, news reporter Suzette Cook is a Buffalo Bills fan.
She was raised 20 miles from Orchard Park Stadium, on a red potato farm.
The Bills will host the New England Patriots on Saturday night at 8:15 p.m. The weather will be in the single digits, which has caused the price of a ticket to the game to drop.
Buffalo is a 4.5 favorite at home. However, the Patriots could pull the upset.
And what about the defending Super Bowl champions?
There are Tampa Bay Bucs fans scattered throughout the state, and likely even more jumped on the bandwagon after Tom Brady and company won last year’s Super Bowl against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Tampa Bay won a franchise-record 13 games this year and secured the No. 2 seed in the NFC. The Bucs will host the Philadelphia Eagles—who just got blown out by the Cowboys—at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Expectations are high. Can the Bucs handle the playoff pressure and repeat?
Speaking of repeats, the Chiefs are back in the postseason and looking to make it to their third straight Super Bowl. The AFC West champions will host the Pittsburgh Steelers at 8:15 p.m. on Sunday night.
The odds-on favorite Packers, the NFC’s No. 1 overall seed, and the Chiefs, open the playoffs as favorites to win Super Bowl 56.
Mainstreet Daily News correspondents Marty Pallman and Ashtyn Brown pull for the Jaguars, but we won’t go there. We also have an Atlanta Falcons fan in correspondent Camille Broadway, but we won’t go there either.
Here is a schedule and projection for the entire 2022 NFL playoffs.
Enjoy the games!