Elliot Harrison went 12-4 on his predictions for Week 17, giving him a record of 170-84-2 thus far this season. How will he fare on Wild Card Weekend? His picks are below:
Saturday 4:35 PM ET ESPN
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All the talk swirling around this game is
focused on Connor Cook and whether he will be good enough in his first career start for the
Raiders to win. What about the
Texans' quarterback? Tell you what: We'll get to that. As for Oakland's rookie third-string quarterback, how does anyone know he won't play well?
Last Sunday, Cook was thrust into a matchup against one of the league's premier defenses, while the players on said defense were playing their hearts out for
their retiring head coach. Oh, and it was on the road. Against a division opponent. Talk about a turd sandwich served up to Cook. Impossible to judge the 23-year-old on how he performed when tossed into that fire. There were those who thought Cook would go much higher than he did in the draft (100th overall pick), and it's not like he doesn't have
Amari Cooper,
Michael Crabtree (both 1,000-yard receivers) and
Latavius Murray playing with him.
For the
Texans to capitalize on the inexperience of their opponent's QB, their goal(s) must be to pressure him, or at least confuse him. Both are relevant. Bear in mind, Oakland's offensive line gave up only 18 sacks all year. The unit was as solid in pass protection as any group in the league. If
Texans pass rushers can't make it home (Houston only posted 31 sacks this season), then disguising coverages is a must. One big point of concern for the Texans: making sure they know their own assignments.
Raiders RBs -- Murray,
Jalen Richard and
Jamize Olawale -- posted 199 yards
receiving against the Texans in Mexico City. Lastly,
Brock Osweiler can't go all Osweiler with dirtballs, throwing passes on the inside shoulder when they are supposed to be on the outside shoulder and/or turning it over. His passer rating (72.2) is 44.9 points lower than NFL leader
Matt Ryan. I think Oakland will score enough points to win on the road, whether people believe in Cook or not.
#OAKvsHOU
Saturday 8:15 PM ET NBC
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17
Run the football. Even if it doesn't work. If the
Lions are going to upset the
Seahawks, they must utilize
Zach Zenner while maintaining some semblance of balance. Constantly airing it out would be analogous to only doing biceps at the gym -- which, judging by Twitter avatars, is still all the rage in 2016. The body of the offense must be used, from power runs to bubble screens to
Golden Tate. Getting the former Seahawk involved early makes too much sense. He's an emotional player who can ignite the offense. That, coupled with Zenner, can keep the Seattle pass rush at bay. Or, at the very least, provide a moment's hesitation --
Is this a draw play? -- and so on.
The
Seahawks can ill afford to dilly-dally,
like in San Francisco last week.
Matthew Stafford won't be providing many freebies to the secondary -- especially a secondary that's sans the uber-rangy
Earl Thomas. Thus, getting off to a fast start offensively is key. Come out aggressive, get
Russell Wilson out of the pocket early and take at least one vertical shot to
Jimmy Graham down the seam or
Paul Richardson on a classic go route. The longer the
Lions hang around in a 10-7 ballgame, the more they will believe they can win.
Remember earlier this season when Stafford kept winning games in the fourth quarter, including on the road
in Indianapolis and Minnesota? Better yet, remember when
the winless Lions came within a foot of upsetting the Seahawks in Seattle last season? All that said, Detroit was 0-5 versus playoff teams this year, and the
Seahawks haven't lost a home playoff game since the 2004 Wild Card Round against the
Rams.
Trivia: Anyone remember who dropped the potential game-tying touchdown pass in that game?
#DETvsSEA
Sunday 1:05 PM ET CBS
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Much has been made of
Jay Ajayi's 200-yard running sprees, which kicked off when he bolted for 204 yards and two touchdowns
in the Dolphins' win over the Steelers down in Miami earlier this season. But what does that mean? Can Ajayi, who has been visibly banged-up and -- save for
one huge day in Buffalo -- has slowed down in the second half of the season, go off again?
He might need to. Because there are no indications that Adam Gase's defense will be able to hold the Pittsburgh offense down enough to win without rushing for over 100 yards and eating clock.
Dolphins defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is garnering much attention in
this cycle of the coaching carousel, but his unit
ranks 18th in points allowed and
29th overall. Obviously, points are more important than yards -- the
Dolphins often have held the fort without letting it fall. That group faces its toughest task this weekend, and
could really use Reshad Jones.
An 11-year-old could tell you the Big Three for the
Steelers are the key to the game (... after he or she kicks your but in "Star Wars: Battlefront 3"). Yet, without disrespecting the other two, lately Pittsburgh's fortunes have been tied to the Big One -- and I'm not talking about
Big Ben. Not everyone can tell you that
Le'Veon Bell -- not
David Johnson or
Ezekiel Elliott -- led the league in scrimmage yards per game this season. Bell averaged nearly 160 yards per game this season. Joseph's D performed admirably in
the October faceoff with Bell -- well, sort of, limiting the game's most dynamic back to "only" 108 yards on 16 touches and a two-point conversion. Game situation dictated that Bell only get 10 carries. Think his workload will double Sunday morning, with
Miami's suspect run defense having no answers.
#MIAvsPIT
Sunday 4:40 PM ET FOX
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Giants at
Packers rounds out one of the most fun football weekends of the year. This is also the third matchup of teams in the Wild Card Round that already faced each other during the regular season. Green Bay won the initial meeting,
23-16, in a game that really wasn't that close. New York's offense struggled to move the ball at all (
shocker), totaling a paltry 221 yards on that Sunday evening. The
Packers outgained them by 185 yards. The time of possession was even worse, with Green Bay holding the ball nearly 37 minutes.
But much has changed since then. Which leads me to the two most important developments that could lead to a
Giants upset:
1) The
Packers' secondary is a M.A.S.H. unit right now.
Sam Shields is on IR.
Damarious Randall and
Quinten Rollins, the team's top two corners this season, are both looking dicey for this game. Their absence -- or limited effectiveness -- could kickstart the New York offense.
2) Big Blue's defense has been playing out of its mind for 10 games. They've only allowed 400 yards in a game once since that loss in Lambeau, and even
that came two months ago.
So, can the
Giants do it? Can they pull off the road playoff win at Lambeau, as they did in
the 2007 NFC Championship and
2011 Divisional Round? I don't think so. Putting aside the fact that
Aaron Rodgers has produced the most stunning six-pack of games from a quarterback in recent memory, there are other factors at play here. Only Rollins was healthy for that first meeting in Week 5, thus Green Bay wasn't playing with a full deck
then. And
Eli Manning isn't playing at the same level as he was in 2011. Are the offensive failures all his fault? Not even close. Yet, if his defense doesn't play a perfect game, Manning might be forced to put up 28 points to win -- something New York has only accomplished
once this entire season.
#NYGvsGB
Mr. On-Sight ✔ @NatBerhe 
