AFC Divisional Preview; Chiefs v. Patriots, Steelers v. Broncos

Last weekend’s Wildcard round made history, with all four road teams getting victories for the first time in NFL postseason history.

What will be in store for the Divisional round this week?

Here’s a closer look at both of the AFC match ups.

Kansas City Chiefs at New England Patriots

Saturday, January 16th at 4:35 PM (ET) on CBS

Last weekend the red hot Chiefs earned their first postseason win since 1994 in their 30-0 shutout of the Houston Texans.

The victory made it 11 consecutive wins for Kansas City, which extended their club-record and still remained the longest active winning streak in the NFL.

Knile Davis started the game off last week with a 106-yard kick return and the Chiefs never looked back after that.

One of the best defenses in football harassed the Texans and quarterback Brain Hoyer all afternoon, forcing him to throw four interceptions to go with a fumble all before halftime.

Quarterback Alex Smith improved to 2-2 for his postseason career, and was his usual solid self in going 17 of 22 for 190 yards and a touchdown. He also added 27 yards on the ground, and will be looking for his fifth playoff game in a row with a 97+ rating against a Patriots defense that allows over 240 yards per game (17th in the NFL).

Tight end Travis Kelce will be relied upon to create mismatches, and is coming off an eight reception, 128 yard receiving effort from just the week before.

Jeremy Maclin is the receiving threat on the outside, and while he wasn’t relied upon much in the Wild Card round (three receptions for 29 yards), he has the ability to post huge numbers.

Running back Spencer Ware rounds out the rest of the Chiefs’ offensive attack and has six rushing touchdowns in his past eight games, including 67 rushing yards and a touchdown against the Texans. He will have to go up against the ninth-best run defense in football against New England, who allow just 98.8 yards on the ground against per game.

While the Chiefs are red hot, never bet against the New England Patriots, especially once they reach the postseason.

The Patriots got to this point by winning the AFC East for the seventh consecutive season, and with a win will advance to the AFC Championship for the fifth consecutive season.

They are led by All Pro quarterback Tom Brady, who has 21 postseason wins, the most of any quarterback of all-time.

Brady is also the all-time leader in career playoff passing yards (7,345), touchdowns (53), completions (683) and attempts (1,085), to go along with three Super Bowl MVP awards.

Needless to say, he will be ready to go come kickoff, even with having to face the ninth-best passing defense in football this year (231.1 yards against per game).

Brady, despite the Chiefs fielding a very competitive team over the past few years is 3-0 at home vs. Kansas City, throwing for 720 yards with six touchdowns and just one interception for a 107.2 quarterback rating.

His best and biggest target is 6′ 6″, 265 lb. All Pro Rob Gronkowski who led the team with 11 touchdown catches in 2015. Gronkowski is the only tight end in NFL history with 5 career 10-TD seasons.

In 8 career playoff games, “Gronk” has 37 catches for 527 yards and six touchdowns. He needs just two touchdown catches to have the most ever by a tight end in NFL playoff history and aims for his 4th playoff game in row with a touchdown reception.

The scariest thing about New England is that they are getting healthy at the perfect time of the season.

The team is getting back target-generating wide receiver Julian Edelman (61 receptions for 692 yards and seven touchdowns in just nine games).

Dont’a Hightower, Chandler Jones and Sebastian Vollmer are all expected to be ready to go as well.

Prediction:

In covering the Buffalo Bills, if there’s anything I learned you never doubt Tom Brady or Bill Belichick, especially in the postseason. There’s a reason these two have combined for the most playoff wins for a head coach/quarterback duo in NFL history. There won’t be many mistakes in this one, as both teams are well-coached and don’t turn over the ball often. In what should be a close came, the Patriots will get a chance at the end and put this game away; 27-24 New England.

Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos

Sunday, January 17th at 4:40 PM (ET) on CBS

Peyton Manning is back.

Just a couple weeks ago, the NFL legend was on the bench for the first time in his NFL career.

Now, fast forward to today, and Manning is back at the helm of the Broncos offense, trying to go on one last magical run.

It could be an easy return start for Manning, who gets to face the Steeler’s 30th ranked pass defense that allows 0ver 271 yards per game against.

Like Brady, Manning is no slouch to postseason play.

The veteran signal caller ranks second in playoff history in passing yards (6,800), completions (598) and attempts (935) and ranks fourth all-time in postseason touchdown passes.

The two Bronco wide receivers who are in line for a huge game are Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders.

Thomas led the team in catches (105) and receiving yards (1,304) during the regular season, with six touchdowns. In seven career playoff games, he averages 99.9 yards per game with six total receiving touchdowns. Thomas is aiming for his sixth game in row with a touchdown reception in postseason play.

Complimenting him is Sanders, who in his last three games has 19 receptions for 347 yards and two touchdowns.

The big story for Pittsburgh coming into this one is if they will be healthy enough to field a competitive team.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suffered a separated right throwing shoulder and torn ligaments last weekend in Pittsburgh’s win at Cincinnati, and Head Coach Mike Tomlin is making sure not to reveal much to the media on whether or not his star can play.

It will come down to whether he can make throws down the field, and probably won’t be known until game time.

Speaking of stars, All Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown (136 receptions for 1,834 yards and 10 touchdowns) is still in concussion protocol and could miss the game if he cannot get cleared in time.

To make matters worse, running back DeAngelo Williams seems to be on the “outside looking in” according to Tomlin as well.

The Steelers, whose defense has struggled this season, will need all hands on deck against the top-ranked defense in the entire league.

The Broncos enter this game allowing just 18.5 points against (4th), 283.1 total yards (1st), 199.6 passing yards (1st) and 83.6 rushing yards (3rd).

If Pittsburgh can’t get healthy in time it might not be much of a contest after all.

Prediction:

Even if Big Ben can go, it looks like he will be without Brown and Williams, which will put a lot of pressure on him to win this game with little known commodities around him. It looks like we could be on track for the match up that everyone loves to see, especially in the postseason. Do with have another Brady vs. Manning bowl to decide who is going to the Super Bowl? I think so; I’m taking Denver 21-17.