The regular season has come to a close and the playoff picture is clear. Quite a few teams’ Super Bowl dreams are still alive and well. We took a look at the teams scheduled to play in the AFC wild card round. Here’s what you have to look forward to in early January.
Tennessee Titans @ New England Patriots, Saturday, January 4, 8:15 p.m. CBS
The New England Patriots are no strangers to dominance and overcame some adversity en route to this year’s 12-4 finish. The Patriots sought out an elite offensive weapon to replace tight end Rob Gronkowski this year, who retired following the 2018 season. But they had a hard time finding that. New England signed Antonio Brown in hopes of making him Tom Brady’s next go-to receiver, but his handling of off-field issues led to his release after just one appearance with the team. The team also parted ways with the troubled and oft-injured Josh Gordon, leaving Julian Edelman as the head honcho of the receiving corps. The Patriots maintained an elite level of play thanks to their top-notch defense though. Even though they fell short to the Dolphins in Week 17, they’re in a good spot.
The Tennessee Titans didn’t look promising when they lost four of their first six games this season. But then they benched Marcus Mariota to make Ryan Tannehill the starting quarterback and won seven of their next 10 games. Trading for Tannehill proved to be one of the most underrated moves of the offseason. Another thing the Titans have going for them is having a complete stud at running back in Derrick Henry, who secured the 2019 rushing crown in Week 17. Despite its middle-of-the-road defense and lack of depth at receiver, Tennessee has found a way to be successful. The Titans will be challenged in January and will get a chance to get revenge for after being blown out by New England in the divisional round two years ago.
Buffalo Bills @ Houston Texans, Saturday, January 4, 4:35 p.m. ESPN
Not many quarterbacks are as talented as the Houston Texans’ Deshaun Watson, so his team needs to prioritize protecting him at all costs. The third-year quarterback has constantly been in harms way throughout his young NFL career. The Texans made a commitment to his safety by acquiring left tackle Laremy Tunsil from the Dolphins. Houston followed up allowing a league-leading 126 quarterback hits in 2018 by giving up just 87 this year entering Week 17. With Watson, an uber-dynamic receiver in DeAndre Hopkins, and multiple quality options at running back, the Texans can compete with anybody. It’s just a matter of whether their secondary can hold up at this point.
This year’s Buffalo Bills have blown by all expectations. Buffalo flipped the previous season’s 6-10 record into a 10-6 finish. It was able to do so thanks to its continued excellence on defense, the improvement of quarterback Josh Allen, and adding more weapons at wide receiver. The Bills had the best pass defense in the league last year and finished in the top three in 2019 alongside a solid run defense. Being so good on the defensive end has kept them in a ton of games. Then there’s Allen, who’s still working on accuracy but improved his passing yardage by over 1,000 yards and doubled his passing touchdown production from the previous season this year. The additions of Cole Beasley and John Brown upgraded what was a horrendous receiving corps and helped the Bills round out their team.