With one playoff weekend in the books, it’s time to look ahead to the second-round matchups. We’ll have full previews and picks for the four games coming up, but I wanted to take a moment to look back at the first round and teams whose dreams died.

Wild Card Recap

We’ll start the recap with the two teams who disappointed the most on Super Wild Card Weekend. The Cowboys came into their Sunday afternoon clash with the Packers feeling confident. Perhaps they were overconfident as they never bothered to show up for the game, losing by a final score of 48-32, a scoreline that was extremely kind to their pitiful effort. Everyone from coaches to players completely underperformed leaving Cowboys fans and their owner Jerry Jones looking for answers.

Further compounding the frustration, is the recent breaking news that Mike McCarthy will be returning as head coach. The decision not to change coaches is hard to fathom after that disgraceful performance at home. With the caliber of coaches available it feels like malpractice to not make the change as the Cowboys look like a team without direction. Without further improvements to the roster, it’s hard to see how this team will take the next step.

Staying in the NFC East, the Philly faithful aren’t feeling much better than those in the Lone Star state. The Eagles nightmare collapse culminated in a disastrous playoff performance in Tampa where the Buccaneers absolutely trounced The Birds 32-9. Missed tackles and a lack of execution on offense led to an embarrassing Monday night that has Eagles fans looking for head coach Nick Sirianni to be fired. It sounds like he is safe for now as the Eagles are working with him to interview perspective coordinators to improve the coaching staff, something they’re in desperate need of following a brain drain last offseason.

While the Texans eliminated Cleveland and the Bills saw the Steelers off, the Lions were the standout story of the weekend. Ford Field hosted its first ever playoff game Sunday night and it truly became a “Motor City Madhouse.” The sea of Honolulu blue let Matt Stafford hear it and cheered the Lions onto their first playoff win since 1993 by a final score of 24-23. By holding off the Rams and the Cowboys losing, Detroit will play host to another home game this week against Tampa Bay.

Last Week’s Picks Record: 4-2

4 Houston Texans at 1 Baltimore Raens

The Line: Ravens -9.5

The Preview: The first game of divisional round weekend sees the surprising Texans visit the top seeded Ravens fresh off their bye week. Houston stunned the Browns behind a strong all-around performance that saw CJ Stroud light up the Cleveland defense and the Texans stop troops record two pick sixes. Demeco Ryans group is playing with house money against a Ravens team that is dealing with a lot of pressure. That pressure is squarely focused on quarterback Lamar Jackson who has underwhelmed to this point in his playoff career. While number eight has enjoyed an MVP season, he needs a big playoff run with this complete Ravens squad to truly earn his crown.

The Pick: Texans 27 Ravens 31

7 Green Bay Packers at 1 San Francisco 49ers

The Line: Niners -9.5

The Preview: The second game of the Saturday card sees the young Packers travel to the bay area to battle the top seeded 49ers. SF is coming off their wild card weekend bye looking to reach their second Super Bowl of the Shannahan and Lynch era. San Francisco is hoping to have Christian McCaffrey at 100% health in this one so they can operate their devasting offense at full strength. When they’re going right the Niners are near unstoppable, especially at home, but they’ll do battle with a Packers team that can go point for point with them. Their pass rush has to get home or Jordan Love, the hottest QB in the league since the middle of the season, will tear them apart.

The Pick: Packers 20 49ers 34

4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 3 Detroit Lions

The Line: Lions -6.5

The Preview: The first game on Sunday’s card pits two high flying offenses against each other at Ford Field as the Buccaneers travel to Detroit to face the Lions. Detroit comes into this game with a significant home field advantage on their side and an offense that looked sharp last week. Jared Goff was dynamic early and clutch late and the running game was a force to be reckon with. They go from facing a soft Rams defense to having to solve a well coach and talented Tampa defense that can get after the QB in Todd Bowles blitz heavy scheme. Baker Mayfield and the offense will make their share of plays so expect another high-octane affair this week.

The Pick: Buccaneers 27 Lions 34

3 Kansas City Chiefs at 2 Buffalo Bills

The Preview: The final game of divisional round weekend brings us another installment of Allen versus Mahomes. The rivalry that is becoming reminiscent of Brady versus Manning has seen Allen come up on the short end of the stick several times, but it feels different this year. The Chiefs offense didn’t look that much better in their round one win over the Dolphins while the Bills eventually put away the Steelers in the Buffalo tundra. While I don’t think either side is quite at their best, it feels like it’s finally the Bills time and I don’t think KC can resolve all their issues for this one.

The Pick: Chiefs 17 Bills 28

Let me know your picks for this week’s playoff games and stay tuned for more content coming this week! You can find me on Twitter @YNWA9623 and subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. We’ll be back with more soon!