NFL Wild Card Weekend Preview.

Wild Card Weekend Previews.

Of The Theory-Two Team That Started The Race, Only Fourteen Teams Remain With One Goal In Mind: A Super Bowl. From Last Season, Several New Faces entered The Fold, but Which Of the Three Unexpected Arrivals The Bears, Panthers, and Patriots Will Prove They Belong when Faced With Teams that Made It To This Point Last Year? The Defending Champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, Defied Their Flaws Last Year and Made A Championship Run, But This Season Those Flaws Have Become More Pronounced, and their status as an Underdog has been forgotten. Player With The Expectation They Will Lose In The First Round, Like The Patriots in 2020, Or The Last Eagles Super Bowl Team From 2018.

Patriots Vs Chargers

The Patriots' Return To The Postseason Reignited An Old postseason Rivalry With The Chargers. Through The Aughts(2000s) And 2010, These Two Represented Two Of The Strongest and Consistent AFC Teams Who Always Looked Poised To Meet Each Other Again And Again. The Patriots Beat the Chargers in 2006, 2007, and 2018, with the Patriots Making The Super Bowl Twice, Rolling Through the Chargers. How will the New Guard of Quarterbacks fare for Both Teams? Can the Chargers Protect Justin Herbert? He’s faced a 34.9% Pressure Rate Over The past five Games. The Chargers' Offense Gave Up Six Sacks and 28 Pressures In Herbert’s Last outing in Week 17 against Houston. The Patriots lack a pass rush comparable to the Texans, who ranked 19th in pass rush win rate and 27th in total pressure rate. When Herbert’s Kept Clean He’s One Of The Best In The Business 8.71 Adjusted Net Yards Per Attempt, 110.8 Passer Rating For The Season. Herbert Wrapped Up The Year Throwing 26 Touchdowns To 13 Interceptions, 3727 Passing Yards, 94.1 Passer Rating, 9.4% Sack Rate, 5.9 Adjusted Net Yards Per Attempt And A 47% Success Rate All Some Of The Worst Numbers Of His Career. Los Angeles Boosts a Deep Pool of Receiving Options, Including Veteran Keenan Allen, Second-Year Player Ladd McConkey, and Tight End Orunde Gadsen, all of Whom Produced Success Rates of 50% or Better And 600 or More Yards. Third-year Year Receiver Quentin Johnston Also Experienced A Breakout Season. The Chargers Could Lean on The Rushing Attack. The Patriots' Defense Started The Season Strong, Not Allowing A Single Back Over 50 Yards Until Week 10, But Since Week 14, Their 24th In EPA Allowed Per Rush and Finished The Year 12th in Run Stop Win Rate. The Chargers struggled with Forming A consistent Run Game All Season, in part due to A LACK OF talent AT Running Back. Kimani Vidal stepped up As Their Most Productive Runner, 643 Yards On The Ground. Their Most Effective Rusher, Justin Herbert, is Running For His Life On Scrambles, 57.8% Success Rate, 6 Yards Per Carry. The Patriots Have Struggled To Protect Drake Maye Consistently All Season, 13th In Pass Block Win Rate, 29% Pressure Rate. But the Off and MVP Favorite Hasn’t Wavered In Production In the Heat Of Battle, Maye Leads The League In Touchdowns And First Downs Thrown Under Pressure, 20.% Pressure To Sack Rate While Also Effectively Beating Pressure With His Legs 6.9 Yards Per Scramble. Maye generated a League leading the NFL With 72% completion rate, +9.1% over the expected 200 EPA Generated On passes, 8.9 Yards Per Attempt, 113 Passer Rating, and 0.34 adjusted EPA Per Play. The Chargers' Defense Has Defended The Pass Well All Season, 75 Passer Rating Allowed, 179.9 Passer Yards Per Game, 60% Completion Percentage, 4.6 Adjusted Net Yards Per Attempt, and Second In Interception Rate. The Patriots' offense did not encounter many elite passing defenses this season. However, the Bills and Falcons boast defensive statistics similar to those of the Chargers. The Patriots' offense experienced varying degrees of success against these two teams during the regular season. Chargers star Quarterback Justin Herbert Will Function As The Team’s X-Factor In This Matchup. He’s Next On The Long List Of Talented Chargers Quarterbacks Who Couldn’t Get Over The Top in A Crowded AFC, and After Faltering In Last Year’s Wild Card Game Against The Texans, Herbert Needs A “Social Media Quarterback” Level Performance To Start His Inevitable Climb Up The AFC Ranks. The Patriots Receivers and Skillset players, A Collective Of Capable But moderately talented and Productive Studs, Will Function As The X-Factor. The Chargers' Defense Will Play A lot of two-high defense To Offset Maye’s Prowess As A Deep Passer, So The Pats' weapons have to win Consistently With fewer explosive Plays Expected. The Rushing Attack Came Alive against the Dolphins To Deliver A Win In Week 18 Over The Dolphins, and the Chargers allowed 4.3 Yards Per Carry To Opponents. Right Now, You Have To Feel More Confident In the Patriots Heading Into This Matchup Based On Season Performance, and You Have To Feel Confident In How Drake Maye Has Played To End The Season.

Bills Vs Jaguars

For Years, Several Years, Patrick Mahomes Paced The AFC In Terms Of Success In Every Aspect Of Football, and behind, Like Little Siblings, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Lamar Jackson followed, Awaiting The moment to usurp Mahomes And The Chiefs. Now Mahomes Has Fallen, Gone(For Now), and So To Have Joe and Lamar With Him For The 2026 Postseason. Allen appeared to be the natural choice to take over the league. He stepped out of the collective shadow of Mahomes and Jackson to win the MVP last season, leading his team to the AFC Championship and making it to the Super Bowl, even without defeating his rival, Mahomes, along the way. It appeared A foregone Conclusion. As the Wild Card Round Approaches before Allen Seized The Moment, Finds Himself Usurped in the AFC Standings by Patriots Quarterback Drake Maye(MVP Candidate), Broncos Quarterback Bo Nix(Number One Seed), and Trevor Lawrence(Former Golden Boy, Number One Pick) Has The Changing Of The Guard happened too Quickly That Allen couldn’t stay ahead Of The Curb? Windows Close Fast In The NFL As The Jags Prepare To Face The Bills, Has Time and Trevor Lawrence Arrive For Allen. The Last Time Fans Witnessed Full, Meaningful Play From Allen And The Bills was An Ugly 13-12 loss to the Eagles, as A two-point conversion Attempt fell short in Week 17. The Loss Dropped The Bills out Of The Division Race as Buffalo Averaged Just 1.0 Per Drive, -0.124 EPA Per Play, Far Off From Their season's Pace of 2.7 Points Per Drive, Second Best In The League. Josh Allen Completed A career-high 69.3% of Passes And Generated 8.08 Adjusted Yards Per Attempt. This Season, Allen, Like Last season, Worked With A lot of Tito Jacksons(No Offense To Tito) at Offensive Weapons. Receiver Kahlil Shakir led the Team In Targets And Receiving Yards, while tight End Dalton Kincaid led the Team In 0.82 EPA/target. Allen Leaned Heavily On Yards After Catch, Finishing Seventh In Yards After Catch On The Season. Bills running back James Cook Became The engine Of The Offense, Leading The League In Rushing 1621, 5.2 yards A Carry. Allen Added Another 579 at 5.2, and In Many Ways, he’s Usually The Most Dangerous Football player On The Field anytime he Steps Out. The Jags' Defense Ranked Fifth In EPA Per Play On The Season, Fourth In EPA Per Dropback, EPA allowed, 78.5 Passer Rating, and 6th overall according to ESPN FPI Efficiency, While Generating Pressure at the 25th Lowest Rate In The League. Pressure Doesn’t Affect Josh Allen As Much as Jared Goff, But The Jags Have To Find Ways To Consistently Disrupt Allen Like The Eagles. The Jags Defense Thrives Off Of Generating Turnovers, and Their Star Edge Rusher Josh Hines-Allen( I Miss The Josh Allen Versus Josh Allen Matchup) Generated The Most Turnovers Off Of Pressures This Season. Jacksonville Thrived On Turnovers In These Playoffs Allen Shares That Precedent With Jags Star Quarterback Trevor Lawrence the Flashes Have Fallen Coalesce Together To Create The Quarterback everyone Expected Since Week 12 +0.187 EPA Per Drop-back, 49.8% Success Rate, 19 Total Touchdowns, 4 INT, Five Of His Last Six Games He’s Generated A Passer Rating aid 100 Or Better, 0.15 EPA Per Play. Lawrence Bullied Mediocre Competition Along That stretch, But His Four touchdowns, 115.4 Passer Rating, 88.1 QBR against the Broncos' top Ten Defense Stands Out As a playoff-level performance. How Will Lawrence fare against A Top Ten Pass Defense Like Buffalo's, which plays Predominantly Zone defense, 65% and On The Season, Lawrence ranks 27th In Passer Rating Against Zone Coverage(80.1). Buffalo ranks Second In Pressure Rate, 8th In Drop-back EPA. One of Lawrence’s targets Over That Stretch, Wide Receiver Parker Washington, Who Averages 13.0 Yards Per Touch This season, with A Career High 58 Receptions, 847 Receiving Yards, 12.5 Average Depth Of Target, 53.7% Success Rate, and +0.33 EPA per target. He’s Both Dangerous Down Field(12.5 Average Depth Of Target) And In the Short Area After The Catch(4.6 Yards After The Catch Per Reception). Every Team In Football Understands Beating The Bills Come To Taking Advantage of The Bills' Soft Run Defense. Buffalo Surrenders Over 5.1 Yards Per Carry Over The Course Of The Season. The Jaguars' Rushing Attack Has Played Inconsistently Most Of The Year and Rank Just 19th In EPA Per Rush. The Jaguars Tend To Lean On Their Passing Attack No Matter The Game Situation, Which Plays To the Bills' Advantage. One Of The Reason The Bills Porous Run Defense Doesn’t Doom The Team is that, in Most Games, Buffalo Often Controls The Lead And Time Of Possession, Facing Just 450 Rushing Attempts All Season(14th) Despite How Bad They’ve Played The Run. The Bills Own The Edge In Multiple Dimensions In This Game. The Year That Trevor Lawrence Becomes The Strength Of His Team, He Matches Up A Team and A Quarterback Best Suited To Negate and Diminish All The Best Qualities Of His Game.

Steelers Vs Texans

The Steelers Pulled Off The Longest Foregone Conclusion Of The Season, Sneaking Past The Seemingly Undying Ghost Of The Ravens' Preseason Super Bowl Aspirations, And Winning The AFC North Division. Pittsburgh didn’t Get The Job Done Against The Brown In Week 17, but dramatically scored the Win Over Baltimore, and Of The Mediocre teams In The AFC North Division, the Steelers Looked The Best and Most Consistent All Season. Aaron Rodgers got Back To The Playoffs In His First Season In Pittsburgh and is Waiting For his Father Time and The Fore-bearers Of Father Time's Quarterback's worst nightmare, the Houston Texans. Rodgers Wrapped His Best Game Of The Season, 31/47 For 294 Passing Yards, 90.2 Passer Rating. Rodgers Thrives On Short Passes Getting The Ball Out Of His Hands Quickly And Only Attacking Downfield Opportunistically. The Steelers' Number One receiver, DK Metcalf, returns from a two-game suspension. He’s Well Rested and Ready to Pick Up Where He Left Off with a Tough Task in Front Of Him IN The Form Of The Texans' Secondary.

Houston Started The Season 0-3 With Expectations Of A Top Ten Pick In The Draft. By season's End, they held The Focus Of The Football World From The Season Prior, and they’ve Never Let Go. The Texans Finished Second In Scoring Defense, First In First Downs Allowed, Scoring Percentage Allowed, Fourth In Turnover Rate Generated, Third In passer Rating Allowed, and Second In Adjusted Net Yards Per Attempt Allowed. The Problems Houston delivers to Opposing Offenses start up front, with Will Anderson Jr, Edge Rusher, who Finished Second In The League In Pressure With 93 pressures According To PFF. His counterpart, Part Danielle Hunter, Racked Up 83. Both Finished With 26.2% and 20.6 Pass Rush Win Rates, respectively. The Steelers Finished The Year 3rd In Pass Block Win Rate, and Rodgers gets the Ball Out quickly and Decisively To Help Pressure. The Texans' Offense struggled throughout the Year But Finished The Season Far Better Than Expected. Through Weeks 1-9, Houston ranked 25th in EPA Per Play (-0.020), and That Bumped up to 12th through Weeks 10-15, finishing 22nd Overall To End the Season. At No Point This Season Could The Texans Offense Run the Ball and Somehow The Raiders and Browns Saved Them From Finishing Bottom In League, But Houston Had A Rough Game Winning Blocks and The Talent In The Back Field Couldn’t Accommodate For The Strain On The Offensive Line. The Steelers' Defense finished 19th in EPA Per Play, 13th in FPI ranking, But Against The run, ranked 24th in EPA Per Rush Allowed, And The Ravens averaged 5.1 Yards Per Rush Without A Lamar Jackson Scramble. The Texans Don’t Have The Rushing Attack To Take Advantage Of The Holes In Pittsburgh’s Defense. The More Drop-backs CJ Stroud Has To Operate favors the Steelers, Who Finished Fifth In Turnover Percentage(14.1%) and 12th In Sack Rate(7.3). The Magic Texans’ Quarterback CJ Stroud Captured In His Rookie Season Continues To Elude Him Two Seasons After His Breakout Rookie Campaign, But He’s improved From A Season Ago, 64.5 Completion Percentage, 92.4 Passer Rating, 4.5 Touchdown percentage, 7.24 Adjusted Yards Per Attempt, All Up From A Season Ago. Stroud Produces Better Results Against Man Coverage (91.2 Passer Rating)Than Zone Coverage (86.1 Passer Rating) Generally Because His Receivers Can Better Combat Man coverage. The Texans' receiving group features many young players who need to learn through experience where to sit in zones instead of physically overpowering opponents. The Steelers Play Zone Predominantly(Like Most Of The NFL), But Lamar Jackson Carved Through That Zone With 158.3 Passer Rating In Week 18. C.J. Stroud hasn’t reached Lamar's Level Yet, But If He Can Record A Couple Of Big Plays Like The Ones He Picked Up Early Against The Chargers, The Defense Can Win The Game if the Texans can Play With The Lead. Betting against the Texans' Defense Facing a 42-year-old Rodgers wouldn’t Make Sense. The Texans Have The Edge literally and Will Advance To The Division Round.

Bears Vs Packers

The Packers and The Bears Meet In the Wild Card For Round Three. The Two Division Rivals Split A Pair Of Matchups During The Season, With Chicago Taking The Most Recent Matchup in Am Overtime Game Where Caleb Williams Completed The Defining Pass Of His Career To DJ Moore In Overtime. That Week 16 Game Featured The Last Time We Saw Jordan Love In The Regular Season, As He Suffered A Concussion That Kept Him Out The Rest Of The Way, so Technically He’s Never Lost to The Bears This Year. Neither Team Enters The Wild Card With Much Momentum, and Neither Team Has Won A Game Since Beating Each Other at Different Points This Season. Throw Out The Week 18 loss For The Packers against the Vikings, but Green Bay has Lost Four Straight Games; Their Last Win was in Week 14, A 28-21 over Chicago. Chicago Hibernated For Much Of The First Half Of The Week Against The Lions, With The Two Seed On The Line Before Awakening In The Second Half, Only To Lose By Three To The Lions, But Thanks To Philly Losing In Week 18, Keeping The Bears As The Two Seed. The Bears' Offense Has Looked A lot Better Than The Packers since Week 14, 7th in EPA Per Play, and Eighth in drop-back. The Bears' Defense Has Gotten Healthier But Not Better. 22nd in EPA per play allowed and 27th in Dropback Success Rate Allowed, and Gave Up 496 Yards To Brock Purdy and the Niners in Week 17. The Bears forced a league-high 33 Turnovers, But Games Against The Niners and Lions Displayed How Chicago Could Steal A Possession Or Two And Still Fall Short. The Packers Finished Near The Bottom Of The League In Total Takeaways, Generally Because Of How Slow the Packers Play. They Limit Opportunities For Opponents While Taking Care Of The Ball Themselves, resulting in only a Plus turnover Differential On The Season. The Packers Offense Functions Off Of The Efficiency Of Jordan Love, Who Delivers When Healthy A 0.24 Adjusted EPA Per Play(Same As MVP Candidate Drake Maye), 150 Total EPA(One Below MVP Candidate Matthew Stafford 151). Love suffered an injury in The Midst Of A Career Year, 50.2% Success Rate, 73.1 QBr, 101.2 Passer Rating, 8.13 Adjusted Net Yards, 77.4 Target Rate. If Not For Injuries and A Style Of Play That Focuses On Effective Rather Than Flash, Love Would Have A Spot In The MVP Conversation At This point In The Season. Love Ended The Season With A High Hero Throw Rate of 13.70%, A stat that measures a Quarterback's Tendency To Throw Into Tight Windows, But That Often Can Reflect The Lack Of Top talent Love Plays With On The Packers Roster. Speaking of Flash, Love’s Adversary Caleb Williams Has A lot of Flash. He’s Seventh In The NFL in Air Yards and Intended Air Yards, But He’s Number one in Accuracy percentage and Finished With A -6.9 Completion Percentage Over Expected. Caleb Set The Franchise Record For Passing Yards This Season, But He’s Far From A Complete Product. The Packers' Defense Took A Major Hit When Superstar Edge Rusher Micah Parsons went Down With An ACL Injury In Week 15, but The Pressure Rate remained in the Top Ten Over The past three Weeks. The Bears Have The Best Pass Blocking In The NFL Right Now, Number One In Pass Block Win Rate, which Should Demand Extra Rushers From Green Bay With Some Regularity. Caleb’s Not A Sitting Duck When Pressured. He averages 8.4 Yards Per Scramble, 4.2 Adjusted Net Yards Per Attempt On Passes When Pressured.

The Bears' Offense Should Return To Full Strength With Wide Receiver Rome Odunze Returning To The Lineup Following A five-game absence with A knee Injury. The Second Year Receiver Appeared Headed For A 1000-Yard Season, averaging 15 Yards Per Reception. His Presence Gives The Bears Another Outside Option. The Bears Look Like The Better Team Even Without The Better Quarterback Or Better Defense. The Rushing Attack Can Takeover And Win Tough Battles as They Did Against Philly, Something The Packers Lack On Offense. Jordan Love Practiced Every Week Of His Injury, But On A Limited basis, He’s Not Worried About The Rust and The Rhythm, but I believe it Will Affect His Play.

Panthers Vs Rams

Don’t tell Matthew Stafford that The Results Of Week 18 wouldn’t Get The Rams The One Seed in A Playoff Game Or A Consolation prize. While many NFC teams rested their starters or played conservatively, Stafford aggressively targeted the Cardinals. Stafford and the Rams Suffered A Debilitating Defeat In Week 17 To The Falcons, and he Wanted To Let Off Some Steam On Arizona To The Tune Of 42 drop-backs, Four Touchdowns, 114.5 Passer Rating, 15.8 Total EPA, 58.1% Success Rate, 0.36 EPA Per Play, 8.48 Adjusted Net Yards Per Attempt as the Rams rolled past the Cardinals. Stafford Tore The League Apart In terms Of Passing 4707 Passing Yards, 8.25 Adjusted Net Yard Per Attempt, 46 Touchdowns(He Wanted To Get To 50 Against The Cards), 7.7 Yards Per Attempt. The Other Team That Got The Better Of Stafford Down The Stretch(Don’t Forget He Blasted Seattle) The Carolina Panthers. The Panthers Best The Rams In a Surprising Fashion In November when Stafford Threw Two Picks In Week 13. The Rams entered that game as the number one team in football, while the Panthers played better than expected. However, in a surprising turn of events, the Panthers pulled off an upset against the Rams, which cost them the number one seed. The Panthers Scraped Into The playoffs, Theoretically The Bottom Seed In The playoffs, But Enough Scenarios Worked Out. Tampa lost to Miami, and the Falcons won out, Including Beating The Rams To Set Up This first-round matchup. Stafford and the Rams Offense Enter The Matchup Having Never Cooled Off This Season, Ranked Number One By ESPN Efficiency Metrics, Second in EPA Per Play, and Head Coach Sean McVay Might Find Himself At Full Strength with Davante Adams, the NFL Leader In Receiving Touchdowns, Back In Action For The Wild Card Matchup. On Top Of Stafford’s Prolific Passing, The Rams' Puka Nacua 1715 Receiving Yards, 10 Touchdowns, 107.2 Yards Per Game, and No Defense(outside Of Atlanta) The Rams Faced This Season Could Restrain Nacua. Lead Back Kyren Williams 1252 Yards On The Ground, and The Team Totaled Over 2100 Yards On The Ground. Los Angeles leads the league in Yards Per Game And ranks as Just One Of Two teams With Over 4500 Passing Yards and 2100 Rushing Yards, Along With The Cowboys. If Concerns Stand Out about The Offense, They Rank 17th in third-down conversion Rate Facing One Of The worst third-down defenses In Football. The Rams' Defense is Still Top Ten Rated On The Season, but since Week 13, They Rank 23rd in EPA Per Play Allowed, and the top-tier run Defense Has Fallen Off In That Span as well, 23rd in EPA Per Rush Allowed. The Rams' Rush Defense Gave Up 219 Yards To The Falcons, 171 to The Seahawks, and 164 to the Panthers In three Games The Rams Lost In five weeks. The Panthers' Run Games have cooled off since Week 13, Including Against Tampa Bay in Week 18, when Carolina couldn’t Run The Ball A Lick, -0.46 EPA Per Run Play, 19 Net Yards Total. Can Carolina Revive Their Once Promising Rushing Attack? The Carolina Offense Suffered The Mercurial Wrath Of The Referees Against Tampa Bay After Losing Multiple Calls That Could’ve Swung The Game. Bryce Young threw Three Touchdowns against the Rams When These Two Teams Played In Week 13 The Panthers' Defense And Team Hasn’t Stood Out In Any One Area But The Pass defense Stands As Better Than Terrible, 11th In Passer Rating Allowed(88.3), Sixth in Interception Rate, and The Only Way The Panthers Can Topple A Giant Like The Rams is through turnovers. The Panthers Need To Roll The Ball, Shorten The Game, and Control Possession To Keep The Ball Out Of Quarterback Matthew Stafford's hands, and They Have The Opportunity With The Rams Defense Down AT The Moment. If Carolina Can’t Control The Ball, Expect Matthew Stafford To At Least Put Up 300 Passing Yards In An Explosive Win.

Eagles Vs 49ers

The Lost To The Seahawks In Week 18 Kept The Niners From Securing The One Seed, But Gifted Them A Round Matchup With The Eagles As a Versus Six Matchup. The Niners Offense Enters The Wild Card Slumped, After Generating Just Three Points and -0.410 EPA Per Play In A Loss To The Seahawks, after A Hot Streak THAT put The Team In Position To win The Division At The End Of The Season, When The Niners ranked 2nd in EPA Per Play between weeks 12-17. Facing this version of the defending Super Bowl champions allows the Niners to address the team's glaring weakness: a shaky defense, as they face the Eagles' offense, which is ranked 19th in efficiency according to ESPN's FPI metrics. The Offensive Struggles In Philly Became Pronounced Thanks To Eagles Star Wide Receiver, And The Media Circus Created By Every “Cryptic” Social Media Post alluding To Some Displeasure with How The Offense Operated, With Spotty Playing and Inconsistent Quarterback Play. The Eagles witnessed the First Signs Of Decline After Years Of Dominant Offensive Line Play, The Run Game Fell Off The Tracks, and The Offense Never developed a One-Two Punch Of Anything That Could Work From Down TO down, Drive To Drive Throughout The Season. The Dynamic Duo of Devonta Smith and AJ Brown Always demands attention, and the Niners rank 25th In Efficiency. They’ve been Every Bit As Bad, Getting Rolled By Caleb Williams Before Putting Up a Fight Against The Seahawks, But Still surrendering 344 Total Yards of offense. Eagles ranked second in EPA allowed per Dropback(weeks 1-17). While the Eagles allowed fewer than 200 Yards Passing per game, Hurts never looked consistently Prolific As A Passer At Any Point This Season, But The Eagles' Defense managed to Slow Down Opposing Passing Offenses, Keeping The Eagles In Every Contest. Unlike the Seahawks, whose defense operates from front to back—where the pressure creates disruption and the corners clean up—the Eagles focus on their corners, who provide lockdown coverage. The Eagles Elite Corners Cooper Dejean and Quinton Mitchell Rank Amongst, But The Have Weak Points. Dejean Got Absolutely Cooked By The Cowboys In Week 12 While Facing Giving Up Over 145 Yards, +1.786 EPA per Target On Four Completion As He Struggled Against The More Dynamic Receivers Of The Cowboys, George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb. Mitchell finished With The Lowest Completion Percentage Allowed, But In Week 17 Against The Bills, Mitchell Gave Up Two Big Plays Trying To Defend Bills' Bodied Receiver Tyrell Shavers, who out-muscled Mitchell Downfield. Niners’ Pass Catchers Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings Both Fit The Bill Of Big Bodied On The Part Of Jennings and Skillful On The Side Of Pearsall, and Both Rank High in Terms Of Contested Catches. Tight End George Kittle Will Demand Attention From The Eagles Pass, Receiver Kendrick Bourne, Who Had An Incredible Stretch Of Games Earlier In The Season, and all-world Running Back and Receiving Threat Christian McCaffrey. CMC Just Missed A Thousand Receiving Yards On The season, and His Drop Pass That Resulted In a goal-line interception virtually doomed the Niners' Hopes Of Winning The One Seed Against Seattle’s Top Defense. Pearsall Re-aggravated A knee Injury and missed Week 18 Against The Seahawks After He led the Niners In Receiving Yards The Week Prior Against Chicago, When He Caught Five Passes FOR 85 receiving yards While Generating 3.31 Yards Of Separation On Average. Pearsall Will Play The Role Of X-Factor For The Niners' Offense, An Offense That Should Get All-Pro Left Tackle Trent Williams back after He Missed Week 18 With An injury. The Seahawks Shut Down The Niners' Run Game. The Eagles' Defense ranks 9th in EPA Per Rush Allowed. But Teams Like The Bears on Black Friday, the Chargers The Week before, and the Giants, Who Deliver Philly’s First Loss Of The Season. The Eagles Can Get Gashed In The Run Game. Philly’s Pass Rush Also Failed To Produce A Digit Sack Season. The Eagles can’t Deliver Pressure On Brock Purdy, Then He Can Sit back and take Advantage of Matchups He Views As Favorable. The Niners Look Like The Better Team Heading, and Their Better Record Reflects That Identity, and Their Offense Has Enough firepower to Blow By The Eagles. Philly Will Need A Massive Game From Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Devonta Smith, and The Philly Passing Attack.