The weather at today’s rescheduled National Football League Wild Card game between the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers at Highmark Stadium calls for mostly cloudy conditions for the 4:30 p.m. local time kickoff. The winds have also calmed making the decision to move this game to Monday a wise one while avoiding yesterday's hazardous weather.
There are a couple solid reasons to like the Bills in this contest and give the double-digit point spread. First, the Steelers will be without T.J. Watt, who is their most dominant defensive player and the one guy teams have to game plan for in an effort to neutralize his talent. Second, the moving of the game from Sunday to Monday will most likely affect the visiting team’s preparation. They are the ones who traveled on a schedule while anticipating playing this game yesterday.
Teams are best served when their regimen is consistent, and this shift is more likely a strike against the road team than the one who need not change their sleeping station because of the shift in game date.
The weather yesterday would have prevented a play on this game, but today's conditions offer a clear advantage for the home standing Bills.
A second investment on Monday is available in the later game when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Eagles are in freefall, having lost five of their final six games of the regular season. Even before this crash and inspite of the fact that Philadelphia was the last team to fall from the unbeaten ranks this season, the Eagles have fallen into a common pattern. A team that loses a Super Bowl seldom has a better year the following season. The Eagles were downed in Super Bowl LVII by the Kansas City Chiefs, and even before this late season collapse the Eagles had shown signs this was not their season.
In October, they suffered their first loss against the woeful New York Jets. Other early season wins came in highly competitive games against subpar opponents. When the Eagles got into the heat of the season against quality competition they had a myriad of problems. They did beat the Dallas Cowboy in a highly competitive game in November, 28-23, before their bye week. They came out of their off week with another close victory over a talented opponent, beating the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, 21-17, and followed that win with another victory, this time by three points over the Buffalo Bills, 37-34.
But, since that trio of close wins two months ago, the Eagles have looked more like a below average team than one poised to successfully defend their National Football Conference title.
They were both underdogs and got blown out by the San Francisco 49ers in their first December game, and have struggled ever since. A loss to Dallas followed their setback to San Francisco, and their only win during the final six weeks of the regular season was a home conquest over the New York Giants. Philadelphia has not beaten a point spread in two months.
Still, they are favored on the road against a suspect Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad that got into the postseason by virtue of playing out of a division in which losing nearly as many as you won, 9 and 8, was good enough to claim first place in the NFC South.
Neither of these teams are likely to survive in the next round. But as long as one of them has to win tonight to complete the Monday Wild Card slate, we’ll take the home team with the points that at least won their games late in the season to get into the playoff competition.
Qoxhi Picks: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+3) over Philadelphia Eagles