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Keidel: Wild Card Weekend Will Be A Smorgasbord Of Football Goodness

By Jason Keidel
» More Columns

Mike Francesa has long said that the second week of the NFL playoffs, the divisional round, is the most delicious weekend of pro football.

It's tough to refute him. You've got the best eight teams in the sport playing each other over two days, knowing it's the final, full weekend we'll get until September.

But that's not to say the playoff dish is frigid this weekend. With Wild Card Weekend, there will be a number of hot games, hot takes, and variables that will play out over Saturday and Sunday. In fact, the entire playoff palate has its share of subplots.

In the age of the passer, this year has both advanced and defied the NFL orthodoxy that you need a veteran, playoff-hardened quarterback to seriously pine for the Lombardi Trophy. The Cowboys' Dak Prescott was a revelation as a rookie. As was the Raiders' Derek Carr in his third season. Matt Moore, a lifelong backup, has also muscled the Dolphins into the playoffs.

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Ezekiel Elliott (left) and Dak Prescott (Photo Credit: Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Then we have the usual Super Bowl suspects. The youngsters may have joined the party, but the bouncers still have rings. Of the 12 men left squatting under center, Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Eli Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and Russell Wilson have combined for 10 Super Bowl titles.

And in the age of the aerial assault, the Cowboys gave gone back in time, with a grinding running game, leading the league in time of possession and rushing yardage, the only club to run the ball more than it throws it.

We also have the late-season injury bug thwarting Super Bowl dreams. Broken Fibulas have sidelined Marcus Mariota, who may have led the Tennessee Titans to the playoffs, and Carr, who had the Raiders on a startling path to a division title and first-round bye. Now, Oakland is rolling the dice on Wild Card Weekend, with either Matt McGloin or Connor Cook against the Texans, who also have a garbled QB situation. Houston signed Brock Osweiler to a $72 million deal, then benched him for Tom Savage, who's now toiling in concussion protocol.

Maybe the Lions and Seahawks are playing in a forgotten corner of the football map, but both have quarterbacks who would start for just about any other franchise. You won't find more gifted or gutty quarterbacks than Wilson and Matthew Stafford.

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Russell Wilson (Photo Credit: Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Presumably, the best two games this weekend -- one from each conference, in chronological order -- are between the Steelers against the Dolphins, followed by the Packers taking on the Giants. Not only are three of the four clubs led by Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, but the Steelers, Giants, and Packers are considered the best shots to unseat each conference power, the Patriots and Cowboys.

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The Steelers and Packers have won a combined 13 straight games entering the playoffs, while the Giants have more palpable proof, having two wins against the Cowboys, the only two losses Dallas suffered all season until the sleepwalked through a loss to Philadelphia its the final game.

It's a shame the Packers and Giants must play each other so early, as each would have a puncher's chance in Dallas. Green Bay is riding the smoking arm of Rodgers, who has thrown 18 touchdowns and zero interceptions over his last seven games. And we know what can happen when the Giants are overlooked in January. Twice in the last 10 years they've played a playoff game at Lambeau Field, and both times they used the Frozen Tundra as a springboard to a Super Bowl ring.

In the AFC, the Chiefs have become the team du jour, based on a late-season surge. But the Steelers clearly have the best triumvirate of quarterback, running back and wide receiver. And it's the first time that Roethlisberger, Le'Veon Bell, and Antonio Bryant are starting in the same playoff game. But like the Giants and Packers, the Steelers and Chiefs would have to play each other for the right to unseat the Patriots.

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But no matter how decorated the Steelers are, there's something ethereal about the Packers and Giants at Lambeau, which just feels like the ancestral home of football. Many of us were reared on the old NFL Films, footage of Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor running to John Facenda's booming baritone, through the howling wind and cold November mud.

Whether your head is wrapped in Big Blue or bleu cheese, the weekend's final game is a football fan's delight. Maybe Lombardi made his name with the Packers, but he crafted his game in New York, with the Giants, perhaps the only team physically and historically equipped to play on the Frozen Tundra.

Follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel

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