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Preview and Analysis of NFL Wild Card Playoff Game – Colts vs. Bills
Introduction
With the 2020 – 2021 NFL regular season in the books now is a great time to begin previewing and analyzing the 2020 – 2021 NFL wild card round playoff games. The Kansas City Chiefs and the Green Bay Packers have received a bye for the first round of the NFL postseason as they both secured the best record in their respective conferences. With the playoff format expanded this year there are 6 wild card round games as opposed to the usual 4 match ups that we are accustomed to.
Details of the Los Angeles Rams vs. the Seattle Seahawks 2021 Playoff Game
The number 2 seed in the AFC, the Buffalo Bills, will host the number 7 seed in the AFC, the Indianapolis Colts, from Bills Stadium located in Orchard Park, New York. This highly anticipated match up is scheduled for Saturday, January 9th, 2021 at 1:05 pm ET. The Indianapolis Colts intense battle against the Buffalo Bills will be nationally broadcasted on CBS.
Breakdown and Analysis
The 11 and 5 Indianapolis Colts have outstanding offensive weapons to pressure the Buffalo Bills defense with. Jonathan Taylor has been an absolute beast both with his aggressive rushing attack as well as Taylor’s ability to catch passes out of the backfield. T. Y. Hilton as well as Zach Pascal are two top tier NFL wide receivers that can both make huge plays down the field for the Colts, and they are superb possessions receivers that can get open for a quick much needed first down.
One major contributing factor to this AFC wild card playoff battle is the quarterback play by Philip Rivers. Throughout the 2020 – 2021 NFL season he has drastically cut down on his interceptions, but it has been noted that Rivers tries to do too much in the postseason which often will lead to unnecessary turnovers by the Indianapolis Colts starting signal caller. As long as Philip can play a clean and productive game, he should help his team have a chance of upsetting the heavily favored Buffalo Bills this Saturday.
On the defensive side of the ball for the Indianapolis Colts DeForest Buckner is a force to be reckoned with. The big and strong defensive tackle can stop the opponent’s rushing attack, and Buckner can be quite an effective interior pass rusher as well. Look for DeForest to be disruptive and possibly make a huge game changing play on defense for the Colts.
The Buffalo Bills went 13 and 3 over the course of the 2020 – 2021 NFL regular season, and they have relied upon their high powered offense to achieve earning the # 2 seed in the extremely competitive AFC. Their starting quarterback Josh Allen has been playing extremely well, but the team’s offensive weapons seem to be quite banged up right now. Both Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley are currently listed as questionable for this wild card game on Saturday. The Bills will need these explosive wide receivers in order to spread the field and put up points. Hopefully for Buffalo they will be able to go and contribute to the team’s offensive attack.
One more important aspect to watch for will be the Buffalo Bills defense. They will need to play better in the postseason than they did over the course of the regular season. Buffalo’s defense ranked in the bottom third of the National Football League in rushing yards per attempt this year which should be concerning as the young and dangerous Jonathan Taylor will be carrying a large load for the Indianapolis Colts during their 2020 – 2021 NFL playoff run. It will be important for the Bills to slow down Taylor in order to win this game.
The Betting Odds
These are the current odds according to Bovada sportsbook as of Thursday, January 7th, 2021.
Indianapolis Colts + 7.0 (- 125) + 240
Buffalo Bills - 7.0 (+ 105) - 290
Over: 51.0 (- 110)
Under: 51.0 (- 110)
Sources:
"NFL playoffs preview 2020: Schedule, bracket, Super Bowl chances for every team”, Kevin Seifert, espn.com, January 3, 2021.
“NFL playoffs, Super Bowl schedule: AFC, NFC bracket, seeds, TV times, more”, espn.com, January 3, 2021.
“2020 Indianapolis Colts Statistics & Players”, pro-football-reference.com, January 7, 2021.
“Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts Franchise Encyclopedia”, pro-football-reference.com, January 7, 2021.
“2020 Buffalo Bills Statistics & Players”, pro-football-reference.com, January 7, 2021.
“Buffalo Bills Franchise Encyclopedia”, pro-football-reference.com, January 7, 2021.
“NFL – Next Events”, bovada.lv, January 7, 2021.