The 2024 postseason is finally here. Eighteen weeks and 17 games played have led to this week. It’s been a shocking week for the football world with Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll and Mike Vrabel all relieved of their head-coaching duties after all achieving strong — historic in the case of Belichick and Carroll — levels of success for their respective franchises.
Given all the stunning revelations off the field, here are five bold predictions for what could happen between the lines on Super Wild Card Weekend, a slate that provides us games on Saturday, Sunday and even Monday night.
1. Cowboys run defense stands tall vs. Jones, snaps RB’s run of success
These two teams squared off a year ago in Week 10 of the 2022 season, and a struggling Packers team improved to 4-6 while a strong Dallas Cowboys squad dropped to 6-3 after the Green Bay Packers completed a 14-point fourth-quarterback comeback to win 31-28 in overtime.
One of the driving forces for Green Bay’s offense that day was running back Aaron Jones. He ran wild for 138 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries, good for 5.8 yards per rush. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was determined to wear out a Cowboys defense much more well-equipped to defend the pass from the start, calling running plays on 16 of the Packers’ first 21 plays from scrimmage on their first three drives of that game.
In three of Dallas’ five losses this season, the Cowboys have been bludgeoned on the ground, allowing at least 170 yards rushing in all three of those contests. In their 31-10 debacle at the Buffalo Bills in Week 15, the Cowboys surrendered 266 rushing yards, the most under defensive coordinator Dan Quinn since 2021.
Bills running back James Cook totaled a career-high 179 rushing yards on 25 carries with a touchdown, a 24-yarder. That came out to a 7.2 yards-per-carry average in that game. In their upcoming matchup with Jones, the Cowboys…
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Author : Garrett Podell
Publish date : 2024-01-12 14:59:11
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