Tag Archives: X-Factors

Game Previews

One X-factor for each team in the NFL playoffs:

The longest regular season in NFL history is in the books and we saw one of the craziest finishes to it that I can remember, climaxing in the Sunday Night thriller, in which the Chargers and Raiders could have both made the cut with a tie in overtime, but Las Vegas decided to kick a game-winning field goal with time running out, to send their division rivals home. Now the postseason is set and we already have some great matchups in the first round already, while overall this thing might be as wide-open as we’ve seen in a long time.

So as we enter this 14-team tournament, I want to talk everybody squad here a little bit and instead of describing their strengths and weaknesses, like I usually do in weekly previews, I thought it would be fun to bring one X-factor to the table for each of them. So these are not marquee players – outside of maybe one of them, because of a reason I will explain at that point – or even starters in some cases, but rather guys, who I believe could make an impact in a certain role or matchup.

Here are the names I came up with:

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The longest regular season in NFL history is in the books and we saw one of the craziest finishes to it that I can remember, climaxing in the Sunday Night thriller, in which the Chargers and Raiders could have both made the cut with a tie in overtime, but Las Vegas decided to kick a game-winning field goal with time running out, to send their division rivals home. Now the postseason is set and we already have some great matchups in the first round already, while overall this thing might be as wide-open as we’ve seen in a long time.

So as we enter this 14-team tournament, I want to talk everybody squad here a little bit and instead of describing their strengths and weaknesses, like I usually do in weekly previews, I thought it would be fun to bring one X-factor to the table for each of them. So these are not marquee players – outside of maybe one of them, because of a reason I will explain at that point – or even starters in some cases, but rather guys, who I believe could make an impact in a certain role or matchup.

Here are the names I came up with:

Continue reading →
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Game Previews

The biggest X-factors for each Conference Championship team:

Heading into Championship Sunday I looked at these two matchups and how things might play out. Instead of trying to preview one of them and pointing out schematic advantages and disadvantages like I did a week ago, I decided to present one X-factor for each team on offense and defense respectively. I believe these are truly the four best teams in the league when I combine players and coaching. There might have been more talented teams on paper, but when I look at these four head coaches and their staffs I think we are blessed with some of the very best play-callers and guys who excel at preparing their troops. So which players for each of them, who don’t usually play a primary role, could be key factors on Sunday?

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