The postseason’s first weekend will see the third matchup between the Patriots and the Bills, and for the Cardinals and the Rams.
The N.F.L. playoffs are here and with them comes the added theater of the first Monday night wild-card game and two matchups of teams meeting for the third time this season that will anchor the postseason’s opening weekend. Saturday night’s Patriots-Bills III and Monday’s third contest between the N.F.C. West-rival Cardinals and Rams sandwich a weekend where parity — and familiarity — should be on display. A rematch between the Raiders and Bengals, and a contest between the Cowboys and the 49ers, two of the N.F.L.’s most-storied franchises, should also ramp up the drama after Las Vegas and San Francisco both needed overtime to claim their playoff spots. This weekend, though, the N.F.L.’s sudden-death overtime rules will apply: The length of the extra period stretches to 15 minutes from 10, and there won’t be any question of whether to kneel since the games will continue until someone scores. Here’s a look at the wild-card round of the N.F.L. playoffs, with all picks made against the spread. Last week’s record: 6-10 Regular-season record: 129-143 All times are Eastern. Las Vegas Raiders at Cincinnati Bengals,4:30 p.m., NBC Line: Bengals -5.5| Total: 49.5 There are few stories this postseason more interesting than the Raiders (10-7), a team once considered out of playoff contention until it closed the regular season by winning four consecutive one-score games to earn a wild-card spot. They face a Bengals (10-7) offense that has thrived under Joe Burrow, who enters the game on a tear, having thrown for over 300 yards in three of his last four starts. Burrow could exploit the Raiders’ secondary, the most-vulnerable unit of Las Vegas’s defense, which has allowed over 300 passing yards four times this season. The Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby and other lineman can generate pressure against a Bengals front that’s given up 55 sacks. But the Bengals have a Plan B in Joe Mixon, who finished third in the league in rushing yards (1,205), and could thrive as a receiver on check-down routes against the Raiders’ zone-based defense. Cincinnati beat Las Vegas comfortably in Week 11, and there’s little reason to think it will not happen again. Pick: Bengals -5.5 New England Patriots at Buffalo Bills,8:15 p.m., CBS Line: Bills -4| Total: 42.5 Round 3, anyone? Every good fight needs a third installment, and this meeting between the Bills (11-6) and Patriots (10-7) could be similar to the first, in Week 13, when New England let Mac Jones attempt only three passes in its win over Buffalo.
