New Orleans Saints: Ranking each team in the 2019-20 NFL Playoffs
Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota has not had many quality wins this season, despite possessing a (10-6) record.
Its only win against a playoff team in 2019 was against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 6 where they won 38-20.
In games against other playoff teams this season, the Vikings are (0-4), as those defeats were against the Green Bay Packers (twice), the Kansas City Chiefs and the Seattle Seahawks.
This topic centers around quarterback Kirk Cousins, who made headlines by signing with the Vikings for $84 million guaranteed despite having a losing record against winning teams.
Cousins also has not succeeded in January as he lost his first playoff game in the 2015 season to the Green Bay Packers 35-18 as the quarterback of the Washington Redskins.
Now that is just one game, but Cousins has been able to bring the Minnesota Vikings to the playoffs in his second year with the team.
In 2019, Cousins threw for 3,603 yards, 26 touchdowns and 6 interceptions for a quarterback rating of 107.4.
The offense boasts several playmakers in running back Dalvin Cook, wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen, and tight end Kyle Rudolph.
The defense is 14th in the league, which is about a middle-of-the-pack team, but the offense has the sixth-best rushing attack with Cook running for 1,135 yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season.
The Vikings face the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Wild Card Playoff on Sunday at 12:05 p.m., where the team possesses a rushing defense that rarely allows a 100-yard individual rusher.
It also has the motivation to not let anything stand in its way to winning a Lombardi Trophy, stemming from the “No-Call” last season and the “Minneapolis Miracle” the year before that debacle.
New Orleans is an animal at home in the postseason under head coach Sean Payton, and the Saints should have a pretty easy win in the Wild Card Playoff.
Buffalo Bills
Buffalo enters the playoffs for the second time in three seasons with a (10-6) record after narrowly falling behind the New England Patriots (12-4) for the AFC East crown.
The Bills have a better team than their 2017 version that made the postseason for the first time in the new millennium.
They have a quarterback in Josh Allen having a pretty good season by throwing 3,089 yards, 20 touchdowns and just nine interceptions on the year.
Buffalo’s two-headed monster in the backfield, Devin Singletary and ageless wonder Frank Gore, has combined for 1,374 yards and four touchdowns and made the Bills the NFL’s eighth-best rushing offense.
The wide receiving corps consists of John Brown and Cole Beasley, who have put together 139 receptions for 1,838 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2019.
On the other side of the football lies the league’s third-best defensive unit, allowing just 16.2 points per game.
The Buffalo Bills like to get into defensive battles knowing that they can win football games by scores of 20-17 and 14-13.
When they face the Houston Texans this Saturday, look for this team to possibly fall behind early and find a way to win a slugfest to move on to the Baltimore Ravens the next week.
That game in the Divisional Round would most likely end the Bills’ season against the league MVP Lamar Jackson and arguably, the best team in football.