Monday Man Cave: Wildcard Edition

Happy New Year  to  you and yours. Welcome to the  wildcard weekend edition to the  Monday  ManCave.  The  NFL playoffs are abound us and the  holidays are behind us. The perfect time to sit back ,relax and enjoy some rest and relaxation, behind a week of great content to enjoy. Let’s take a look at all things worth viewing in sports and pop culture .

Monday  Night – College Basketball – #2 Oklahoma Sooners vs #1 Kansas JayHawks: College football’s bowl season is basically over — we’re just waiting on our Clemson-Alabama national title game to cap what has been a miserable month of exhibition games. We get a  great  1 vs 2  matchup in College Basketball , as  Oklahoma  visits  Kansas.Kansas, as usual, entered the season with high expectations, and the expectation train is still going strong. The Jayhawks did drop a game against the Michigan State Spartans, but Michigan State has been lethal in 2015-16. Kansas has a few solid victories against opponents like Vanderbilt, UCLA and Baylor. Oklahoma is  still undefeated and after beating  Iowa State, will be up for the this stuff road challenge.

Tuesday – Shades Of Blue premieres on NBC: Jennifer Lopez  starts in this new  dark police drama.Lopez plays a detective and single mother who is an FBI informant against her own unit. She says what she likes about the drama is that it’s very human. “People at their core are good but we do things that are questionable all the time, we make bad decisions and then we have to live with them.” Shades Of Blue also stars Ray Liotta as Lt. Bill Wozniak.  Casting aside,  NBC rarely drops the  ball, when it comes to police dramas.

Friday January 9th  –  Revenant:  There has been a disappointing lack of DiCaprio on the big screen in 2015 and The Revenant will be his first film outing since his fantastic Oscar nominated performance in The Wolf of Wall Street.The Revenant is a big screen adaptation of the novel by Michael Punke, which has been adapted into a screenplay by Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith. The story is inspired by the life of frontiersman Hugh Glass.The Revenant stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a nineteenth-century explorer who’s mauled by a bear and drags his torn-up carcass hundreds of miles through barren tundra, both to save himself and get revenge for the murder of someone close. A great  first movie night for  2016.

Saturday  AFC Wildcard Game  Kansas City Chiefs  vs  Houston Texans 4pm ABC/ESPN :The Kansas City Chiefs are the hottest team in football, having closed the regular season with 10 consecutive victories. They will start the playoffs in Houston against a team the Chiefs defeated 27-10 in the season opener. Houston doesn’t have  explosive  playmakers and  that’s why i’m  looking for  the Chiefs to  win this game   24-17

Saturday  AFC Wildcard Game  Pittsburgh Steelers  vs Cincinnati Bengals  8pm -CBS:  The last time the Steelers were in Cincinnati, they beat the Bengals and knocked Cincinnati starting quarterback Andy Dalton out with a broken thumb. That 33-20 Steelers win on Dec. 13 changed the playoff picture, as the Bengals ended up missing out on a top-two seed and a bye in the AFC behind new quarterback AJ McCarron. Dalton wants to return for Saturday’s game, but that might be a stretch. Meanwhile the Steelers have to feel fortunate after getting in the playoffs thanks to the Bills beating the Jets in Week 17. Vegas has the Steelers as  3 point favorites. I truly  believe , the time is now for the Bengals to show and prove. I’m going with the Bengals to  prove to the critics , there are  for real. Bengals  win  28-24.

Sunday  NFC Wildcard Game   Seattle Seahawks  vs Minnesota  Vikings  1pm NBC:  The Seahawks have won the NFC two straight years, and have been playing well lately after a slow start. One of the most impressive wins in their hot streak was a 38-7 win at the Vikings on Dec. 6. The Seahawks held Vikings running back Adrian Peterson to 18 yards and Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson threw for three touchdowns. But the Vikings come into the playoffs on a high note, after winning the NFC North by knocking off the Packers at Lambeau Field in Week 17.Minnesota has had a brilliant season in Mike Zimmer’s second year as head coach, but the Vikings simply aren’t built to beat Seattle — even at home. In the end, Russell Wilson’s ability to extend plays with his legs will have proven to be too much for the Vikings, and the Seahawks will leave the Twin cities with a convincing win. The Seahawks  quest to avenge last Super Bowl lose, begins with a  35-26 win.

Sunday  NFC Wildcard  Game – Green Bay Packers  vs  Washington Redskins  4:45pm, FOX: Wild-card weekend ends with a matchup of the NFC East champions and the Packers, who have stumbled after a 6-0 start this season. The Redskins were just 9-7 this season but might be the hotter of these two teams, having won their final four games behind quarterback Kirk Cousins. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers will try to rally his team after a tough home loss to the Vikings cost them a home playoff game in wild-card weekend. Only the Packers among the wild cards don’t seem fearsome, mainly because their offense has frozen. Yet they play the perceived weakest of the division champions, so no one is counting out Aaron Rodgers and company. Also the Redskins (9-7) didn’t beat a team that finished with a winning record. Ironically , Cousins is having a  better statistic year  then Aaron Rodgers. Vegas  has the Redskins  favorited by 1,  i’m leaning towards  that as well. Redskins play well at home. Going with the Redskins  to win  21-17 .