This might qualify as the most unlikely of the playoff matchups if you look back to pre-season predictions during training camp.  Houston had never been to the post-season in the team’s existence, while the Bengals were rebuilding around a rookie quarterback and a rookie wide receiver.  Lo and behold, both teams exceeded expectations and got into the post season, although both teams ended up backing their way in.  Granted, the Texans didn’t have much to play for during the season’s final weeks, losing three straight after they had basically locked up the AFC South.  I’m sure the Texans staff is feeling like it would have been nice to get at least one win to break up the losing streak, as at game time it will have been almost a whole month since they last won a game.   Luckily for them, they’re playing the Bengals, which was coincidentally the last team they beat.
The Bengals also limped their way to the end, going an unimpressive 3-5 over the second half of the season, with their wins coming against doormats Cleveland and St. Louis, as well as a squeaker at home against an a Cardinals team that wasn’t very good this year.  This game certainly looks like it’ll be the Texans to lose, as the Bengals haven’t beaten a winning team since November 6^thagainst the Titans, and have lost miserably against most of the playoff-caliber teams they’ve faced, going 0-7 against teams in the playoffs (Steelers twice, Ravens twice, 49ers, Broncos, Texans).

For fantasy playoff games, the best bet for fantasy production really begins and ends with Arian Foster.  Foster has been money in most every game he’s played this year, and would probably have been the #1 fantasy RB had he not missed the first couple of games with a hamstring injury.  Andre Johnson will be back for this contest, but he probably won’t be 100% and hasn’t had much of a chance to play with TJ Yates, so you probably won’t want to depend on him if you don’t have to.

For the Bengals, the best bet will be AJ Green, who usually has been matchup proof this year.  This is a game he should excel in, as Andy Dalton will likely look his way early and often.  Jermaine Gresham and Jerome Simpson could be worth using, but neither is great to rely on as more than a Flex play at best.
 
Good Start: RB Arian Foster, WR AJ Green
Middle of the Road:  WR Andre Johnson, TE Owen Daniels, WR Jerome Simpson, TE Jermaine Gresham
Bad Start:  QB TJ Yates, WR Kevin Walter, QB Andy Dalton, RB Cedric Benson
  Now here’s the juiciest of the Wildcard Weekend matchups, the one that is likely to have the highest combined score and the one most likely to have a have more offensive fireworks than the Chinese New Year celebrations.  The Saints finished strongly during the season, winning 8 straight games mostly in convincing fashion.  If any team can oust the Packers from the playoffs, it’ll be a team that can keep up offensively; and really, only the Saints are equipped to do that.  This is a rematch of the Week 13 game against the Lions, and the Saints ripped Detroit a new one; and that game didn’t have the Superdome crowd whipped up into a playoff frenzy.  The Saints won that contest 31-17; this game will likely feature a similar score, if not higher on both sides.  Either way, New Orleans will likely win by at least two scores, but it’ll be damn entertaining to watch them get there.

The Lions are another team that lost their final game of the year; although they did win three before that to solidify their playoff position after faltering slightly during the middle portion of the schedule.  The alarming thing for the Lions is, last week they couldn’t win a game against a Packers team that rested Aaron Rodgers and had nothing to play for, while the Lions themselves still could have gotten the 5^thseed with a victory and avoided a date with the Saints buzzsaw.  If the Lions couldn’t get motivated to stop Matt Flynn, how in the world are they going to stop the unstoppable Drew Brees?  The answer is, they won’t.  While Brees probably won’t throw for the 480 yards and 6 TDs Flynn did last week, would anyone be surprised if he drops 380 and 4 scores on the Lions, routing them right out of the building?

For fantasy purposes, this is the game that you’ll want to concentrate as many of your starters in as possible.  All of the major regular players are good starts; Brees, Jimmy Graham, Marques Colston, and Darren Sproles are all must starts on the Saints side, while Matthew Stafford, Calvin Johnson, and Brandon Pettigrew are all great starts as well.  You can even make cases for Pierre Thomas, Chris Ivory, Robert Meachem, Nate Burleson, Titus Young, and Kevin Smith, although none belong in the top tier for starters.

In the end, there should be plenty of scoring to go around for both teams, so if you can build a lineup that looked like Brees (or Stafford), Sproles, Megatron, Colston, and Graham, you’ll probably win in your Wildcard round matchup.
 
Good Start:  QB Drew Brees, RB Darren Sproles, WR Marques Colston, TE Jimmy Graham, QB Matthew Stafford, WR Calvin Johnson, TE Brandon Pettigrew
Middle of the Road: RB Pierre Thomas, RB Chris Ivory, WR Robert Meachem, RB Kevin Smith, WR Nate Burleson, WR Titus Young
Bad Start:  None, if you have Saints or Lions players, start ‘em!
  This game is not nearly as intriguing as I’m sure most pundits will try to make it out to be.  The Broncos somehow lost their last three games of the year, all three of them in highly ineffective ways, and still managed to back their way into the playoffs due to the utter ineptness of the AFC West in general.  Yes, the Broncos do have The Tebow, but that isn’t going to matter against the Steelers defense that will absolutely eat Tebow’s lunch.

The Steelers haven’t been without their own problems, as they weren’t able to overtake the Ravens to get that much coveted bye and second round home game.  They’ve suffered through key injuries, including the foot sprain of Ben Roethlisberger and the season-ending knee injury to Rashard Mendenhall.  But the Steelers defense has picked up their play during the second half of the season; in the past six games, the Steelers have allowed single digits in points in every contest, including not allowing a TD in over a month.  The Broncos couldn’t score a single touchdown at home against a Chiefs team with the AFC West crown on the line; what chance do you see them having on the road against the fierce Steelers defense?  Of all the matchups of the weekend, this is the most likely to not even be a competitive game.

For fantasy purposes, the Steelers hold most of the cards in this one.  Big Ben, Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown and even Isaac Redman are probably good plays in this contest, as the Broncos aren’t anything special on defense, especially on the road.  For the Broncos, Tim Tebow usually ends up with decent enough fantasy stats, while Demaryius Thomas will probably be the one that scores if Tebow tosses any touchdowns.  Willis McGahee has had several good yardage games, but that isn’t likely to happen against the Steelers, who rank amongst the top 3 in most defensive categories.
 
Good Start: QB Ben Roethlisberger, RB Isaac Redman, WR Mike Wallace, WR Antonio Brown
Middle of the Road:  TE Heath Miller, QB Tim Tebow, WR Demaryius Thomas
Bad Start:  WR Emmanuel Sanders, WR inesHines Ward, RB Willis McGahee, WR Eric Decker
  This is a tale of two teams that have played very uneven, inconsistent seasons; the Falcons started out losing three of their first five games, and have generally won two games then lost one pretty much the rest of the year.  The Giants on the other hand had a strong first half of the year, then lost four in a row to start the second half of the season and looked dead in the water; they ended up finishing strong by winning their last two games to take the NFC East division crown from the Cowboys and earn a first round home game.

The Giants appear to have one of the more dangerous teams in the playoffs, with a profile that actually resembles the Packers championship team of 2010.  The Giants have one of the best passing attacks in the league (finished 5^th), have no running game to speak of (ranked 32^nd), and play fairly mediocre defense although their front four is one of the stronger units in the league.  The Packers proved last year you can win without the best running attack around, and relied heavily on a passing offense that could score anytime, anywhere, and Eli Manning has proven he can do the same.

The Falcons on the other hand have been somewhat of an enigma; but with both Julio Jones and Roddy White healthy and in a grove with Matt Ryan, they finally are showing up as an offense with some long ball teeth.  Jones especially has excelled at the 40+ TD score, as its obvious when he’s in the game Ryan likes to go deep to twist that dagger in his opponents.  Unfortunately, the Falcons haven’t been all that consistent on either side of the ball, especially on the road where they were just 4-4 on the year.  The Falcons also haven’t been good against other playoff squads, going an unimpressive 1-4 against their fellow playoff teams.  All of this doesn’t bode too well for the Falcons going on the road to steal one from the Giants, who really have already had their first playoff game, winning in convincing fashion against an elimination game against the Cowboys last week.  The Giants should be able to feed off of that momentum to beat the Falcons, setting up a date with the Packers who the Giants have the weapons to hang with.

For fantasy purposes, this will probably be the second most favorable matchup next to the Saints­-Lions game.  Both sides have worthwhile fantasy plays, as Ryan, Jones, White, Tony Gonzalez, and Michael Turner are all worthwhile fantasy starters for the Falcons.  On the Giants side, Eli Manning, Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, and Ahmad Bradshaw are all worth playing as well.  In all, there are very few fantasy duds in this one; so if you can load up on players from this game and the Saints-Lions game, you’re doing pretty well.
 
Good Start:  QB Matt Ryan, WR Julio Jones, WR Roddy White, TE Tony Gonzalez, QB Eli Manning, WR Victor Cruz, WR Hakeem Nicks
Middle of the Road:  RB Michael Turner, RB Ahmad Bradshaw
Bad Start:  WR Harry Douglas, RB Brandon Jacobs, WR Mario Manningham

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