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It is Wild Card Sunday in the National Football League, and much like yesterday, the AFC is going to get things started this afternoon. Today’s AFC matchup comes from the Florida coast, as the Jacksonville Jaguars play host to the Buffalo Bills.
Jacksonville has the NFL’s second-best defense (because, really, we all know who #1 is), and is back in the postseason for the first time in a long time. The last playoff game for the Jaguars was back in January of 2008, when they lost to the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round. As good as Jacksonville’s defense is, they still have plenty of questions, specifically at the quarterback position with Blake Bortles.
Speaking of not having been in the playoffs for a while, the Buffalo Bills are officially ending their seventeen year playoff drought this afternoon. The last playoff game they were in was the “Music City Miracle” loss to the Tennessee Titans back in the 1999 Wild Card round. They needed some help on the final weekend of the regular season to get in, and they got what they needed. Star running back LeSean McCoy, who has been dealing with an ankle injury, is active for this one. The Bills are probably going to need a big game out of him if they want to win.
If the Jaguars win this one, they will travel to Pittsburgh for the early game on Sunday afternoon to take on the Steelers, while the Tennessee Titans would make the trip to New England for the late Saturday game. If the Bills emerge victorious, then they get the trip to Foxborough to take on the Patriots and the Titans would travel to take on the Steelers.
Kickoff for this one is scheduled for noon Central time, so we’re about half an hour away from that now. Enjoy the game, and we’ll have another thread up for the NFC game later on.