NFL straight-up picks, Wild Card edition: Who do we trust less, the Eagles or the Buccaneers?

This is where it all falls apart. It began with the meaningless games of Week 18, wherein I biffed nearly half my picks. And now, history suggests I’m about to be as reliable as a coin flip for the games that truly matter.

2023 marked the third time in five years I landed at the top of NFL Pickwatch’s leaderboard with my regular season picks. But I’ve never finished there after the Super Bowl, because whatever inexplicable ability I have to pick the outcome of games slightly better than most people goes on vacation come January.

This is a too-personal way to tell you that, no, I’m not sure what’s going to happen when a 38-year-old Joe Flacco starts a road playoff game in 2024. Or when a Philadelphia Eagles team that’s lost five of its last six games squares off with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers squad that faced underwhelming competition in Weeks 17 and 18 and, despite their season being on the line, managed just two garbage time touchdowns in that stretch.

Well, might as well dive into it. Here are this week’s playoff picks. The ones I struggled with and probably overthought have a question mark next to them. Analysis follows.

Here are those picks in an easier to read table.

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