Who To Root For: 2023 NFL Playoffs

  Full disclosure, I am a Minnesota Vikings fan.  Yes, a year of rooting for them and the Iowa Hawkeye football team has made my heart unable to be donated because of too much stress.  However, I will maintain some integrity with the blog and continue to show who Iowan's should root for in the playoffs, I just might give T.J. Hockenson double points :)

Here are the Iowa Connections of the 14 remaining teams.  Three teams tied for the top this year with six connections (Baltimore, Miami, Buffalo).  Cincinnati is threatening to ruin their offseason by only having one connection. 




6 - Baltimore : Mike Devlin / Tyler Linderbaum / Geno Stone / Kristian Welch (Iowa), Charlie Kolar (ISU), John Harbaugh (Iowa City)

6 - Miami: Steve Ferentz (Iowa), Darrell Bevell / Tyron McKenzie (ISU), Elijah Campbell (UNI), Andrew Van Ginkel / ZaQuandrew White (Iowa Western)

6 - Buffalo : Ike Boettger / AJ Epenesa / Micah Hyde (Iowa),  AJ Klein, Leonard Johnson (ISU), Spencer Brown (UNI)

4 - San Francisco :   George Kittle (Iowa), Daniel Bullocks (UNI), Brock Purdy, Brian Schneider (ISU)

4 - Dallas : Joe Philbin / Bradon Smith / Chauncey Golston (Iowa), Aden Durde (NIACC)

4 - Jacksonville : Brandon Scherff / Mekhi Sargent /  Coy Cronk / C.J. Beathard (Iowa)

3 - Minnesota : Kene Nwangwu (ISU), Chris Reed (Cedar Rapids), T.J. Hockenson (Iowa)

3 - New York Giants : Casey Kreiter, Dane Belton (Iowa), Elerson Smith (UNI)

3 - Seattle :    Pete Carroll (ISU) , Noah Fant / Austin Blythe (Iowa)

3 - Tampa Bay :     Tristan Wirfs, Anthony Nelson, Tom Moore (Iowa)

3 - Los Angeles Chargers :    Nick Niemann, Tom Donatell (Iowa), Jay Rodgers (ISU)

2 - Philadelphia : Reid Sinnett (Des Moines), Matt Leo (ISU)

2 - Kansas City :  Brendan Daly (Drake), Ihmir Smith-Marsette (Iowa)

1 - Cincinnati :    Joe Burrow (Ames)


Let's look at each matchup this week and see who we are rooting for.



(3) Seattle @ (4) San Francisco: Let's face it, Brock Purdy is currently the Iowa Connection burning the brightest now (with Kittle right behind him).  


(3) LA Chargers @ (4) Jacksonville: A fun QB matchup in this game, especially if Lawrence goes down and C.J. Beathard leads them to victory.


(6) Miami @ (6) Buffalo: We win either way, but I'm pretty sure Buffalo should have this one


(3) NY Giants @ (3) Minnesota: Once again we win either way, but I can not deny Hockenson here.


(6) Baltimore @ (1) Cincinnati: Our first upset here, but with the Bengals losing the right side of their o-line (and only 1 Iowa Connection), Baltimore for the win!


(4) Dallas @ (3) Tampa Bay:  End of the line for Tom Brady, as he goes into the off-season pushing the team to draft Sam LaPorta and Xavier Hutchinson.



Should everything goes as expected, we'd have:

Divisional Round

Baltimore over Kansas City

Buffalo over Jacksonville

San Francisco over Minnesota

Dallas over Philly

Championship

Buffalo over Baltimore

(Coin flip) Dallas over San Francisco

Super Bowl


Buffalo over Dallas in the Super Bowl, exacting some revenge from the 90s.  





Comments

  1. FujiJanuary 14, 2023 at 12:01 PM

    My niece is a huge Vikings fan too. She been enjoying it this season... especially since the Packers aren't in the playoffs. I'll be rooting for the Seahawks. If they don't win (which they won't)... I'll be rooting for anyone other than the San Francisco 49ers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iowa CollectorJanuary 17, 2023 at 9:46 AM

      It is nice to not see the Packers in there! Sad that both our teams lost, but at least didn't get blown out.

      Delete

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