NFL: Eagles and Chiefs, the favorites; Gigants and Jaguars go for the surprise in playoffs

The Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, NFL conference leaders, make their debut this weekend in the playoffs. The Eagles, the best team in the National Conference of the American Football League (NFL), will receive on Saturday in the divisional round the surprising New York Giants.

Directed by the ‘quarterback’ Jalen Hurts, the Eagles start as favorites after their sensational regular season, which started with eight straight wins and ended with a 14-3 record, the best in the league next to that of the Chiefs.

The Giants had a more modest record, 9-7, but last week they confirmed themselves as a dangerous rival by eliminating the Minnesota Vikings (31-24) with an exhibition by the young Daniel Jones.

The quarterback, who has lived under severe scrutiny since his arrival in the NFL, impressed even his critics by throwing for 301 yards and two touchdowns and adding another 78 rushing yards.

The Eagles also have one of the best career quarterbacks in Hurts, with a total of 760 yards added in the regular season, fourth best in the league at his position.

– Mahomes before Lawrence –

In its turn, The Kansas City Chiefs, leaders of the American Conference, start as an even clearer favorite for the duel against the Jacksonville Jaguars which will open the divisional round on Saturday (21:30 GMT).

Led by star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs (14-3) are chasing their fifth consecutive appearance in the conference finals, which would allow them to claim a third Super Bowl berth in four years.

Mahomes was one of the best players of the regular season with 5,250 passing yards but he will face one of the emerging figures in his position, Trevor Lawrence.

The number one in the 2021 Draft signed quite a display of character last week against the Los Angeles Chargers when, after committing four interceptions in the first half, he led one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history.

The Jaguars (9-8) came to lose 0-27 but, led by Lawrence, they turned the situation around and beat the Chargers (10-7) 31-30.

IO