NFL Wild Card weekend Saturday open thread

Wild card weekend is underway in about a half hour, and you can use this as your open thread for the games ahead.

Both Saturday AFC matchups are legitimately interesting. The first pairs the Raiders and Bengals against one another. It’s crazy to see Las Vegas in the postseason after a wild year that saw them fire Jon Gruden, but interim coach Bisaccia has done a nice job and this is a talented squad. They’ll be hard-pressed to beat the best Bengals team since the 12-4 2015 squad, one that brings a formidable team to the table helmed by Joe Burrow, but it should be a good game.

The late game, meanwhile, features the Patriots and Bills for the third time this season. Buffalo looks like one of the best teams in the league and should be favored to beat New England, but any Bill Belichick-coached team is dangerous and New England has a habit of triumphing over Buffalo in unlikely circumstances. Again, it ought to be a great game.

Go Bengals and Bills (I reflexively root for teams without Super Bowls, so long as they’re not the Panthers), and use this as your open thread for the games ahead.