As The NFL Playoffs Begin We Look Back At Our Predictions From This Fall
With the NFL playoffs set to begin this weekend, the Cigar Aficionado team looked back at Danny Sheridan’s NFL Preview from our September/October issue of 2022. This NFL season was certainly full of surprises, like the defending Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams missing the playoffs with a measly record of 5-12, but Sheridan managed to hit some nails on the head. Most notably, his prediction for this year’s Super Bowl matchup and winner, shown below, which is still very much in play.
Sheridan has the Buffalo Bills edging out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win their first championship at Super Bowl LVII taking place in Glendale, Arizona on February 12. The Buffalo Bills, despite a season filled with adversity, still seem like perennial juggernauts. Tampa Bay, however, stumbled their way into the playoffs, taking the back door in, as they managed to win the weak NFC South division, thereby immediately qualifying for the playoffs despite an 8-9 regular season record. Nevertheless, the Buccaneers are still quarterbacked by Tom Brady, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, and who can really count him out?
The Buffalo Bills will kick off Sunday’s slate of games with a matchup against division rival Miami Dolphins at 1:00 PM at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, NY. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will close out the Wild Card round of the playoffs on Monday at 8:15 PM against the Dallas Cowboys at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Wild Card round of playoffs this weekend will feature six games in total, starting on Saturday when the San Francisco 49ers face off against the Seattle Seahawks in the Bay Area. We’ll be following the games closely to see if Sheridan’s prediction manifests itself as we look forward to an exciting first round of the NFL playoffs.
SUPER BOWL LVII PREDICTION
Bills Defeat Bucs 27-23
Back in June, Josh Allen (with Patrick Mahomes) lost The Match to Tom Brady (with Aaron Rodgers) and the Bills losing a fifth Super Bowl without a win and Brady winning his eighth Super Bowl championship would seem to be par for the course. Allen, who trolled Brady at the golf challenge when he wore a T-shirt with a photo of a skinny Brady at the NFL Combine, butters him up during the week: “Tom’s got almost as many rings as Herschel Walker has kids.” Brady’s attempt at motivating the Bucs by hinting that this might be his next last game (pinky swear) only serves to motivate the Bills defense, especially Von Miller, who hounded Joe Burrow in Super Bowl 56 and was MVP in Super Bowl 50. Miller pressures Brady from start to finish and Allen gashes Todd Bowles’ defense with a pair of rushing TDs and a pair of passing TDs to Stefon Diggs and Dawson Knox. It is Brady’s second Super Bowl defeat in Glendale, Arizona. “We got the monkey off the franchise’s back!” a euphoric Allen roars while hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
