Your NFC Wild Card Primer

Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins is pumped to be playing at home, where his team is 6-2 and he's posted a 117 passer rating this season. On the road Washington is just 3-5, with Cousins' passer rating dipping all the way to 87.7.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

We kicked off our Wild Card Weekend preview yesterday with our AFC Primer. Both of us like the road teams on that side of the bracket. Here comes the NFC Primer, where again, both road teams are the nominal favorites.

All four road teams can't end up winning, can they?

A reminder, in case you missed the AFC Preview - the "DVOA" line in the "By The Numbers" section is the Football Outsiders' metric "Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average." It is designed to measure each team on a per-play basis, adjusted, obviously, for the opponent, but also for down and distance. For example, a 6-yard gain on 3rd-and-4 against Seattle is a more valuable and/or meaningful play than a 11-yard gain on 4th-and-12 against New Orleans. DVOA accounts for those things. And positive numbers represent more yards/points, so a defense is better when it is further negative.

Let's dive right in. 

Studs and Duds: Alex Smith Isn't the Best Quarterback in the NFL

This is Alex Smith. The best quarterback in the NFL is not pictured.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin) and Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Studs and Duds is a weekly feature on Suite Sports. Who had a good week? Who had a bad week?

Studs

Ryan Kerrigan

You may not know Ryan Kerrigan, but he's a rising star outside linebacker for the Washington Redskins. He's also one of my favorite Boilermakers of all time, but this week we found out he has quite the sense of humor.

First, we saw this video of him interviewing people on the street, asking them what they thought about Ryan Kerrigan. Predictably, the people he interviewed didn't even realize they were talking to Ryan Kerrigan about Ryan Kerrigan, and one girl even said she had a crush on him… But didn't realize he was right in front of her.

That is, until he told her "I love you too."