Best Betting Picks of NFL Divisional Playoffs
And then there were eight! Only the cream of the crop remain in the NFL playoff picture and we’re set for a stacked divisional round. Which teams will punch their tickets to the conference championship? Find out here, along with other betting picks!
Wildcard weekend came and gone, leaving three higher seeds — Baltimore, Chicago, and Houston — eliminated despite finishing higher in the NFL standings. Do similar upsets await in the NFL playoffs divisional round? There just might.
Here's the latest NFL odds Bovada is giving for the upcoming postseason matchups. Without further ado, let's get into our NFL picks!
Over/under 57 points: Indianapolis Colts at Kansas City Chiefs
The league's hottest team, Indianapolis, is showing little signs of cooling off after a convincing 21-7 win at Houston. The Colts have now won ten of their last 11 games on the NFL schedule.
Who remembers the last time these two teams met in the postseason? Back in 2013, Andrew Luck engineered a 28-point comeback to help Indy beat Kansas City 45-44. While few holdovers remain from that game, we might see an encore on Saturday in terms of scoring.
The Chiefs specialize in offensive outbursts — both doing it themselves and allowing it. Behind a 50-touchdown season from Patrick Mahomes, no team put up more points this year than Kansas City. But in the same token, its defense allowed the second-most yards, too.
This game has all the makings of the classic "whoever has the ball last wins" game with Mahomes and Luck exchanging scores at will.
Pick: Over 57 points
Over/under 49 points: Dallas Cowboys at Los Angeles Rams
By now, we're sure you've heard the chatter about the Rams high-flying offense being in a slump? Well, it's not a myth.
Since the thrilling 54-51 victory over Kansas City, Los Angeles is averaging 27.6 points in their last five games. That's below their 32.9 average that finished second-best in the NFL. Moreover, in those five games, the Rams struggled against playoff teams such as Chicago and Philadelphia, while beating up bottom-feeders like San Francisco, Arizona, and Detroit.
Let us tell you, Dallas and its streaking-hot defense resemble more of the Bears than the 49ers. Expect points to be at a premium in this game.
Pick: Under 49 points
Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots (-4.5)
A big storyline of 2018 was the emergence of a new crop of quarterbacks — Mahomes, Jared Goff, Mitchell Trubisky — to carry the mantle from the previous generation. Yet, here we are late into the postseason, with two old gunslingers in Tom Brady and Phillip Rivers playing with a spot in the AFC Championship on the line.
Winning in Foxboro is hard — so hard that no road team has done it this season. We don't know if the Chargers can do it, but we're pretty confident they'll be able to cover the spread.
No team in the AFC has a more complete roster than the Bolts. On offense, Rivers, Melvin Gordon, and Keenan Allen are one of the most lethal trios in the league. Yet, Los Angeles' defense might be more talented. A pair of All-Pros in Desmond King and Derwin James sit in the secondary, while former Pro Bowlers like Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, and Casey Hayward round out the star-studded unit.
This is the weakest Patriots team in years. Brady is still going to do Brady things no matter who's around him, but it won't be as easy this time around.
Pick: Los Angeles (+4.5)
Philadelphia Eagles at New Orleans Saints (-8)
We said this last week in our Wild Card betting picks article, and it bears repeating: you can't count out Nick Foles. Ever. Foles once again pulled off the unthinkable. On fourth-and-goal against the top-ranked Bears defense, he threw the go-ahead score. It's now his second fourth-quarterback comeback in the playoffs since 2013. Only Tom Brady and Russell Wilson have more.
St. Nick is real, folks! Let's not sugarcoat it, though, going into the Superdome and outdueling an MVP candidate in Drew Brees is another insurmountable task for Foles and company. But at this point, we're not betting against Foles, no matter the odds.
Pick: Philadelphia (+8)
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