NFL First Round Playoff Matchups
by Tom Grassi
After an interesting Week 17 in the NFL, the dust has settled and the Wild Card playoff matchups are set. The top two seeds in both conferences get a bye leaving the remaining eight teams playing first round games.
The playoffs open on Saturday with Cincinnati visiting Houston. The Bengals ended the season with a home loss to the Ravens but backed into the playoffs with losses by the other teams in contention. Houston will be making their first playoff appearance but has quarterback issues with starter Matt Schaub gone for the season. These two teams met four weeks back in Cincinnati with Houston beating the Bengals 20-19. Houston’s new starter Yates played well completing 26 of 44 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns with one of those scores on the final play of the game. The Sportbooks like the Texans in the rematch as they have installed Houston as 3-point betting favorites.
The second game Saturday night has Detroit going to New Orleans to take on the high flying Saints. Despite their 13-3 SU record the Saints did not get a first round bye. New Orleans will not be taking these Lions lightly even though they are whopping 10-point betting favorites. If you recall, New Orleans opened last year’s playoffs in Seattle where they were upset as huge betting favorites. The Lions have been anything but consistent this season. After starting the season with five straight wins they struggled down the stretch with only five wins in their last eleven games. They were even worse against the betting line beating the pointspread only three times and failing to cover eight times.
On Sunday, the playoffs open with a tough NFC tussle with Atlanta visiting New York. The Falcons have the better record at 10-6 to the Giants 9-7 but the New Yorkers get the home field due to winning their division. Atlanta had an up and down season as they couldn’t put together any long winning streaks. The most games Atlanta won in a row this season was three. They also lost to their arch rival Saints both times, with the last meeting a 45-16 drilling in New Orleans. Meanwhile, the Giants had to play for their playoff lives last Sunday night when they defeated the Cowboys in New York 31-14. The Sportsbooks look for a close game as they have made the Giants a 3-point home favorite. One interesting note in this game is that the Falcons are a perfect 5-0 against the betting line versus the Giants since the 1992 season.
The final first round game has the Steelers traveling to Denver to face Tebow and the Broncos. Pittsburgh had a playoff spot clinched for weeks but lost the division to the Ravens based on tie breakers, thus have to play a Wild Card game. The Broncos backed into winning their division as they lost Sunday to the Chiefs but the Raiders also lost. The Tebow magic seems to be wearing off as the Broncos come into the playoffs having lost three straight, after that “lucky” six game winning streak. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh just goes about their business of winning football games but not looking very pretty doing so. The Steelers were playing Sunday with the division still on the line and played their starters but had a hard time beating Cleveland hanging on for a 13-9 win. Pittsburgh backers weren’t very happy as they failed to cover the 7-point betting line. In this game the Sportsbooks look for the Steelers to beat up the Broncos as Pittsburgh is 8-point betting favorites.
Make sure to check back for winning NFL picks on all of these Wild Card playoff games.
