NFL Playoff Predictions, Picks Against The Spread: Divisional Games 2016 – Bleeding Green Nation
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Here are suggestions when trying to beat the odds.
Before the second round of the 2016 NFL playoff schedule kicks off, I thought we’d have some fun by looking at the spreads for this week’s round of Divisional weekend games. Here are my suggestions when trying to beat the odds. You can find all of today’s NFL betting lines and more at the SB Nation odds page. Click here for more details on this weekend’s games.
I have a record of 113-117-7 this season after going 1-3 against the spread last week. For what it’s worth, I went 3-1 straight up. Let’s see if I can do better this week.
DIVISIONAL ROUND 2016
Kansas City Chiefs at New England Patriots (-5): Andy Reid’s Chiefs are riding a 10-game winning streak heading into Foxboro. The Patriots are coming off a first round bye. Despite their extra rest, New England has 12 players listed as questionable on their final injury report. Rob Gronkowski is among those players. The Chiefs might also be missing a key offensive player since Jeremy Maclin is questionable after not practicing all week. It’s typically not wise against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick when they’re playing at home, but I’m tempted to think the Chiefs can at least keep this game within a field goal. Pick: Chiefs +5
Green Bay Packers at Arizona Cardinals (-7): When the Packers got off to a slow start in Washington last week, I tweeted about how they’re not a very good team. Then they went on to beat Washington by 17 points. So did I underrated the Packers? I don’t think so. I think I just overrated Washington, who didn’t beat a team with a winning record all season. The Cardinals are coming off a week of rest and they already beat the Packers 38-8 less than a month ago. Arizona gets the comfortable win here. Pick: Cardinals -7
Seattle Seahawks at Carolina Panthers (-3): The Seahawks shouldn’t still be in the playoffs. If Blair Walsh doesn’t mess up an easy field goal kick, Seattle players would be sitting at home this weekend. It doesn’t matter, though, because the Panthers are going to knock them out this week anyway, right? Wrong. I’ll take the Seahawks to win this game outright. Seattle only lost by four points when these two teams met earlier in the year, and that was before the Seahawks got hot and finished No. 1 overall in DVOA. The Panthers are going to be that team that has a great regular season and blows it in their first playoff game. Pick: Seahawks +3
Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos (-7): Speaking of teams that probably still shouldn’t be in the playoffs, the Steelers aren’t in great shape as they head out to Denver this weekend. Pittsburgh is set to be without their leading receiver (Antonio Brown) and leading rusher (DeAngelo Williams) in this game. Making matters even worse is that Ben Roethlisberger could be less than 100% after suffering an injury in the Wild Card round. The Steelers were able to beat the Broncos in Pittsburgh last month but this is going to be a much tougher challenge. The Broncos are well-rested and this Denver defense is going to be tough to crack. Pick: Broncos -7
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