Of the six wild card games that the NFL features this coming weekend, two of them feature meetings between division foes. The New England Patriots visit the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, as the Bills won the AFC East but the teams split their regular-season meetings, with the road team winning each time. The Arizona Cardinals visit the L.A. Rams on Monday night, as the Rams took the NFC West title – and the road team won each matchup during the regular season there as well. Is home field advantage really a thing anymore? We have some NFL betting predictions for the NFL playoffs going into the wild card round, so take a look as you plot out your wagers.
NFL News: Postseason Predictions before the Wild Card Round
Which division champion faces the greatest likelihood of an upset in the wild card round?
The Dallas Cowboys went 6-0 against NFC East opposition – and 6-5 in all other contests. Against teams who are in the playoffs other than Philadelphia, the Cowboys posted a 1-4 record, with the lone win coming in overtime at New England – and the Patriots were not nearly as good at that point as they are now. Since the calendar turned to December, the Cowboys have only beaten one team (Washington) using its starting quarterback.
The Cowboys have a dynamic offense, but it does not work well all the time and has sputtered against quality opposition, particularly in the second half of the season. Teams who can establish a running game make it very difficult for Dallas to get stops; the front seven is terrific when it comes to rushing the passer but struggles against determined running games, as the Cowboys saw in their loss to Denver. The secondary has some talent – but it also has a way of blowing coverage, giving up way too many big plays.
San Francisco brings in a solid running game behind Elijah Mitchell, and Nick Bosa keys a pass rush that will harass Dak Prescott and force him into incompletions – and possibly interceptions. The 49ers won four out of five down the stretch to come back and snag a wild card slot, and in their Week 18 win in Los Angeles, they erased a 17-0 deficit to win in overtime.
The Buffalo Bills have posted some impressive victories this season. They beat Miami and Houston by a combined score of 75-0 in the first two weeks of the season. They went to Arrowhead and beat Kansas City by 18. They lost at Tennessee, but there are a lot of teams that simply haven’t been able to stop Derrick Henry. Then came the second half of the season, with all kinds of inconsistency. They went to Jacksonville and only scored six points in a ridiculous loss. They got routed at home by Indianapolis. They lost at home to New England in a game where Mac Jones only attempted three passes and the Bills just had no answer to the Patriots’ running game. The Bills did right the ship, winning four in a row to end the season, but the only playoff contender in those last four games was New England, whom the Bills beat on the road by 12. In Week 18, the Bills only led the Jets by three before a pair of touchdowns late in the fourth quarter, as the game was close for far too long. Can Bill Belichick put together a scheme to upset the Bills in the wild card round? Absolutely, and the Bills simply haven’t shown the consistency for us to predict them as sure winners.
Wild Card Round Predictions : Bet the Game Today
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