If you enjoy tight-end touchdowns, missed extra points, remarkable comebacks, and predictable upsets, Wild Card Weekend was right up your alley.
Now, with eight teams remaining in the race for the Lombardi Trophy, it’s time for one of the best weekends in sports. The divisional round will feature four games across Saturday and Sunday, and this year’s slate has delivered some delicious matchups.
A duel between two of the league’s top quarterbacks in Joe Burrow and Josh Allen? Sign me up. How about a Cowboys-49ers rematch after last year’s wild-card fiasco? Yes, please.
Let’s take a look at all four games to try to find some early-week value. Here are the latest NFL playoff odds and lines for the divisional round.
NFL Divisional Round Odds & Lines
NFL divisional round odds are courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook unless otherwise noted and are current as of Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 11:30 a.m. ET. Be sure to keep tabs on all of our current NFL odds during the NFL playoffs.
NFL Divisional Round Games
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Kansas City Chiefs (Jan. 21, 4:30 p.m.)
Jaguars +8.5 (-110) @ Chiefs -8.5 (-110)
The Jaguars came out victorious in the game of the weekend on Saturday night, rallying from a 27-point, first-half deficit to stun the Chargers, 31-30.
Trevor Lawrence threw four first-half interceptions and Jacksonville turned the ball over five times in all, but the former No. 1 overall pick got it together after a considerably shaky start and tossed four touchdown passes as well in the victory.
Doug Pederson knows his team will need a much better start if it wants to give the top-seeded Chiefs a run for their money, especially having spotted Kansas City a 20-point lead in the first half of their regular-season trip to Arrowhead in November.
Patrick Mahomes, who threw for 331 yards and four scores in that 27-17 victory, should be able to carve up this Jaguars pass defense once again. While I fully expect the Chiefs to emerge with the win, I’d feel much more comfortable teasing them down to a short favorite than laying more than a touchdown here.
If you’re looking for a straight bet, hop on the Over before it reaches the key number of 54.
New York Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles (Jan. 21, 8:15 p.m.)
Giants +7.5 (-110) @ Eagles -7.5 (-110)
The second game of the weekend features an all-NFC East clash between the Eagles and Giants, who will meet for the third time since the start of December.
Philadelphia won each of the previous two occasions, though we can’t take a lot from the most recent showdown in Week 18 as Jalen Hurts made his return from injury against New York third-stringer Davis Webb.
The pivotal matchup in this contest will be the Eagles’ two-pronged rushing attack of Hurts and Miles Sanders against the Giants’ rush defense, which ranks dead last in the league in DVOA per Football Outsiders.
Philadelphia averaged 8.2 yards per carry and scored four touchdowns on the ground against Big Blue in the teams’ first meeting this season: a 48-22 blowout win at MetLife Stadium. As long as Hurts is healthy enough to be a consistent threat on the ground, the Eagles should be able to overpower New York once again.
However, we still don’t know exactly how healthy Hurts is after a sluggish Week 18 performance, and I’m not too interested in laying more than a touchdown in a divisional playoff matchup.
Cincinnati Bengals @ Buffalo Bills (Jan. 22, 3 p.m.)
Bengals +5 (-110) @ Bills -5 (-110)
Want to know why I’m a bit hesitant to lay so many points in a postseason meeting between division rivals?
Well, just take a look at these two teams that weren’t particularly convincing in what seemed like favorable wild-card round spots, as both failed to cover sizable spreads against divisional foes.
This particular matchup may be the headliner of the weekend, with Allen and the Bills hosting Burrow and the Bengals just weeks after their Monday Night Football showdown was canceled following the cardiac arrest of Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin.
The Bills were 2.5-point road favorites for that contest, and I think they rightly open as larger home favorites here as Cincinnati’s offensive line injuries continue to mount. However, Allen’s recent proclivity for turnovers makes it tough to lay more than a field goal against a Bengals defense that has played its best football of the season lately.
That and the potential for snow and wind in the forecast have me leaning toward the Under, which is a pretty scary proposition given all the offensive talent on the field.
Dallas Cowboys @ San Francisco 49ers (Jan. 22, 6:30 p.m.)
Cowboys +4 (-110) @ 49ers -4 (-110)
These two teams met in one of the wildest wild-card games a season ago as time literally ran out on Dallas’ fourth-quarter comeback attempt.
The decision to have Dak Prescott run up the middle with 14 seconds remaining and no timeouts was widely criticized, especially since the Cowboys couldn’t get a spike down in time to give them one last shot at the end zone and a potential game-winning score.
This rematch will see Dallas head to San Francisco to take on a different quarterback in Brock Purdy, who continues to answer the call every week. Purdy threw for 332 yards and three scores in his postseason debut and added a rushing touchdown in the third quarter for good measure.
Kyle Shanahan‘s offense should meet more resistance against a Dallas defense that dominated Tampa Bay on Monday night and Prescott should be plenty confident after delivering a playoff masterclass of his own, accounting for five total touchdowns (four pass, one rush) in the Cowboys’ 31-14 wild-card win.
I think this should be another tightly-contested game between two of the NFC’s top teams, so I’ll take the points with the visitors and hope Dallas’ kicking game doesn’t come back to bite me.
