{"id":8449,"date":"2020-01-03T20:07:46","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T20:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=8449"},"modified":"2020-01-03T20:07:48","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T20:07:48","slug":"friday-afternoon-quarterback-nfl-wild-card-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/friday-afternoon-quarterback-nfl-wild-card-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Afternoon Quarterback: NFL Wild Card Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BY ADAM GREENE<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

It feels different this year, doesn\u2019t it? Like there\u2019s hope? The New England Patriots have looked mortal all season, coughed blood repeatedly and even backed into the playoffs after losing their season finale to the Miami Dolphins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are we ready to believe? Can we put our faith in this AFC playoff field to make this happen? I say we can, just not this week, of course. We\u2019re believers, but we\u2019re not crazy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve had our usual playoff turnover this year, with a fun new group of new teams vying for the chance to shame their fanbases and all of America by eventually losing to those same hated Patriots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither Los Angeles team made it back, but only one of those (the Rams) was a surprise. The Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears were also no-shows, but, again, nobody was shocked. In the AFC, the stunner was the rise of the Baltimore Ravens, but we\u2019ll have to wait at least a week for them to disappoint us all thoroughly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Super Bowl do I want? A Super Bowl I rematch between the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers, but even writing it out has probably jinxed it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s make some picks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SATURDAY<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

BUFFALO BILLS AT HOUSTON TEXANS (-2.5, O\/U: 44)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The only reason this isn\u2019t the most one-sided coaching match up of the day is because Bill Belichick vs Mike Vrabel is on the schedule right after. You can\u2019t call Sean McDermott vs Bill Belichick a \u201cchessmatch,\u201d because O\u2019Brien can\u2019t even move his pieces with his hands trapped inside two Pringles cans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference here is just talent and the Texans have far too much and the Bills too little. McDermott is building something in Buffalo, but it\u2019s all going to be home grown until he starts stacking these seasons up. Deshaun Watson was built for these kinds of games and the only thing that could hold him back is O\u2019Brien\u2019s coaching. I think he overcomes it at least this week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TEXANS 24, BILLS 17<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

TENNESSEE TITANS AT NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (-5, O\/U: 44)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of Bill O\u2019Brien, he did something I thought he was incapable of doing last week; make a decision that would keep his team healthy in the playoffs. O\u2019Brien sat his starters in a meaningless game (to them) that was anything but meaningless to Tennessee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Titans won against the Texans\u2019 back ups and earned the right to be humiliated in Foxborough by the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only, will they? Belichick sometimes stumbles against his prot\u00e9g\u00e9s, for whatever reason and this is a talented Titans squad. Could they be the team that finally ends our national nightmare for good?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nope. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PATRIOTS 41, TITANS 20<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

SUNDAY<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

MINNESOTA VIKINGS AT NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (-8, O\/U: 49)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Vikings backed into the playoffs with two consecutive losses to become the biggest underdogs of Wild Card weekend. If the Rams have just hit a kick back in Week 4 against the Seahawks, this wouldn\u2019t be a problem, but here we are. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saints have dedicated this season to avenging a slight in last year\u2019s NFC championship that led to a change in the NFL\u2019s pass interference rules that hasn\u2019t really amounted to much. That being said, New Orleans should be here. Minnesota should be watching this game at home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAINTS 35, VIKINGS 16<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS AT PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (+1.5, O\/U: 45)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Eagles are the only home dog and, like the Vikings, there\u2019s an air of \u201cthis team doesn\u2019t belong in the playoff field\u201d surrounding the team. The last two times that happened, when the 2011 7-9 Seahawks took the NFC West and the 2014 7-9 Carolina Panthers claimed the NFC South, both those teams won their wild card games against seemingly superior opponents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marshawn Lynch, back with the Seahawks for this run, became \u201cBeast Mode\u201d as Seattle upset the 11-5 Saints in 2011. The 2014 Panthers beat the 11-5 Arizona Cardinals in their wild card game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s what I\u2019m saying. You win your division, you\u2019ve earned your spot. The Seahawks have hardly looked like world-beaters this past month. Here\u2019s your wild card upset. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

EAGLES 24, SEAHAWKS 23<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

LAST WEEK<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

STRAIGHT UP: 9-7
AGAINST THE SPREAD: 6-10<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OVERALL<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

STRAIGHT UP: 167-88-1
AGAINST THE SPREAD: 143-113<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get the latest NFL football odds and information–follow BetOnline.ag on Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BetOnline.ag on Instagram<\/a>–Follow for the latest odds, stats and information!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY ADAM GREENE It feels different this year, doesn\u2019t it? Like there\u2019s hope? The New England Patriots have looked mortal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8449"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8451,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8449\/revisions\/8451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}