{"id":8538,"date":"2020-01-11T00:34:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T00:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=8538"},"modified":"2020-01-11T00:35:18","modified_gmt":"2020-01-11T00:35:18","slug":"friday-afternoon-quarterback-nfl-divisional-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/nfl\/friday-afternoon-quarterback-nfl-divisional-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Afternoon Quarterback: NFL Divisional Round"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Upsets in the Wild Card Round mean one thing in the divisional round; massive, frightening lines. Of our four games to choose from this weekend, three have at least a touchdown spread and one is already at double digits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overachieving in the first week of the playoffs only really impresses your fans. It\u2019s not like a team can\u2019t come from the wild card to the Super Bowl. It\u2019s happened plenty of times now. Last year, though, the seeds played out in the divisional round. They did in 2017 too. In the 2016 season we saw two Wild Card teams, both division winners mind you, make it to the conference championship games only to fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact is, the last time a team that played on Wild Card weekend made the Super Bowl was during the 2012-13 season when the Baltimore Ravens, a four seed, upset the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship then went on to beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might think that, karma-wise, that could bode well for a Wild Card team since both those squads are back in the playoff field for the first time since that season. But karma doesn\u2019t mean anything in the NFL or the Patriots would have gone 0-16 every year after 2007. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t see anything crazy happening. Nope, all the excitement from our Wild Card week, including the execution of the Patriots\u2019 dynasty did was give us some easy straight up picks to make this week. These spreads, though. Yikes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s get to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

MINNESOTA VIKINGS AT SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (-7, O\/U: 44)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Vikings backed into the playoffs so thoroughly they showed up to last week\u2019s game with the Saints in hard hats and safety jackets. I guess that confused New Orleans into thinking the game would be delayed by some sort of road work as they themselves didn\u2019t show up until the fourth quarter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minnesota shouldn\u2019t be in the playoffs. If the Los Angeles Rams had done their job in the regular season, Kirk Cousins would be watching the game on his cough as he has for most of his career. The fun ends here. I don\u2019t feel like we\u2019re getting a 49ers vs Ravens rematch in Super Bowl LIII, but we\u2019ll at least get to talk about it another week. 49ers 34, Vikings 17<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TENNESSEE TITANS AT BALTIMORE RAVENS (-10, O\/U: 47)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a fun fact about the Bill Belichick family tree. Coming into last Saturday\u2019s game against Mike Vrabel and the Tennessee Titans, the Super Genius was 14-13 against his former assistants\/players. He\u2019s now 14-14. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why hasn\u2019t this success against their former boss translated into more victories against, you know, other good teams for the Belichick coaching tree? Could it be that they somehow know all the dirty, cheaty tricks Belichick pulls and can mitigate it and they can\u2019t do that against other coaches playing by the actual rules?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who can say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, I did, but still. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either way, the fun is over for Tennessee this week. I\u2019m still not sold on the Ravens getting all the way to the big game, but there\u2019s no way John Harbaugh loses to Mike Vrabel in the playoffs. Ravens 42, Titans 16<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

HOUSTON TEXANS AT KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (-9.5, O\/U: 51)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of the Bill Belichick coaching tree, do you know there are only two guys who coached under BB that he\u2019s been able to beat in the playoffs? Did you know that one of those guys is Bill O\u2019Brien? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other is Eric Mangini, who, you\u2019ll recall, is the guy that busted the Pats for Spygate. Because, you know, the guys who worked for him know the filthy stuff he tries to get away with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, this game is only intriguing because the Texans managed to upset the Chiefs back in Week 6. If you follow the NFL, and since you\u2019re reading this I assume that you do, those results usually flip in the postseason. And you know there\u2019s no way O\u2019Brien has his team ready to play outside, in the snow, against Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City. Chiefs 38, Texans 24<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS AT GREEN BAY PACKERS (-4.5, O\/U: 46)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Our last game of the weekend looks like the best one on paper and the line reflects that. A Seattle upset wouldn\u2019t surprise anyone here as Russell Wilson has played out of his mind all season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s the Pack. And they\u2019re at home. And they\u2019re good again. I don\u2019t see them blowing this one. Packers 27, Seahawks 20.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

STRAIGHT UP: 1-3
AGAINST THE SPREAD: 1-3<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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

STRAIGHT UP: 168-89-1
AGAINST THE SPREAD: 144-116<\/strong><\/h4>\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 Upsets in the Wild Card Round mean one thing in the divisional round; massive, frightening lines. Of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t