
Only the Buccaneers and Chiefs are favored by more than a touchdown.
DraftKings has released their opening lines for the first week of the playoffs, officially tabbing four of the six matchups as projected one-score games. The only teams who are favored by more than a touchdown are the second seeds in each conference, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFC) and Kansas City Chiefs (AFC.)
From a Green Bay Packers angle, the teams who have an opportunity to play at Lambeau Field in the divisional round are the seventh seed Eagles, sixth seed 49ers, fifth seed Cardinals and fourth seed Rams. Whichever is the lowest seed to advance beyond the wild card round will play the Packers in mid-January.
Here’s a recap of the previous 2021 head-to-head matchups in the wild card round:
- LV-CIN: Bengals won 32-13 in Week 11.
- NE-BUF: Patriots won 14-10 in Week 13 (in a snowstorm) and Bills won 33-21 in Week 16.
- PHI-TB: Buccaneers won 28-22 in Week 6.
- SF-DAL: Have yet to play in 2021 season.
- PIT-KC: Chiefs won 36-10 in Week 16.
- ARZ-LAR: Cardinals won 37-20 in Week 4 and Rams won 30-23 in Week 14.
No team that lost their sole head-to-head matchup with their wild card opponent in the regular season is the favorite in the first round of the playoffs, but two games (New England-Buffalo and Arizona-Los Angeles) feature squads that split their regular season series as divisional opponents. The only matchup we haven’t seen this past regular season is San Francisco-Dallas, who last played in 2020 when Nick Mullens, C.J. Beathard and Andy Dalton were quarterbacking the teams.
Every single home team is a favorite this week, to no one’s surprise. The good news is the sports book is projecting tight games, which hopefully will translate to the field.
Full NFL Lines
Saturday:
Las Vegas Raiders @ Cincinnati Bengals
New England Patriots @ Buffalo Bills
Sunday:
Philadelphia Eagles @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
San Francisco 49ers @ Dallas Cowboys
Pittsburgh Steelers @ Kansas City Chiefs