After the NFL’s first 17-game regular season, we have reached the much-anticipated playoffs. Over the next month in Point Spread Weekly, we will dedicate ourselves to in-depth coverage of each and every round, all for the purpose of cashing tickets.
As usual, there are some betting favorites, but it seems like a wide-open race to make it to the Super Bowl in Los Angeles. Theoretically, the advantages would go to the No. 1 seeds, Green Bay in the NFC and Tennessee in the AFC. The Packers and Titans are the only teams not playing this weekend.
I’ll start my series of round-by-round betting angles here. As with any recurring sporting event, the NFL playoffs have gone through various trend patterns over the years, with some seasons being dominated by underdogs and upstarts and others being relatively predictable. Because of these changing patterns, it can be difficult for bettors to thrive when using past playoff results as a guide.