On the heels of a dizzying Wild Card weekend, we are eager to dig into the lines for one of the final times this season in the NFL. This bittersweet time of the year for football fans presents four games between the quarterfinalists for this year’s Super Bowl, with Saturday’s schedule including both of the top seeds in the AFC and NFC.
Kansas City will play Jacksonville at home for the second time this season and are listed as nine-point favorites in the afternoon window. The Eagles host the Cowboys for their third meeting in less than three months and are 7.5-point favorites currently.
Our Saturday edition of Wild Card weekend best bets finished 2-1 thanks to a ferocious comeback from the Jaguars to cash both their side play and far surpass the total for our over wager. The first bet of the day, the under in Seahawks-49ers, did not stand a chance, but that didn’t hold us back from a winning day.
Looking ahead to the Divisional round, we are prepared to continue this strong finish to the season and present three best bets for Saturday’s games in both conferences.
Jaguars @ Chiefs OVER 52.5
Best Available Odds: -108 at WynnBet
The Jags and Chiefs played to a 27-17 final score in Kansas City during their November matchup, their first meeting since September 2019. The glaring team statistics that stand out on paper are the top-ranked passing offense of the Chiefs that will face the 28th-ranked pass defense of the Jaguars.
Patrick Mahomes completed 26 passes to nine different receivers while accumulating 331 yards and four touchdowns in that midseason victory over Jacksonville.
The 800+ yards of offense that both teams combined for in that earlier game should play out similarly on Saturday, and we’ll be on the Over with that expectation.
Chiefs -8.5 over Jaguars
Best Available Odds: -112 at WynnBet
Upon reflection, that mid-November meeting between these two teams looks more and more like Jacksonville was lucky to lose by just 10 points. The Jaguars were out-gained by the Chiefs by 2.6 yards per play and 171 yards overall in that double-digit loss despite winning the turnover battle 3-0.
Kansas City will not play with their food like the Chargers did when they got up by a wide margin last week, and we like Mahomes and the offense to bury the Jaguars early in this rematch.
Giants @ Eagles UNDER 48.5
Best Available Odds: -115 at FanDuel
Aside from the outlier of a final score earlier this season when the Eagles beat the Giants 48-22, the five other matchups over the last three years between these two teams have not hit the 45-point mark.
Philadelphia might struggle to reach 24 or more points with the health of Jalen Hurts still in question and multiple starting offensive linemen on the injury report for the Eagles despite a bye week during the Wild Card round.
We are predicting that the momentum carried into this matchup by a Giants team that allowed 23 points or less in four of their last six regular season games, combined with an Eagles defense that ranked 8th in scoring during the 2022 season, will be a perfect recipe for a relatively low-scoring NFC East battle. Take the under in Philadelphia on Saturday night.
