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Sean McVay instantly turned the Los Angeles Rams into a contender. The Rams hadn’t posted a winning season since 2003 before he became the team’s head coach prior to the start of the 2017 campaign, but he has showed what a difference the right coach can make. He has helped make Jared Goff into a very good quarterback after he was initially panned as a bust in the making, and the Rams have scored more points than any other team in the NFC for each of the last two seasons.... 

Despite playing in a small stadium with no home field advantage, the Los Angeles Chargers were one of the best teams in the NFL last season. The Chargers turned a lot of heads by finishing 12-4, finishing in the top eight in both scoring offense and scoring defense. If not for a Week 16 loss to Baltimore, the Chargers would have ended up with home field advantage throughout the postseason, which would have made for an interesting spectacle on television. The team is favored to make it back to th... 

Patrick Mahomes took the NFL by storm last season. At the start of the year, people were questioning whether or not the Kansas City Chiefs had made the right move by deciding to start Mahomes and part ways with Alex Smith. By the end of the season, Mahomes silenced any doubters and showed why Andy Reid is an offensive genius, tossing 50 touchdowns on his way to winning the NFL MVP award in his first season as a starter. We’ll see what Mahomes can do for an encore in 2019.... 

The Green Bay Packers are hoping that a new coach will get the team back to the postseason after a couple years of middling results. There was clearly dysfunction between Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers, and the Packers needed to shake things up. Matt LaFleur is a fresh face, but there are concerns coming into this season due to his relative inexperience. LaFleur was only a coordinator for two seasons before being hired as the Packers head coach, and the offense he was in charge of last year was... 

It’s weird even seeing Detroit Lions and playoffs in the same sentence. The Detroit Lions have only made it to the postseason three times in the last two decades. They have not won a playoff game since 1991, and their winning percentage since the AFL-NFL merger is the third worst of any franchise. Detroit might not be making the postseason anytime soon either given the talent on the other three teams in the NFC North.... 

Since Peyton Manning retired at the end of the 2015 season, the Denver Broncos have been trying to find a quarterback. Paxton Lynch, Trevor Siemian, and Case Keenum were all brought in to be the guy, but none of the three players worked out. John Elway went back to the drawing board this offseason, acquiring Joe Flacco from Baltimore and selecting Drew Lock in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Elway is hoping that one of those two can become the quarterback Denver needs to break a three-ye... 

Two years ago, the Minnesota Vikings were one of the best teams in the NFL. They added standout quarterback Kirk Cousins in free agency heading into 2018 and expected to be Super Bowl contenders. It never came together, and now people are wondering if the window of contending is closing for this group. It is a huge year for Minnesota, which still has plenty of talented pieces dotting its roster. The current NFL odds are hedging their bets as the Vikings are a slight underdog to make the playoffs... 

The Miami Dolphins have a new coach this year in former Patriots defensive coordinator Brian Flores, but it is unlikely he finds much success in his debut campaign. The Dolphins lack high-end talent throughout the roster and the current NFL odds have listed them as longshots to make the playoffs in 2019. Miami seems to be in the midst of a rebuild as several of their veterans are reportedly available for trade. It would be a stunner for the Dolphins to be competitive this year.... 

There is so much parity that it is hard to pencil too many teams into the NFL playoffs before the year begins, but that doesn’t really apply to the New England Patriots. Despite the retirement of star tight end Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots look poised to once again compete for another Super Bowl in 2019. New England hasn’t missed the playoffs since 2008 and unsurprisingly, the current NFL odds have made them heavy favorites to return to the postseason this year. Quarterback Tom Brady and coach B... 

If it was so easy more than one team in the history of the NFL would have recorded a perfect season. Many have come close but none prior or since did what the 1972 Miami Dolphins accomplished by going 17-0. Celebrated every year when the last unbeaten team losses, members of that team are a part of league history.... 

The Houston Texans saw a solid increase to their playoff chances recently, and it had nothing to do with their own team. The retirement of Colts star quarterback Andrew Luck has shaken up the AFC South, as Indianapolis is no longer the favorite to win it. The Texans are now listed as the co-favorites, which has helped their chances of qualifying for the postseason. Houston is hoping to take advantage with a solid 2019 in a division that looks wide open.... 

The Indianapolis Colts organization was spun on its head recently when star quarterback Andrew Luck shockingly announced his retirement. The decision robbed Indy of its best player and dramatically reduced the team’s likelihood of making the playoffs in the current NFL odds. The Colts still have a good team with a lot of talented players, but the switch from Luck to Jacoby Brissett is a serious downgrade. It will be interesting to see if Indianapolis can withstand the huge loss and remain compet... 

The Jacksonville Jaguars flopped in 2018. A year after making it to the AFC Championship game and looking like one of the best teams in the NFL, they followed it up with a poor season. The offense was the culprit, which is why Blake Bortles was jettisoned and Nick Foles was signed in free agency. Jacksonville still has a lot of elite players on defense, so a bounceback season could be on the horizon. The current NFL odds have given the Jaguars a worse than 50-50 chance at making the playoffs, so... 

If you thought the first weekend of preseason action was tough to handicap, welcome to Week 4. With every starter and regular expected to take the day off, the spreads and totals for every game are as vanilla as can be. The NFL concludes its preseason slate of games with every team in action on Thursday, August 29, with the home team favored in all but three matchups.... 

The Dallas Cowboys made the playoffs a season ago and have designs of returning there in 2019. The core of the team is back, and there is belief this team will challenge the Philadelphia Eagles for supremacy in the NFC East. The current NFL odds are calling a Cowboys playoff run a literal toss-up, as there are even odds on whether they make it to the postseason or not. Dallas fans certainly think it will happen but there is some concern about this group, led by the current holdout of star running back Ezekiel Elliott. ... 

The Cleveland Browns have been an NFL laughingstock for years, but they could be the ones chuckling in 2019. Optimism is as high as it has been in a long time in Cleveland, as a promising roster is ready to take the field when the regular season begins. The Browns finished under .500 a year ago but still showed marked improvement, and could be poised for a playoff run. While that is often a pipe dream in Cleveland, the current NFL odds give the Browns a better-than-even chance of making it to th... 

The Cincinnati Bengals have a new coach from the Sean McVay coaching tree, and are hoping they can turn things around like the Rams did in McVay’s first year in Los Angeles. It won’t be an easy task for Zac Taylor, who takes over a group with some serious talent deficiencies. Andy Dalton is still the quarterback in Cincinnati, but his time could be running short if the team doesn’t show marked improvement and push for the playoffs. The current NFL odds believe that goal is pretty optimistic as i... 

The shocking announcement by Andrew Luck that he was retiring sent online sportsbooks scrambling on Saturday night to move the odds on the Colts and to move the odds on other AFC South teams. The Super Bowl odds on the Colts moved dramatically, as before the injury, the Colts were listed at about 10-1 to win the Super Bowl, but now the Colts are listed with odds of 46-1 at BookMaker. The win total on the Colts moved from 9.5 to 7.5 and the Colts are now the longshot to win the AFC South. Has eve... 

The Buffalo Bills have only made it to the postseason once in the last 20 years, but some are optimistic about their chances in the weak AFC East this season. Buffalo ended 2018 on a positive note, going 4-3 over its last seven games with Josh Allen putting up some big numbers. This team has some intriguing pieces on offense, and if the Bills can be a league average team on that side of the ball, they should challenge for a playoff spot after Buffalo finished last season second in total defense.... 

For the first half of the 2018 season, it looked like the Carolina Panthers would be one of the teams to beat. The Panthers got off to a 6-2 start and three of those victories were against playoff teams.... 

The Chicago Bears were the most surprising team in the league last season. Everyone expected the Bears to finish in third or fourth place in the NFC North, yet they surprised us all by winning the division in Matt Nagy’s first season as coach. Nagy was named NFL Coach of the Year for Chicago’s turnaround, but the Bears were one and done in the playoffs. That disappointing end as some down on the Bears chances of making it back to the postseason, and their NFL betting odds to make the playoffs ag... 

The Atlanta Falcons have not made many drastic changes since their Super Bowl appearance a few years ago and are hoping their core can return to the elite play of years past. Quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones lead the way, but it is the ability of others to step up that will make or break the team in 2019. The current NFL odds have the Falcons as slight underdogs when it comes to making the playoffs this season, but certainly there is enough talent to make it happen. Atlanta is... 

The Arizona Cardinals were the worst team in the NFL a season ago, finishing 3-13 with a really poor point-differential. They fired coach Steve Wilks after only one season and traded 2018 first round pick Josh Rosen to the Dolphins and went all-in on a new quarterback. Coach Kliff Kingsbury and No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray are hoping to turn things around in the desert, although the current NFL odds of the Cardinals making the playoffs prove it could be a long road. Arizona is expected to be ... 

The Baltimore Ravens made it to the playoffs a season ago in quarterback Lamar Jackson’s rookie campaign, and believe they are well on their way to a repeat berth in 2019. The current NFL odds aren’t as sure as Baltimore is an underdog to return to the postseason. Jackson will have to show he can beat teams with his arm, while the defense lost some key players and will need to prove that it is just as fearsome as in past years. If Baltimore returns to the playoffs in 2019 it will feel good about... 

NFL bettors and those that partake in fantasy football are going to get a chance to see just how good a player JuJu Smith-Schuster is now that Antonio Brown bolted the Steel City for the warmer climate of the west coast. The Steelers premiere pass catcher flourished in his second go round in the NFL by reeling in a team-high 111 receptions and turning them into 1,426 yards and 7 TD. One of the reasons he was able to do it was because he got to line up in the slot against opposing defenses lesser...