FOOTBALL NFL ARTICLES

The Green Bay Packers are red hot, having won their last seven games en route to a NFC North Division Title, but now must face the best team in the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas is ready to shed the label of playoff choke artists, but the line indicates that there are a lot of bettors who like Green Bay to win this one. Green Bay has come into its own in recent weeks and although Dallas finished with the best record, the Pack are on a roll.... 

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a trendy pick to knock off New England and win the AFC, but first they have to get past the Kansas City Chiefs. Pittsburgh dominated Miami all day long in the Wildcard Round, but Kansas City is a much more complete team. The Chiefs don’t have glaring weaknesses on either side of the ball and one of the best special teams units in the league. However, no team has more talent at the skill positions than Pittsburgh.... 

The Houston Texans are the biggest underdogs in 18 years this weekend. Nobody believes in Houston after its win over a Derek Carr-less Oakland Raiders squad even though Jadeveon Clowney looks unstoppable. That’s because when Houston traveled to take on the New England Patriots earlier this season, the Pats shut out the Texans 27-0 with Jacoby Brissett under center in place of Tom Brady. The dominating victory gave Houston the label of pretender once again, but it has the chance to prove everyone wrong on Saturday night.... 

One of the best games of the regular season will get a deserved rematch, but a change of venue, when the Atlanta Falcons host the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday. Seattle won the regular season battle between these two sides, but Atlanta felt rightfully hosed after video replay showed that Richard Sherman had pulled down Julio Jones on Atlanta’s last gasp effort. The Falcons have been wanting a taste of revenge ever since this game and will have the perfect opportunity for it on Saturday afternoon.... 

The fact of the matter is that the Super Bowl odds rarely change all that much between the Wild Card weekend and the Divisional Round of the playoffs. All of the top teams and favorites were off this week, so none of them could be upset, and this year, all of the chalk held up to essentially keep all of the odds exactly the same on paper. What we're left with now, is the business that has to be taken care of, and we're going to see that play out over the course of one fantastic weekend of footba... 

As far as most NFL fans are concerned, the opening round of the playoffs is kiddie stuff. The teams that are playing in that first weekend aren't the ones who are really supposed to win the Super Bowl, but they're the ones who can take out the teams who might in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. Typically, home field advantage means a ton this weekend, but outside of New England, there isn't a home team most would feel comfortable slotting into the conference championship game at this point.... 

If the old saying of defense wins championships holds true, the Seattle Seahawks might be on their way to another Super Bowl. Seattle stymied the Lions last weekend, holding them without a touchdown in the Wild Card game, but that old adage will get a severe test in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs when the top ranked offense of the Atlanta Falcons gets a shot at home to take down the Seahawks. Competing in the postseason is nothing new to the Seahawks, who have won eight playoff games in the last five years.... 

The Houston Texans don’t have much of a chance to upset the Super Bowl favorite New England Patriots in the Divisional Round and oddsmakers have noted such. The Pats opened as a 16-point favorite in their matchup, the largest spread for this round in nearly 20 years. And it’s not hard to figure out why. Without Tom Brady, the Pats slaughtered the Texans 27-0 back in Week 3, and now New England is healthy and has the best quarterback playing at the top of his game.... 

With their three stars on offense all playing together in the postseason for the first time, the Pittsburgh Steelers whacked the Dolphins and have the look of a team that could make a trip to the AFC Championship game. In order to get there, however, the Steelers must overcome the stingy defense of the Kansas City Chiefs. They did that already this season, posting a big win over K.C. in October, but this is a playoff game in unruly Arrowhead where fans have waited over 20 years to witness a postseason victory.... 

The Green Bay Packers are the hottest team in the NFL and they’re coming off a Wild Card game in which they scored 38 points against one of the better defensive units. It would be hard to bet against Aaron Rodgers and what he’s done to carry the Pack to the postseason, and the rookie sensations of the Dallas Cowboys have never experienced playoff football, though they have had an extended period of rest. This game sets up to be the marquee matchup of the Divisional Round.... 

After years of futility, the Oakland Raiders have put together an impressive season that could all be tumbling down as a result of an untimely injury to Derek Carr. Now the Carr-less Raiders will host the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs with hopes of advancing, but little chance of capitalizing on what has been a great season. Houston, meanwhile, gets a boost as their now favored to win.... 

For just the third time in the last 17 seasons, the NFL play offs features the Detroit Lions. This time around, the Lions will collide with the Seattle Seahawks. The Lions have lost seven straight Wild Card Games and have last found themselves in a non-Wild Card playoff game back in 1991. Can the No. 6 Lions beat history and advance against the No. 3 Seahawks? It seems unlikely given Detroit is sliding into the playoffs having lost three straight games.... 

An injury to Ryan Tannehill has put a damper on what would otherwise be a very intriguing rematch of a showdown between the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Miami won the first meeting, but this game will be played at Heinz Field and Pittsburgh’s offense will turn to Le’Veon Bell to exploit a Miami defense ranked 30^th in the NFL against the run while the combination of Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio is the most dynamic in the sport.... 

Just how much can a single player do in football? We’re about to get the answer to this question on Sunday when Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers face the New York Giants in the NFC Wild Card Game. The Packers’ defense is battered and bruised and Eli Manning has shown the ability to play up in big games over the years. Green Bay is a dangerous team and they’re playing in the frozen tundra, but the Giants aren’t strangers to cold weather.... 

If any team is going to upset the apple cart and disrupt a potential New England-Dallas Super Bowl, odds are it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh has an elite trio of skill position players in Ben Roethlisberger, LeVeon Bell, and Antonio Brown and a defense that is starting to peak at just the right time. The Steelers came within a hair of missing out on the playoffs, needing Brown to break the plane of the end zone with 10 seconds remaining to knock off Baltimore and win the AFC North. Now, Pittsburgh is looking to take revenge from a loss earlier this season when it faces the Miami Dolphins.... 

Come on Seattle! There is a lot of buzz about this Seattle Seahawks team, even though they are the No. 3 seed in the NFC. Seattle has already defeated Atlanta and New England this season, but unlike the past few seasons where the Seahawks were the darlings of the advanced metrics community, this season the advanced numbers only have them as the 9^th best team in the NFL. However, they will be facing one of the lowest ranked teams by DVOA when they face the 27^th ranked Detroit Lions at home on Saturday night.... 

We may have the worst quarterback match-up we have ever seen in the Wild Card Round when the Oakland Raiders travel to take on the Houston Texans in the first game of the 2017 NFL Playoffs on Saturday. Oakland was seen as a trendy upset pick to win the AFC until Derek Carr suffered a broken leg late in the Raiders victory over the Colts, but now looks like an also-ran in the conference. As for Houston, the Texans thought they had their quarterback when they signed Brock Osweiler to a big deal in the offseason, but he has played so poorly that he was replaced by Tom Savage, but may be the starter for this one.... 

There’s no doubt that the premier game of Wildcard weekend is the last game of the week’s slate of games. The Green Bay Packers won six straight at the end of the year to win the NFC North and Aaron Rodgers was brilliant during that time, throwing 15 touchdowns without an interception as his Packers knocked off three playoff teams in that stretch. Green Bay will be hosting a team that has rode Wildcard magic to two Super Bowl wins over the last decade, the New York Giants.... 

Wild Card weekend is always one of the most fun of the entire year on the NFL calendar, as teams that have dreams of four-game postseason runs get started. Inevitably, there's at least one upset or close call that comes out of nowhere in the cards, and you're never quite sure which team is going to unceremoniously have its season end prematurely next. Each game presents a new challenge for bettors, so you don't want to miss any of the action on the NFL odds at BookMaker.eu.... 

It would be easy for the Green Bay Packers to let out a collective sigh after their improbable run to the NFC North title. Following a loss to the Redskins in Week 11, Aaron Rodgers said the Packers could “run the table” and win the division. It was a laughable suggestion at the time. After all, the Packers had lost four straight and were 4-6. Rodgers’ prophetic statement rang true after the Pack knocked off Detroit on Sunday for their sixth straight win and fifth division title in six seasons. They’ll host the New York Giants in a Wild Card game on Sunday.... 

The seven-year playoff drought is over for the Miami Dolphins, but their stay in this postseason could be short-lived against a well-rested Pittsburgh Steelers squad. With a playoff seed locked up, the Steelers gave several regulars the day off on Sunday and they were still able to post their seventh straight win. The Fins won the regular season meeting between the clubs behind a monster game from Jay Ajayi. They’ll need more of that to pull off the upset with backup Matt Moore directing the show in the Wild Card matchup.... 

It looks like the magic has run out on the Detroit Lions. After winning eight of nine games during the middle of the season to get into playoff position, many by coming from behind in the fourth quarter, the Lions faltered down the stretch and the NFC North title that was theirs just a few weeks back isn’t. It was a painful final three weeks of the year where the Lions couldn’t hang with the top teams in the conference, showing us that they aren’t ready for a major role in the postseason. But it’s a one-game tournament now and the Lions play their Wild Card game in one of the most raucous environments when they visit the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday.... 

It’s been 14 years since the Oakland Raiders last made a trip to the postseason and their stay could be a short one as quarterback issues continue to plague the team at the end of the regular season. It was a kick to the sack when Derek Carr went down with a broken fibula two weeks ago, now his backup may not be available after Matt McGloin sustained a shoulder injury in a loss at Denver last week that cost the Raiders the AFC West crown. The Houston Texans aren’t in much better shape at the QB spot so don’t expect these teams to light up the scoreboard when they meet in a Wild Card game.... 

Wild Card weekend is always one of the most fun of the entire year on the NFL calendar, as teams that have dreams of four-game postseason runs get started. Inevitably, there's at least one upset or close call that comes out of nowhere in the cards, and you're never quite sure which team is going to unceremoniously have its season end prematurely next. Each game presents a new challenge for bettors, so you don't want to miss any of the action on the NFL odds at BookMaker.eu.... 

It wasn’t pretty, but the first career start for Tom Savage resulted in a champagne shower. Starting in place of mega-bucks free agent Brock Osweiler, who failed miserably in his time as the Houston Texans starter, Savage saved the game against the Jags two weeks ago and led the team to the AFC South title with a win over the Bengals on Christmas Eve. There are concerns regarding the quarterback spot with the Tennessee Titans after Marcus Mariota went down with a broken leg. Two backups-turned-starters will face each other in Week 17....