NFL fans have been treated to an exciting regular season full of twists and turns, but we are now moving into the business end of the season: the playoffs. We start with the Wildcard Round, which sees the two division winners with the lowest win records in each conference take on the two best runners-up. In the AFC the Houston Texans host the injury-hit Oakland Raiders in the first game, while the in-form Pittsburgh Steelers have home advantage against the Miami Dolphins.
Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans
It was all going so well for Oakland as they qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2002. But then they were rocked by the injury to star quarterback Derek Carr, who suffered a broken fibula and was ruled out indefinitely, and the odds on them winning the Super Bowl plummeted accordingly. In their last regular season game, Carr’s replacement Matt McGroin was hit by a shoulder injury, and they finished with rookie Connor Cook as QB. It cost them as they slumped to a 24-6 defeat against the Broncos, who were on a long losing streak and already eliminated. That caused them to slip from first to second in the AFC West as the Kansas City Chiefs won to leapfrog them at the death, so they go into the Wildcard Round after slipping from number two seed to number five and have to face the Texans, who finished 9-7 to win the AFC South and claim the number four seed despite having a worse record than the Raiders.
Without Carr, nobody is giving the Raiders much of a chance. They beat the Texans in week 11, but the teams are looking very different now. The Texans are 1.55 with Boyle Sport and that looks a good price, considering how depleted the Raiders are. The Texans’ quarterback situation is a bit uncertain too, as Tom Savage left Sunday’s game with a knock and Brock Osweiler came back in, so you might want to see who the starting quarterbacks are before placing your bet, but the Texans should cover a -3.5 spread at 10/11 with Bet365 if Cook starts. If they can’t beat a third string rookie quarterback, Houston fans will go ballistic.
Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers are on a sensational seven-game winning streak and have been made third-favourites for the Super Bowl at 17/2 with Paddy Power. Despite that they only finished as third seed in the AFC and have to get through the Wildcard Round against the sixth-seeded team, the Dolphins, who finished 10-6 in the AFC East. The Steelers are on a roll and should be far too strong for Miami, who were crushed 35-14 by the New England Patriots in their last game. The Miami defence was run ragged and the offence was constantly under pressure, so the fans will not be full of optimism ahead of the trip to Pittsburgh.
Having said that, the Dolphins did beat the Steelers 30-15 in week 6, but a lot has changed since then and the Steelers have looked outstanding in their seven-match winning run. That is borne out in the odds, with the Dolphins huge outsiders at 7/2 with the likes of William Hill and Bet365, and Pittsburgh as low as 1/5 but best priced at 4/17 with 888 Sport and Unibet. The Steelers should win this one comfortably and that looks a good one for any accumulator bets. Injuries are looking good for the Steelers as Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell will play a postseason game together for the first time, while Miami’s defence is banged up and quarterback Ryan Tannehill – who put the Steelers to the sword in week 6 – is also injured. The spread on the Steelers is -9.5, a huge favouritism, and while they may not quite cover that they should win this one fairly comfortably.
