We have rounded up some expert NFL picks against the spread from the sports industry for Saturday’s slate of NFL Playoff games.
Last weekend’s Wild Card Weekend saw the Bills, Rams and Buccaneers progress on Saturday. There were no surprises here, although the Bills were given a close run after the Colts shaved the Bills’ lead to three with under two minutes to play.
The New Orleans Saints were the largest favorites of Wild Card Weekend and two second-half rushing TDs was enough to bury the Chicago Bears. Elsewhere on Sunday, the Ravens defeated the Titans and the Browns knocked out the Steelers.
Now, we can look ahead to Saturday’s slate of NFL Playoff games. Just like last weekend, we have gathered some expert NFL picks against the spread from some of the best in the sports industry so that you don’t have to. For Sunday’s expert NFL picks against the spread, click here.
Looking for some NFL promos from the sportsbooks for this weekend? Check out the best promos available by clicking here.
Saturday’s NFL Games:
- Los Angeles Rams at Green Bay Packers – 4:35PM ET
- Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills – 8:15PM ET
1. John Breech – CBS Sports
John Breech (@johnbreech) has been at CBS Sports since July 2011 and currently spends most of his time writing about the NFL. He’s believed to be one of only three people in the world who thinks that Andy Dalton will win a playoff game some day.
Pick 1: Green Bay Packers -6.5 (vs. Rams)
Pick 2: Buffalo Bills -2.5 (vs. Ravens)
2. Bleacher Report
Bleacher Report’s picks are not credited to any staff members and so they may well be treated with a bit of caution. The picks are classed as ‘Consensus Picks’ though so we are going to assume it’s the whole team agreeing on the bets, and not that no-one is confident enough to put their name to the picks.
Pick 1: Green Bay Packers -6.5 (vs. Rams)
Pick 2: Baltimore Ravens +2.5 (vs Buffalo)
3. Gregg Rosenthal – NFL.com
Gregg Rosenthal is the editor of Inside the NFL and in his article for NFL.com this weekend he breaks down both of Saturday’s Divisional match-ups.
He’s confident in the Rams defense and thinks “The Packers will not win the game by more than 7 points. That’s too many points to spot the best defense in football.”
In the second game he says Josh Allen is a ‘Lock’ to have more combined Passing and Rushing Yards than Lamar Jackson, so that’s one for the Prop Bettors, and is taking the OVERS and says 50 Points is a “bizarre number, which should be close to 56”
Pick 1: LA Rams +6.5 (vs. Packers)
Pick 2: OVER 50 Points in Bills/Ravens
4. Benjamin Hoffman – NY Times
The NY Times’ Benjamin Hoffman is giving himself quite a lot of wiggle room in his predictions article for the Divisional Play Offs by saying that “unlike in the regular season, the picks are not made against the point spread.” and is just giving Money Line winners.
Taking the Packers, who are -6.5 favorites, seems a little easy but picking the Baltimore Ravens to upset the odds at +130 on the ML means he avoids criticism.
Pick 1: Green Bay Packers Money Line
Pick 2: Baltimore Ravens Money Line
5. Neil Greenberg – Washington Post
Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post is going with favorites in his article breaking down Saturday’s two Divisional Games. He’s gone for the Packers and the Bills both to cover but has a few additional picks for readers which are backed up by some stats, including that Aaron Rodgers and the Packers have gone UNDER the total in 7/10 when coming off a 12 day rest, as they do on Saturday.
Pick 1: Green Bay Packers -6.5 (vs. Rams)
Pick 2: Buffalo Bills -2.5 (vs. Ravens)
6. Pete Fiutak – CollegeFootballNews.com
Pete Fiutak’s ‘Fearless’ predictions are definitely worth reading as he gives an argument for either side before landing on his pick although with a confidence rating of 3/5 his Saturday selection of Green Bay Packers -6.5 we are not totally convinced on how fearless a pick it actually is.
Pick: Green Bay Packers -6.5 (vs. Rams)
7. ESPN – NFL Nation
ESPN’s picks come, as you’d expect from a variety of different sources and their lead betting article features four different predictions from two different games.
Everyone agrees that UNDERS is the bet in both games with the exact score predictions listed below.
Thiry’s pick: Rams 23, Packers 20
Demovsky’s pick: Packers 24, Rams 20
Hensley’s pick: Ravens 24, Bills 23
Louis-Jacques’ pick: Bills 24, Ravens 21