NFL playoff betting: Bills-Ravens line close in divisional round duel
The NFL couldn’t have scripted this one any better.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson — the top two favorites for NFL MVP — will square off in Buffalo for a likely trip to Kansas City for the AFC title game.
The Bills are consensus 1-point favorites over the Ravens in Sunday’s divisional round playoff game. It’s a rematch of Baltimore’s 35-10 win over Buffalo in September as a 3-point home favorite.
“We think Baltimore’s a little bit better than the Bills. But the Bills have home-field advantage,” Westgate vice president of race and sports John Murray said. “We opened the game 1½, briefly had the game at pick’em and moved back to Bills -1. There was some respected play on Buffalo when the game did get to pick.
“For our money, these are the two best teams in the league. It should be an awesome game.”
The Chiefs are consensus 8-point home favorites over the Texans in Saturday’s divisional game.
“We opened it 8½ and it got bet down to 8,” Murray said. “I do think there will be a fair amount of support for Houston just because Kansas City has been as unimpressive as you can be when you start the season 15-1.
“There will certainly also be teasers with Kansas City and people betting the Kansas City money line. It’s hard to picture any way Kansas City doesn’t win that game.”
Book report
Bettors had a great weekend, starting with Notre Dame (+1, beat Penn State 27-24) and Ohio State (-5, beat Texas 28-14) covering in the College Football Playoff semifinals Thursday and Friday, respectively.
“The customers’ faith was rewarded with the Buckeyes’ win,” Caesars Sportsbook vice president of trading Craig Mucklow said. “We did have the $1.5 million Texas national championship winner wager beat, which softened the big blow on the game.”
A Caesars bettor lost a $1.5 million wager placed in early December on Texas to win the national title at +390 odds.
Home favorites then won and covered three of the first four NFL wild-card playoff games.
The Ravens (-8½) beat the Steelers 28-14 on Saturday night. The Bills (-7½) stormed back from an early 7-0 deficit Sunday morning en route to their 31-7 blowout of the Broncos. The Eagles (-5½) beat the Packers 22-10 on Sunday afternoon.
“We can’t get a favorite to lose a game in this league,” Murray said before “Sunday Night Football.” “It’s tough to win when you’ve got home favorites covering the spread three games in a row like that. Big favorites, too.
“It’s been a weekend that’s been very reminiscent of the regular season.”
Upsets
Sportsbooks were bailed out by the Texans (+2½) beating the Chargers 32-12 on Saturday in the wild-card opener. Though Caesars bettors did win wagers on Houston of $200,000 at +2½ and $110,000 at +3.
Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert threw a career-high four interceptions in the loss after throwing only three in the regular season.
“The key to the weekend is the fact the Texans won outright,” Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said. “The highest ticket count, by far, was on the Chargers and the largest amount of money was on the Chargers.
“After losing the two College Football Playoff games and seeing the way the rest of these games went, we still will have a winning weekend, and it really comes down to the fact that the Chargers lost.”
The Commanders delivered another outright upset when they beat the Buccaneers 23-20 on Sunday night as 3-point road underdogs. Washington won it on Zane Gonzalez’s 37-yard field goal that clanked off the right upright and went through as time expired.
Bettors lost on the total as the game stayed under 51½. Unders went 3-0 on Sunday and are 4-1 in the playoffs.
The Lions opened as 8½-point favorites over the Commanders in Saturday’s divisional playoff game at Detroit. The total is the highest on the board at 55½.
The winner of Monday’s Vikings-Rams wild-card game in Arizona will play the Eagles at Philadelphia in the next round.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.