The NFL playoffs got started with a crazy Super Wild Card Weekend that saw the Cowboys suffer a shock exit, and now we see the Ravens and 49ers enter the fold with the Divisional Round. We have 4 more great games to get excited for across Saturday and Sunday. Will we see another major upset?
If so, there’s a good chance the Pickswise NFL handicappers will find it! Our team of experts have a 59-42 record with their NFL best bets this season, which is good for +29.01 units of profit! We’ve also been red-hot with our NFL picks on the side and total for every game throughout the year. Let’s keep that momentum going and dive into our NFL Divisional Round best bets.
John Martin: Baltimore Ravens -9.5 over Houston Texans (-110)
If at first you don't succeed: Try, try again. That's what we're doing with the Baltimore Ravens against the Houston Texans. We had the Browns -2.5 last week, and that wound up being disastrous thanks to Joe Flacco completely running out of gas. Luckily for the Ravens, this is the Lamar Jackson era, and it's going to be an entirely different beast of a test for the Texans this week. It's probably not possible to look better than CJ Stroud looked last week against the #1 defense in the NFL. He finished 16/21 for 274 yards and 3 touchdowns and became the first rookie quarterback to beat the No. 1-ranked defense in the postseason. It was as incisive a performance as you'll see in this league.
Ravens defensive coordinator Mike McDonald is quite familiar with Stroud, as he schemed against him when he was at Michigan and Stroud at Ohio State, as well as Week 1 of this season in which the Ravens rolled by 16. Now you're asking Stroud to go from a friendlier environment against a defense that, while elite, admittedly didn't travel well, to a road game against a staff that is well-versed in what Stroud is going to do. On the defensive side, though the Texans are as healthy as they've been it's a complete flip from what you have to gameplan for. Going from 38-year-old Flacco to the MVP-elect of the league (who gets back his favorite target) is a jarring dynamic, and it's one that the Texans likely struggle with. Stroud and the Texans have been a great story, but I'm expecting it to come to an end on Saturday.