The 2014-15 NFL Playoffs have finally arrived with some heart stopping football action. That same craziness continues this coming weekend, and now there are only eight teams remaining to contend with in each team’s quest to win the famous Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy.
To begin, this Saturday you will see the Baltimore Ravens playing the New England Patriots, and this will be their 1st playoff game since the epic AFC 2012 Conference Championship game. Then the second game of that Saturday playoff day, you will see the Seahawks of Seattle with their haunted 12th man stadium, seek to continue their 2013-14 NFL Championship Title, as they take on the red hot and streaking Panthers of Carolina.
Then as we move into the January 11th, Sunday playoffs we have the opportunity to see two great NFL Playoffs games with one, the Green Bay Packers play the Dallas Cowboys, and the Colts of Indianapolis play the Broncos of Denver and their former star QB Peyton Manning.
If you bet on NFL at an online sportsbook, it is very important to make the right choices when wagering, especially in these Divisional Round playoffs, and that surely is not an easy task. Taking that in mind we will provide you with some information regarding these matchups that may assist you in your decisions, or completely confuse you!
In the Saturday, January, 10th game with the Baltimore Ravens versus the New England Patriots, the pick is for the Ravens at +7.5. Most everybody was ready to write off Baltimore when they played the Steelers, due to their injured secondary players, but the Ravens showed that their secondary weakness was concealed very well, as they created a great pass rush, one that sacked the Steelers QB Roethlisberger some 5 times. Also, a lingering question is the Patriots offensive line abilities, as they are likely to give the Ravens pass rush duet of Suggs and Dumervil a big advantage, and secondly the question is how can the Patriots defend against the pass, as the Ravens QB Flacco with very capable receivers in Smith and Smith could easily exploit the Ravens pass defense.
Then the pick for the Carolina Panthers and the Seattle Seahawks, the writer picks the Panthers at +11. These two teams have had close results in all of their games dating back to 2011 when Ron Rivera took over the Carolina Panthers head coaching job, and every game has been very close. In those five meetings the Panthers have lost by 4 points in the 1st two games, and by 5 points in their last 3 games against the Seahawks, and that included a much contested game this year, that the Panthers lost 13-9. In that game the Seahawks and QB Wilson had to score a last minute TD to win the game and finish the Panthers. No doubt Seattle has the home field advantage in this game, but remember the Carolina defense has performed exceptionally well over the last month of the 2014 season, as they have only allowed their opponents to score 12 points per game in the last five 2014 season games. Their defense then is capable of keeping the Seahawks from getting a double digit lead in the game, thus the Panthers could lose the game, but not by the double digit -11, so take a real close look at your wagers on this playoff game.