There are few better ways to win money in the NFL playoffs than looking at the odds boosts from every sportsbook. Odds boosts are the wagers where sportsbooks shift the odds every so slightly in your favor on certain bets. In the postseason, that means plenty of chances to make some money on some those super specific prop bets. Due to limits, these aren’t going to be the huge moneymakers, but our job is to search the sportsbooks to find the best value for your betting buck. We scoured the internet to find you the best NFL odds, prop bets and NFL picks to wager on for this Wild Card Sunday. With three big matchups on the docket featuring several big names, the NFL betting picks are tantalizing for the final day of Wild Card action.
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It was a very exciting Saturday in the Wild Card round, and Sunday could be even better with a strong slate of games. We begin the day in Nashville, where Derrick Henry and the Titans host Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in a matchup of two run-heavy offenses. Next we travel down to New Orleans, where the Saints host the Chicago Bears, and we’re going to focus on the backup quarterback and the impact Taysom Hill could have for the Saints. We end the night in Pittsburgh where the pass-happy Steelers are hosting the COVID-stricken Browns in Cleveland’s first playoff game in 18 years.
NFL Odds Boosts + Betting Picks: Wild Card Sunday
NFL Picks: Lamar Jackson AND Derrick Henry Score Touchdown (+270 DraftKings)
Henry is the far easier component of this bet because all he seems to do is find ways to score touchdowns for the Titans. He’s scored in four of the last six games and has scored multiple touchdowns in three of those contests, which is why FanDuel is offering +360 odds on Henry to score at least two touchdowns in this game. But perhaps more importantly, Baltimore has struggled to stop Henry in their last two meetings with the two-time rushing champion. In last year’s playoffs, Henry didn’t score but he ran for 195 yards on 30 carries against this Baltimore defense. When the two teams met in November, he scored once as he ran for 133 yards on 28 carries to lead Tennessee to victory. He ran for 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns this season for a reason, and Baltimore’s rushing defense still doesn’t have an answer for him.
Jackson hasn’t rushed for a touchdown in the last two weeks after scoring four of his seven rushing touchdowns in the three weeks prior to that. However, Jackson has a checkered past when it comes to his performances against the Titans in the two games mentioned above. He performed like the MVP for the most part in the playoffs last year, when he torched the Titans for 365 yards passing and 143 rushing, accounting for all but 42 of Baltimore’s yardage in the game. Yet in November, Tennessee kept Jackson bottled up for most of the game and limited him to just 51 yards rushing on 13 attempts. There is a difference between this Baltimore team entering the playoffs and the one that faced Tennessee in November, and the success of Baltimore’s offensive line at opening up holes for the running game give hope that Jackson will return to the end zone this week.
NFL Picks: Taysom Hill Scores Touchdown (+250 DraftKings)
Hill has always had a role in this Saints offense, and his four straight games as the starting quarterback only showcased how versatile he can be. In the three games since Drew Brees returned to the Saints lineup, Hill has still had a role in the offense, and Sean Payton has found ways to keep his best players on the field. That won’t change in the postseason now that Hill has found a confidence and put enough film out there that the Saints aren’t afraid to use him in multiple ways. Especially with Alvin Kamara nursing his way back from COVID-19 and practicing virtually this week, Hill could have a much larger role within the offense against Chicago as a way to ease Kamara’s load.
It is not a surprise that Hill has been a vital part of the offense in recent weeks, but he has run for at least one touchdown in the last three games of the regular season. He had just one rushing touchdown before he took over as the starter against Atlanta then went on to showcase all of his skills over the next four weeks. By becoming a passing threat in addition to his running capabilities, teams can no longer stack the box assuming Hill’s presence at quarterback means a running play. That has given Hill more room to work especially near the goal line when teams now have to fear a jump pass if they commit too heavily to the quarterback keeper.
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NFL Picks: JuJu Smith-Schuster Scores Touchdown (+160 PointsBet)
We know that the Steelers are going to air it out Sunday night against Cleveland because that’s just simply what they do. Smith-Schuster is the team’s top receiver, and he’s certainly played like it, with a touchdown grab in three of the last four games. He’s caught at least six passes in five of the last six games, and he’s been targeted at least eight times in four of those contests. Any team that throws the ball as much as Pittsburgh has done the last two months of the season is bound to connect with its top target a lot, and Ben Roethlisberger rarely misses a chance to get Smith-Schuster involved in the game.
To make matters better for Pittsburgh, the Browns will be down starting cornerback Denzel Ward due to COVID-19 this week, and that loss was felt by Cleveland last game. The Browns held Smith-Schuster to two catches for six yards in the first meeting of the season with Ward in the lineup, and Smith-Schuster had six catches for 65 yards with Ward sidelined by the virus. If the Browns couldn’t slow down Mason Rudolph last week, it seems unlikely they will be able stop Roethlisberger. A better quarterback will be able to take advantage of the mismatch a lot more than Rudolph did, which doesn’t bode well for Cleveland.
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