That was better.
After a disappointing start to the postseason, everything turned around last week. It was a nice way to head into the home stretch, but we do have to acknowledge one situation: the spreads were eerily accurate last week.
And they weren’t only accurate in terms of what we should think or could expect. They were accurate in that they eventually moved to nine points where the Kansas City Chiefs won by nine and held at six-and-a-half points where the Los Angeles Rams, largely aided by a missed extra point, lost by six points.
I only note this because of how slim the margins were between a good week and a bad one. And, with only a few games on the schedule, those margins mean more.
Like, for example, when there are only two matchups.
The good news? We can clearly see both the perceptions and how each team plans to attack the other.
Below are predictions for each game against the spread. Spreads have been taken from various websites and are subject to change. The spread in parenthesis denotes the selected team. Spread is listed as advertised number and odds at either DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, or Fanatics Sportsbook (formerly PointsBet). All efforts were made to provide picks at -110 or better, with some stretching to a -125 if no reasonable advertised spread was found.
*Confidence Picks – 2024 Season: 64-57 (Last Week: 2-0)
(2023 Season: 63-61-4) (2022 Season: 54-54-5) (2021 Season: 55-50) (2020 Season: 53-42-3) (2019 Season: 57-43-3) (2018 Season: 63-48-4) (2017 Season: 53-48-4) (2016 Season: 53-67-3) (2015 Season: 69-45-2) (2014 Season: 61-46-2) (10-Year Total: 581-504-30)
All Picks Against Spread – 2024 Season: 147-134-1 (Last Week: 3-1)
(2023 Season: 142-135-8) (2022 Season: 143-132-9) (2021 Season: 158-126-2) (2020 Season: 132-128-7) (2019 Season: 142-118-7) (2018 Season: 137-118-12) (2017 Season: 137-119-11) (2016 Season: 123-136-8) (2015 Season: 143-117-7) (2014 Season: 149-114-4) (10-Year Total: 1406-1243-75)
Washington Commanders at Philadelphia Eagles
It’s always fun when division teams meet in the playoffs, but it takes it to another level when a trip to the Super Bowl is on-the-line.
The obvious starting point when mentioning a division game is familiarity. Neither the Washington Commanders nor Philadelphia Eagles are going to be surprised by what they see on the field on Sunday, and they each were able to secure a win against the other at one point in the year.
For Philadelphia, it was also the only loss it experienced since September.
It’s foolish to think of it as ‘revenge’ when nothing else matters besides the upcoming game, but we can look to the opportunity for adjustments when targeting the third game between the same two teams.
That actually works