NFC Divisional Playoff Betting Odds, Tips & Best Bets 2019

Bill Williamson

January 7th, 2019

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The offensive portion of your NFC playoffs is about to commence.

The big story of Wild Card Weekend betting in the conference was the ouster of the best defensive team in the field, the Chicago Bears, thanks to a little more Nick Foles postseason magic and a tipped last-second field-goal attempt. With the Bears’ titanic defense now on the shelf, the offensive fireworks may heat up quickly.

It was going to get cranking anyway with top seeds, New Orleans and Los Angeles, joining the party in the divisional round. The Saints, the No. 1 seed, host the Eagles (No. 6 seed) Sunday and the Rams (No. 2) host the Dallas Cowboys (No. 4 ) on Saturday night.

The Saints and the Rams are two of the most explosive teams in the NFL. Their opponents, Dallas and Philadelphia, can both play decent defense. But New Orleans and Los Angeles will still put plenty of points on the board this weekend. The only real threat for those offenses was Chicago’s defense. But they’re gone.

Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, Jared Goff, Todd Gurley, Brandin Cooks. It’s going to be fun for fans of NFL betting.

2019 NFC Divisional Round Best Bets

Cowboys-Rams Over 49

Dallas’ defense is solid, particularly at the linebacker level with Jaylon Smith and supreme rookie Leighton Vander Esch. But this isn’t a Chicago-level defense. Surely, Rams’ coach Sean McVay much more prefers this matchup.

Dallas can be scored on. Seattle, with an average offense, tallied 22 points in the wild-card round. The Rams’ offense is much more potent than Seattle’s.

Yes, the Rams’ offense did have a mini-slump in December, starting with Goff being out of sync. The Rams scored just six points in a loss to the Bears and then 23 in a loss to the Eagles. The Rams’ offense regrouped with scoring 31 against Arizona and then 48 against San Francisco in Week 17.

So, I believe the unit is fixed. Defensively, the Rams defense gives up a lot of points. Two of their three past opponents scored 30 or more points against the Rams. Dallas has some special offensive weapons in quarterback Dak Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott and receiver Amari Cooper.

If Cooper can getting going against a beatable Rams’ secondary, Dallas will score some points. So bet the over with 888Sport.

Cowboys-Rams Highest Scoring Half (2nd)

The Rams’ multi-dimensional offense will wear down Dallas’ defense. It happened in the wild-card round. Seattle scored 16 of its 22 points in the second half. Dallas scored 14 of its 24 points in the second half.

The Rams offense will probably click in the second half better than the first half, anyway. It will be playing on a 13-day break, so there may be some early rust. All of these reasons are why taking the second half as the highest scoring half at -106 with Betfair is a good bet.

Eagles-Saints Over 50.5

You can sense a theme here, right? The Superdome is a points emporium and Brees is the ring master. The Saints offense has been humming most of the season. Brees turns 40 next week. However, he is playing as well as he ever has and he is an MVP candidate.

Like the Rams’ offense, New Orleans’ offense sputtered some down the stretch. It was held to 10 points in Week 13 against Dallas and 15 points in Week 15 against the Carolina Panthers. The Saints had 14 points in Week 17, but the starters didn’t play.

I believe this offense will be ready to put on a big show. Yes, the Eagles defense can be pretty good, and the Eagles are hot right now. But Brees is not Mitch Trubisky.

Defensively, the Saints are strong. But Foles has playoff magic, so there will be some Eagles points scored. I think these two quarterbacks will make the over 50.5-point total winnable. Take the over with Karamba.