Can The Road Team Win Any Game During NFL Playoffs?

The 2012 NFL betting lines playoff season started off with a bang, as all four home teams and three of four favorites won their games. Houston opened up the playoffs, by dismantling the overachieving Cincinnati Bengals, then New Orleans finished off Saturday by devouring the Lions. On Sunday, the New York Giants showed their price per head critics, that they are for real, when they stifled the Atlanta Falcons. But the game of the weekend had to go to Denver shocking the world by defeating Pittsburgh in overtime. Thus, entering week two of the playoffs, we wonder, can a road team win any game the rest of the way?

This weekend’s action has the four home teams, as the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, and Baltimore Ravens. Comparable to week one of the bookie software playoff action, three of four home teams are favorites. Green Bay is a nine point favorite over the Giants, the Saints are the only road favorite, as they are a three point favorite over the 49ers, New England is a 13.5 point favorite over Denver, and Baltimore is a nine point favorite over Houston. As football handicappers, we can tell you right away, that at least two of these four games, will not have the spread covered.

In our opinion, the two most likely games to have the underdog at the very least close the spread, are the New York Giants v Green Bay Packers and the Houston Texans v Baltimore Ravens. For the Giants v Packers game, the NFL will have two of the toughest offenses and defenses run head to head. Add this to the fact the last time the two met, the Giants narrowly lost, and we believe that Vegas is under valuing the Giants. What’s more? In the last two weeks, the Giants defense has come to play, as they held the Dallas Cowboys to an embarrassing 14 points in the final game of the season, before containing Atlanta yesterday afternoon.

On the other hand, the game featuring the Houston Texans and the Baltimore Ravens, also offers up a healthy dose of power vs. power. As we saw in the Cincinnati v Houston game, the Texans defense has evolved to the point, where they rank 12^th in overall defense. Meaning to say, whether Joe Flacco hands the ball to Ray Rice or throws it to Anquan Boldin, the Ravens offense should be in for a long night. Flacco as well, seems to get burned under pressure, as he is a disheartening four and three in playoff action. If TJ Yates can find a way to get Arian Foster the ball, it should be a similar result as when the Texans faced Cincinnati.