The NFL season is more than half way down and only have 5 to 6 games remain in the regular season, depending on if they played earlier this week on Thanksgiving. There are still several teams with a legitimate shot at making the playoffs and others that are looking forward to the 2018 NFL Draft.
Steeler Nation Ready For Home Field Advantage In AFC
If the season ended today, the Pittsburgh Steelers would hold the key to home field with the #1 Seed in the AFC. The Steelers are 8-2 overall this year and their only two losses came against the Chicago Bears and Jacksonville Jaguars. The Steelers have some important games remaining on the year including games against their AFC North rival Baltimore Ravens and defending world Champion New England Patriots. The Steelers are currently +500 to win the Super Bowl, which is down from last month when they were +750 to win the Super Bowl.
Patriots Hold #2 Spot In AFC
The New England Patriots and Tom Brady will be looking to defend their Super Bowl Championship and repeat as this year’s winner of Super Bowl LII. They are in a great position as their last 6 games of the year consists of two games against the 4-6 Miami Dolphins, two games against the 5-5 Buffalo Bills, a game against the 4-6 New York Jets and a game against the #1 seed in the AFC, Pittsburgh Steelers, which could end up being for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Patriots are the favorite to win the Super Bowl, with very little return on your investment at +275.
Jaguars Have Key Pieces To Contend
The Jacksonville Jaguars are currently sitting in the three hole and eager to prove that they are one of the contenders in the AFC. They have a 7-3 record and they are on a 4 game win streak. They say in order to win the championship, you need defense and a good running game. Well, the Jaguars have the best in both! The Jaguars have the #1 rushing offense in the NFL and also have the #1 defense in the NFL. Those two attributes could help the Jaguars go far in the playoffs! The oddsmakers in Vegas are giving the Jaguars no respect at all placing them at +2800
Chiefs Fall From Greatness
The Kansas City Chiefs are now holding on to the 4 seed in the AFC Playoffs after starting the year with the best record in the NFL at 5-0. They have since gone 1-4 to take their record to 6-4 and now in danger of falling out of the playoffs. The Chiefs need to right the ship and have the ideal upcoming schedule to do so. They will play Buffalo, NY Jets, Oakland, LA Chargers, Miami and Denver over the next 6 games, none of which have a winning record! If there is any team in the NFL that is setup to make a powerful run for the playoffs, it is the Chiefs. Vegas oddsmakers have made the Chiefs +2000 to win the Super Bowl.
AFC Wild Cards Are Up For Grabs
The Wild Card situation in the AFC is going to be one of the most interesting in the league as there are about 11 teams that legitimately have a chance of going on a little run and making the wild card. Currently, the wild card spots would go to Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens but one slight slip up and the Buffalo Bills and LA Chargers are ready to move into one, or both of those spots.
The Titans are 6-4 right now and have sort of a mix match of games remaining. They will play 4 straight games against teams with losing records before closing out the year against the LA Rams and Jacksonville Jaguars. If they don’t have a slip up, they should end the season 10-6, which will get them the Wild Card. If you are a believer in the Titans, there is a great shot to make some extra money because they are sitting at +5000!
The Baltimore Ravens are 5-5 and sitting in the final spot for the wild card. The Ravens will play 4 of their final 6 games at home and will only play two teams with a winning record. The Ravens will most likely lose at least 2 of those games, placing them at 9-7 to finish the year. The Ravens are one of the best values on the board right now at +7500!
One of the teams sitting just outside the wild card is the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are 5-5 but they are going to go through a murderer’s row of a schedule. They will play Kansas City and New England two times, as well as easy games against Miami (2 games) and the Indianapolis Colts. Buffalo is +25000 to win the Super Bowl.
Another team we would like to mention in the AFC to keep an eye on is the LA Chargers. The Chargers are now in the 8th spot for the playoffs, 2 spots out of the Wild Card, but they are playing really good football right now. They started out the year 0-4 and have since went 5-2 to move into the 8th spot. The Chargers are coming off a Thanksgiving Day road victory over the Dallas Cowboys and face a relatively weak remaining schedule against Cleveland, Washington, Kansas City, New York Jets and Oakland Raiders.
