Four home teams are favored in the opening round of the playoffs, while two wild card teams are favored to win on the road against the division winners.
In the playoff opener, the Browns are 2.5-point favorites at the Texans on Saturday afternoon. On Christmas Eve Cleveland won by 14 at Houston, and the Browns had a better record than the Texans, so Cleveland’s status as the betting favorite is no surprise.
And in the Monday night game, the Eagles are 2.5-point favorites at the Buccaneers. Philadelphia is limping into the playoffs, but in Week Three thee Eagles won by 14 at Tampa Bay, and the Eagles had a better record than the Bucs, so again it’s not a big surprise to see the road favorites.
The biggest point spread in wild card weekend is the Bills as 9.5-point favorites at home against the Steelers. Pittsburgh winning would be a massive upset.
The Cowboys are also big home favorites, by 7.5 points over the Packers. Green Bay earned its playoff spot on Sunday, but the Packers may be the worst team to make the playoffs, and the Cowboys have been excellent at home.
The Chiefs are 3.5-point favorites at home against the Dolphins in the matchup of Patrick Mahomes and Tua Tagovailoa, while the Lions are 3-point home favorites against the Rams in the matchup of Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford.
