heathenism carhop: NFL Playoff Schedule 2012: Early Lines to Jump on Before It's Too Late

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

NFL Playoff Schedule 2012: Early Lines to Jump on Before It's Too Late

An exciting round of playoff football is in the books, capped off by Tim Tebow's heroics against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Now it's time to look ahead to the Divisional Round's early lines to see which ones are the most enticing early in the week.

All odds courtesy of BetOnline.com.

New Orleans Saints (-3.5)

Drew Brees looked unstoppable against the Detroit Lions en route to a blowout victory. No NFL offense is in better form than this Saints group right now, especially with the emergence of Chris Ivory to bolster the running game without Mark Ingram.

The San Francisco 49ers, who finished fourth in yards allowed per game, will be a good test for the Saints.

That said, the 49ers only ranked in the middle of the league against the pass and allowed 27 points to the lowly St. Louis Rams in their last game.

There should be enough holes in the secondary for Brees and his plethora of weapons to exploit to live to fight another round.

Prediction: Saints by 10

Houston Texans (+9)

The Texans were impressive in their playoff debut thanks to a strong game from Arian Foster. T.J. Yates played the game-manager role to perfection and, as long as he's able to keep playing mistake-free football, Houston is going to be a tough out.

Since both the Texans and the Baltimore Ravens are built on strong defense, this game should be a low-scoring affair. Any time that's the case and you can start off with a quick nine points, it's hard to pass it up?especially after seeing Houston play so well against a formidable Cincinnati Bengals team.

Look for both teams to play it safe on offense for the majority of the game, which means the clash will likely be decided by a late field goal either way.

Prediction: Ravens by three

Which team will advance?

New York Giants
Green Bay Packers

Total votes: 2

New York Giants and Green Bay Packers (Over 52.5)

The Giants have been dealing with injuries to their defense all season and the Packers gave up more yards than any other team in the league.

In other words, this game has all the makings of a shootout between Eli Manning and Aaron Rodgers.

When the two teams played in Week 13, they combined to score 73 points, and nothing has changed since then to believe a similar performance isn't on the horizon. Both teams should have their full arsenal available, as Greg Jennings is expected to return for the Packers.

Both squads have plenty of playoff experience under their belts, so there won't be any easing into the situation here.

Manning and Rodgers will come out in attack-mode from the opening kickoff, which should lead to an easy cover.

Prediction: 64 total points