The NFL's second season starts Saturday with a couple of interesting Wild Card matchups.
In the NFC the Seattle Seahawks, division champions despite a losing record, open things up when they host the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints (4:30 pm Eastern, NBC). And the New York Jets try to get a little revenge from last year's conference championship game loss when they again visit the Indianapolis Colts (8 pm Eastern, NBC).
BetJamaica.com opened the Saints as 10.5-point road chalk over the Seahawks, with an OVER/UNDER of 44.5. And while the spread has held steady into Friday betting, the total has dropped to 44, possibly due in part to the weather forecast.
For those who think Seattle might pull off the upset Saturday,
BetJamaica.com is offering the Seahawks at +450 on the moneyline.
We started Indy out at -3 over the Jets, and also with a total of 44.5. And both those numbers remained the same in early betting.
And for those who think New York could win straight-up,
BetJamaica.com is listing them at +120 on the moneyline.
Seattle went 7-9 this season, which was enough to win the NFC West and get the four seed in the NFC. New Orleans, meanwhile, went 11-5 this season, which was only good enough to place second in the NFC South, and get a five seed in the NFC playoffs.
The big news out of Seattle is that veteran QB Matt Hasselbeck will return to the starting lineup for Saturday's game. Hasselbeck had missed the Seahawks' win over St. Louis last week with a sore hip.
The Saints beat Seattle earlier this season 34-19 in New Orleans, outrushing the Seahawks 112-58 and holding the ball for almost 34 minutes. In fact, Seattle ranked second-worst in the league this season in rushing at 89 YPG.
And teams that outrushed their opponents this season covered the pointspread 69% of the time.
The Saints, however, will operate without their top two running backs Saturday, thanks to injuries.
Over the last 11 years worth of NFL Wild Card games there have been two double-digit favorites, and both won and covered. Seven years ago the Colts beat the Broncos 49-24 as 10-point favorites, and four years ago the Chargers beat the Titans 17-6 also as 10-point chalk.
The Colts won their last four games to claim another AFC South title and the three seed in the AFC playoffs.
The Jets stumbled a bit down the stretch but nonetheless enter the playoffs as the six seed.
The Colts and Jets last met, as you might remember, in last season's AFC Championship Game, which Indy won 30-17. But the New Yorkers actually led that game 17-6 late in the second quarter, before allowing the Colts to score the last 24 points of the game.