At halftime of the wild card round playoff between Kansas City and Tennessee last week, it looked like the Titans would be heading home after a single week in the postseason, as the Chiefs held a commanding 21-3 lead over the Titans. However, things turned around dramatically after the intermission, and thanks to the strong running of Derrick Henry (and the inability of referee Jeff Triplette to determine correctly whether a player was down by contact), the Titans came all the way back to win, 22-21. Their reward? A date in New England against the Patriots. Our online betting preview for this game has the Patriots winning — but will they cover? Read on to find out our perspective for this AFC Divisional Round game and the latest NFL odds.
Tennessee at New England NFL Odds for AFC Divisional Round
When: Saturday, January 13, 2018, 8:15pm ET Where: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA TV: CBS Radio: Westwood One Live Stream: NFL Live AFC Divisional Odds: New England (-13), O/U 47Marcus Mariota will make his 2nd career playoff start Saturday against the @Patriots Since 2001, quarterbacks making their first or second career playoff start are 0-7 against New England#TENvsNE
— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) January 10, 2018
Weather Forecast
- Partly Cloudy: 0°C/32°F
- Humidity: 68%
- Precipitation: 7%
- Wind: 9 mph NNW
- Cloud Cover: 51%
- Type of Stadium: Open
Why should you bet on the Titans?
The Titans won one of their last four regular season games — and they won that one by 15-10 fashion, as the offense appeared to have gone into hibernation early for the winter. However, the second half against Kansas City saw that offense wake up, putting up 19 points in a row to take the win. However, Tennessee has just covered the spread seven times in their last 28 games coming after a win. Can Mariota and Henry deliver another miraculous win? The offense has the talent to do it, but Mariota is going to have to stand in and send the ball down the field, as the Patriots’ weakness on defense remains their secondary. What about the Tennessee defense? The unit has no stars to speak of, and the Chiefs were slicing and dicing right through their front seven in the first half, and the Titans did not mount a pass rush to speak of, as the Chiefs made scoring 21 points look easy. However, they upped the ante with their pass rush in the second half, and when the Chiefs started to get conservative, they loaded the box and forced Kansas City into shorter drives. The problem with expecting this to work again is that Brady and the Patriots won’t get conservative.Why should you put your money on the Patriots?
Not only did the Patriots win 13 games straight up this season, they covered the spread 11 times — including 10 times in their last 12 games. They did start slowly, with losses to Kansas City and Carolina in the first four weeks (as well as a game they almost lost to Houston). However, since then, the defense (which had been dead last in passing yards permitted per game) has shored itself up, and down the stretch the team just lost once — at Miami — while winning the rest, including a big game at Pittsburgh. Recent stories on ESPN have indicated that there is major conflict brewing between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, but it’s hard to see that chemistry turning over the cart. The offense that the Patriots bring has proven almost impossible to stop. Brady gets rid of the ball faster than just about every other quarterback, and the stable of running backs — Rex Burkhart and Dion Lewis, with James White expected to return from a knee injury — and targets Brandin Cooks and Rob Gronkowski down the field all give Brady a wealth of options with the ball. The Titans have a plucky defense, but the Patriots just have too many choices.Latest AFC Divisional Round Betting Trends
- Tennessee is 6-1 ATS in its last 7 games
- Tennessee is 8-4 SU in its last 12 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Tennessee’s last 7 games
- New England is 9-1 ATS in its last 10 games
- New England is 11-1 SU in its last 12 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of New England’s last 5 games
