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Packers, Saints, Chiefs, Bills favored in divisional round

Updated January 10, 2021 - 9:31 pm

If the Green Bay Packers hold serve in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs, Aaron Rodgers will square off against either Tom Brady or Drew Brees in an instant classic NFC championship game.

The Packers, the NFC’s No. 1 seed, opened as 7-point favorites over the Los Angeles Rams at Las Vegas sportsbooks in Saturday’s game at Lambeau Field. The total is 46½.

The Saints are consensus 3½-point favorites over the Buccaneers in Sunday’s game at New Orleans. The total is 51.

The Westgate opened New Orleans -5½ on Sunday night before action on Tampa Bay caused the book to lower the number to 3½. Brees’ Saints swept the season series from Brady’s Bucs, winning 34-23 at home and 38-3 on the road.

“The Buccaneers continue to surprise me a bit because they’re so one-dimensional. It’s Brady or bust,” Westgate sportsbook vice president Jay Kornegay said. “They don’t have much of a running game and usually when you don’t have a running game in the playoffs, you struggle. But the Saints weren’t impressive by any means.”

New Orleans beat Chicago 21-9 in Sunday’s wild-card playoff game and Tampa Bay beat Washington 31-23 on Saturday night.

In the AFC, the top seed and defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs are 10-point favorites over the Cleveland Browns in Sunday’s game at Kansas City. The total is 55½.

The Bills are 2½-point favorites over the Baltimore Ravens in Saturday’s game at Buffalo. The total is 49½.

Cleveland defeated Pittsburgh 48-37 and Baltimore beat Tennessee 20-13 in Sunday’s AFC wild-card games.

“That Baltimore-Buffalo game should be tremendous,” Sunset Station sportsbook director Chuck Esposito said.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.

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