Picks for the Wild Card Round of the NFL Playoffs

The NFL playoffs begin this weekend with the Wild Card Round. Here are our picks for this weekend’s playoff games.

The 2023 NFL playoffs begin this weekend with the Wild Card Round. Many of the games look rather lopsided, at least on paper. However, there are a few games that look interesting.

The Los Angeles Chargers visit the Jacksonville Jaguars tonight in an interesting matchup of two of the NFL’s rising stars at quarterback. Justin Herbert has been a star for a few years now for the Chargers, while Trevor Lawrence just began to come into his own this season for the Jacksonville Jaguars. According to DraftKings Sportsbook the Chargers are favored in this game by 2.5 points, though I’m not sure why. The Jaguars finished the season on a five game winning streak, including a huge win over the Dallas Cowboys. The Jaguars beat three playoff teams this season, including a 38 – 10 road blowout of the Chargers. The Chargers have just one win all year against a winning team, a tight win over the Miami Dolphins. Now the Chargers try to win on the road in the playoffs, missing Mike Williams at wide receiver. Give me the home dogs here, as Trevor Lawrence continues his rise to NFL royalty.

The other underdog I like this weekend is the New York Giants, mainly because I think the Minnesota Vikings are a .500 team masquerading as a top contender due to a massive amount of good luck this season. Has there ever been another team with just 4 losses and a negative point differential in any full NFL season since they started playing at least 16 games? I don’t know, but I doubt it. The Giants are no great shakes either, but one of these two mediocre playoff teams has to win. I’ll take the Giants.

In all other games this weekend I’m taking the favorites.

Embedded below are my picks for all the Wild Card Weekend matchups this week. These picks are just a simple who wins the game deal. Odds do not factor in. DISCLAIMER: This is just for fun. I make no claims to actually being any good at this. Anyone who chooses to bet according to my picks will likely prove the old maxim, a fool and his money are soon parted.

The predictions are embedded below in the widget provided by our partners at Tallysight, and the odds are provided by DraftKings Sportsbook.