The NFL playoff schedule is out for this week, and today, I’m set to make my NFL playoffs pointspread picks for the ‘total’ in this crucial clash. The Seattle Seahawks and the Washington Redskins are going to do battle at FedEx Field in Washington DC. Join me for my Wild Card playoffs tips for this 4:30 p.m. ET kickoff that can be seen on FOX.
It’s strength vs. strength here in the final playoff game, as one of these two teams will be the eighth and final team into the second round of the playoffs for next week. There’s just a ton of intrigue around this game from so many standpoints. There are a pair of rookie quarterbacks making their debut on the biggest stage of football, there are two great running games, one fantastic secondary, and one team that has a remarkable front seven. And, we have something that we don’t see all that often in the playoffs, and that’s a road team that is favored by a field goal over a home team. What makes that even weirder? Seattle has to travel hours and hours clear across the country just to get to this one.
Wild Card Playoff Picks
Seattle Seahawks (11-5, 11-5 ATS) -3
Washington Redskins (10-6, 11-5 ATS) +3
Over/Under 46.5
In the end though, I think that it’s easy to say that this one is going to end up sailing beneath the ‘total’. Asking for 47 points in any playoff game is tough, but doing so with a pair of rookie quarterbacks, no matter how good those two rookies turned out to be this year, is a ton. Yes, I know that the Seattle offense has averaged 42.5 points per game in its last five and that the Washington offense ranked fourth in the league this year in total scoring thanks to the fact that it scored at least 27 points in its last four and six of its last seven games of the regular season. That’s no big surprise to me whatsoever.
What does this one for me is the fact that both of these teams are going to try to run the ball at one another time and time again. RB Alfred Morris is going to be running into the teeth of one of the most ferocious defenses that the NFL has to offer, one that has allowed 17 points or fewer in five straight games. RB Marshawn Lynch always has the ability to go all Beast Mode on me to ruin things, but the Redskins, for all of their flaws, still rank fifth in the game against the rush this year. If that’s the case, can either of these quarterbacks really get the job done? They’re both going to have to if there are going to be at least 47 points put on the board in this game. Go with the ‘under’.
Seattle vs. Washington Picks & Tips: Under 46.5
