NFL
NFL Divisional Round preview: Bills to avenge Damar Hamlin?
After a thrilling Wild Card weekend, fans’ sights are set on the upcoming Divisional Round which will determine who makes it to the Conference Championships.
The largest clash of the weekend is undoubtedly the Buffalo Bills versus the Cincinnati Bengals, while the 49ers are a coin toss against the Dallas Cowboys in another huge meeting.
We preview the best of the action below.
Cincinnati Bengals @ Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills come into this match-up after bettering the Miami Dolphins 34-31 in a well contested Wild Card game, with star quarterback Josh Allen passing for 352 yards. In regular season the Bills went 14-3 and dominated in their highly competitive AFC East division.
This game will be personal for the Bills, who had their safety Damar Hamlin suffer from cardiac arrest during the regular season match-up against the Cincinnati Bengals, leading to the game being called off. It makes for a great comeback story, and you can bet the squad will give it their all to avenge their teammate.
The Bills come in as the 10/11 favourites and are -5 in the spread. Ahead of the game, the Bills made intriguing changes to their practice roster including bringing up receiver Tanner Gentry, who was a college teammate of quarterback Josh Allen.
The Cincinnati Bengals are the defending AFC champions and are also highly motivated to win as they head to Highmark Stadium. Last weekend saw the Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens 24-17, in what was a closer match than it should’ve been.
The Bengals went 13-4 in the regular season and head into this match-up as the 2/1 underdogs. Against the spread they had a record of 12-4-1 which bodes well for them at +5 here. Their season hangs in the balance and quarterback Joe Burrow will need to have a quality game to take them to the Conference Championship.
Speaking of quarterbacks, Joe Burrow was on the wrong end of four sacks last weekend thanks to the Bengals poor offensive line, and head coach Zac Taylor will need to figure out a better way of protecting Burrow if they are to better the Bills on the road.
On balance, this match-up could go either way, but the Bills definitely look the stronger side on paper before kick-off. This is set to be a highly entertaining game with touchdowns galore. Both teams to score two touchdowns is priced at 20/49.
Check out the latest betting odds at William Hill
Dallas Cowboys @ San Francisco 49ers
Kyle Shanahan’s squad look in peak form despite having rookie quarterback Brock Purdy at the helm. This is largely due to their diverse offence and their brutal defence, which is among the best in the league.
After their 41-23 dominance over the Seattle Seahawks last weekend, it is no surprise that the San Francisco 49ers head into this home game as the 10/19 favourites. Despite an underwhelming first half, Purdy and the 49ers came back to score 25 points to the Seahawks 6 in the second half of the game.
The Dallas Cowboys will pose a unique threat, but not an unfamiliar one, as this game is effectively a rematch of last year’s Wild Card game between the pair. Last year’s game saw the 49ers win 23-17, and most pundits fancy a repeat of last year’s outcome.
The Cowboys have other plans however, and after their 31-14 battering of Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they will head into this game on full steam. The only weakness exposed was placekicker Brett Maher, who somehow missed four consecutive extra-point attempts, breaking a new NFL record.
Despite some shakiness at kicker, the Cowboys look in fine form and will bring the heat to San Francisco as the 17/10 underdogs, currently standing at +3.5 in the spread.
Quarterback Dak Prescott had a stunning game last weekend, being intercepted a grand total of zero times while throwing for four touchdowns and running one himself – a truly impressive feat any way you frame it.
The potential weakness in the 49ers defence that the Cowboys may look to exploit is their secondary, with the 49ers landing 11th in opponent yards per pass attempt. The only problem is Shanahan seems to have a ‘ying’ for every ‘yang’ and he will likely expect the Cowboys to try the pass game and will undoubtedly have some tactics up his sleeve.
To summarise, the tightness of the odds compared to the other games in the Divisional Round tells a story, and the 49ers would have a larger edge if they had an experienced quarterback in place. Nevertheless, this promises to be an unmissable game and also a high scoring one, with the over/under currently at 46, priced at 10/11.
