The wildcard round of the NFL playoffs concludes on Sunday with the final two matches taking place on a potentially big night of Gridiron. After wins for the Houston Texans and Seattle Seahawks on Saturday we will find out the identity of the eight sides left in the season by the end of Sunday.
First up is a battle between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Miami Dolphins from Heinz Field with a trip to either Kansas City or New England awaiting the winners.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers secured home advantage in this contest courtesy of winning the AFC North. They had it won early enough that they could afford to rest the majority of their key players for much of their final regular season match last week so they should be heading into this one fresher than some at this stage.
One of the reasons for that has been the strength of their home form. Most sides who have gone into Heinz Field have struggled with the Pittsburgh offense coming alive in home matches. As the season has progressed their defence has got better too so the Steelers look a formidable unit heading into the postseason.
Miami Dolphins
Credit must go to everyone involved in the Dolphins franchise for the season they have had. With New England Patriots being as dominant as they are at the minute you get the feeling the Dolphins were always only playing for a wildcard spot in the AFC but with 10 wins on the season they were rarely in any danger of getting that.
To push on and get that wildcard spot despite the injury to their quarterback Ryan Tannehill was a good effort and based largely on the quality of the running back Jay Ajayi along with their own defence stepping up. Both those factors will need to have huge games if the Dolphins are to come through here.
Betting
As well as Miami have done this season I think it is a tough ask for them to go to Pittsburgh and pull off the win but I’m not sure I want to be backing the Steelers on such a huge handicap in the first round of the playoffs.
The bet I’m most happy with here comes in the form of the rushing yards of LeVeon Bell. He has been rushing brilliantly this season. In his last six games he has rushed for more than 100 yards in five of them and got 93 in the other. In a game I expect Pittsburgh to dominate I expect Bell to be explosive against the third worst run defence in the league.
Bell’s rushing line is at 107.5 and that looks a shade low given the output he has been producing and the potential for him seeing a lot of the ball here.
Tips
WON – Back L.Bell’s Rushing Yards – Over 107.5 yards for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Paddy Power
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