NFL DIVISIONAL ROUND PICKS

This is the condensed version of picks for Sunday’s NFL divisional round playoff games for Winners and Whiners between:

Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles at New Orleans Saints

Wild-card round review:

Wow. I mean, just wow. Words really cannot do justice how wildly I let my ego run wild at my dive bar after rolling an 8-0 on Sunday. I was admittedly somewhat disappointed about my Colts-Texans picks, but after the Seahawks came through with a back-door cover for both the spread and the over/under, I felt a little better after Saturday’s games.

As a Jets fan who lives in Chicago, I must say the schadenfreude that came with watching Cody Parkey hit the post and then the crossbar was absolutely magnificently exquisite. More so when you actually post it on your Twitter time line before the final drive even starts. No really, go scroll through my timeline (@AlTruda73) and check the timestamp versus when the kick was made.

I’ll wait.

Anyway, all this self back-patting has set myself for an obvious 0-16 week for these four games, so the modest goal this week is 9-7 to beat the vig and have a still-impressive above-.600 percentage for the postseason. The full set of picks for the two Sunday games will come either Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Once more, THANK YOU for reading, and onto the picks!

For the individual games that have six picks, remember the 5/5 is simply the best pick of that individual game, not the entire week. 

Saturday, January 12

Indianapolis Colts at Kansas City Chiefs:

Full Game: Colts +5.5 (3/5) (*I expect the Chiefs to win, just not cover) — LOSS!
Over/Under: UNDER 56.5 points (4/5) — WIN!!

Dallas Cowboys at Los Angeles Rams:

Full Game: Rams -7 (5/5) — WIN!
Over/UNDER: OVER 48.5 points (3/5) — WIN!

Sunday, January 13

Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots:

Full Game: Chargers +4 (3/5) — LOSS!
Full Total: UNDER 47.5 points (3/5) — LOSS!
Full Prop 1: Patriots UNDER 25.5 points (4/5) — LOSS!
Full Prop 2: Ekeler OVER 2.5 catches (5/5) — WIN!
Full Prop 3: Gronkowski OVER 49.5 yards (3/5) — LOSS!
1st Half: Chargers +3 (3/5) — LOSS!
1st Half Total: UNDER 23 points (3/5) — LOSS!
1st Half Prop: Patriots UNDER 13.5 points (3/5) — LOSS!

Philadelphia Eagles at New Orleans Saints:

Full Game: Saints -8 (4/5) — LOSS!
Full Total: UNDER 51.5 points (3/5) — WIN!
Full Prop 1: Eagles UNDER 22.5 points (3/5) — WIN!
Full Prop 2: Thomas OVER 87.5 receiving yards (3/5) — WIN!
Full Prop 3: Tate OVER 4 receptions (3/5) — LOSS!
1st Half: Saints -6 (5/5) — LOSS!
1st Half Total: OVER 26 points (3/5) — LOSS!
1st Half Prop: Saints OVER 15.5 points (3/5) — LOSS!

Hopefully, I’ve done well enough for you to not loathe me. Also as a reminder, this is how the timeline for NFL playoff previews on Winners and Whiners:

Monday night: Short lookahead
Thursday night/Friday: Deep dive preview covering both sides of the ball.
18-24 hours before kickoff: One last update based on line movement and injury reports.

One important thing to note: The format Winners and Whiners uses for Monday night only allows for a full game spread pick and full game over/under. Only HERE will you find the complete six-pick listing that I usually make with each preview I do. If that changes, I will inform you accordingly.

So follow Winners and Whiners on Twitter here (@WinnersWhiners) and follow me here @AlTruda73

Playoff Record: 19-17-0 (.528)

Day Record:                                  Overall Record:
1-Star Pick Record: 0-0-0 (.000)       Postseason Record (0-0-0, .000)
2-Star Pick Record: 0-0-0 (.000)       Postseason Record (0-0-0, .000)
3-Star Pick Record: 3-9-0 (.250)       Postseason Record (11-13-0, .458)
4-Star Pick Record: 0-2-0 (.000)       Postseason Record (4-2-0, .667)
5-Star Pick Record: 1-1-0 (.500)       Postseason Record (4-2-0, .667)
Regular Season Record: 197-181-1 (.522)
Total Record: 216-198-1 (.533)

1-Star Pick Record: 0-0 (.000)          Season (0-0, .000)              Playoffs (0-0-0, .000)
2-Star Pick Record: 0-0 (.000)          Season (0-0, .000)              Playoffs (0-0-0, .000)
3-Star Pick Record: 3-9 (.250)          Season (139-128-1, .521)  Playoffs (11-13-0, .458)
4-Star Pick Record: 0-2 (.000)        Season (27-31, .466)            Playoffs (4-2-0, .667)
5-Star Pick Record: 1-1 (.500)          Season (31-22, .585)          Playoffs (4-2-0, .667)