Welcome to another edition of Gaming Today’s Bookie Battle playoff coverage. Let’s look at the results after the NFL Divisional Round and what’s ahead with the NFC and AFC Championship games.
Scott Gringauz (Circa) retains first place in the standings with a 7-3 record and a one-game lead with three games left to pick. Four contestants follow in second place with a 6-4 record.
It was a more exciting round of the 2024 NFL playoffs last weekend, with three games finishing with one-possession victories. That led to wild results for all our bookies, where nobody had a better result than 2-2 across the four matchups.
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Results for the NFL Divisional Round
- Ravens 34, Texans 10 (BAL -9.5)
- 49ers 24, Packers 21 (GB +10)
- Lions 31, Buccaneers 23 (DET -6)
- Chiefs 27, Bills 24 (KC +2.5)
The two most prominent consensus picks last week (Chiefs -3.5 and Rams +3.5) both hit, but that wasn’t the case in the Divisional Round. 9 of our 11 bookies had the 49ers to cover the double-digit spread, and they won by a field goal.
Unfortunately, both contestants who picked the Packers to cover lost earlier. The Texans were blown out in Baltimore, negating a chance to catch Scott in the top spot (who picked the Ravens).
Nick Smith (Snoqualmie Casino) stays in second place with the Packers pick and selected the Lions to cover the touchdown spread. The only bookie to have a perfect day in selecting picks was Brian Edwards (Palace Station), who selected the Lions and Chiefs on Sunday and stayed in second place.
All contestants either went 2-2 or 1-3 this week, with nobody completing a sweep nor collecting a goose egg across the slate. Here are the full standings after the first two weeks of the NFL playoffs:
- Scott Gringauz: 7-3
- Brian Edwards: 6-4
- Nick Smith: 6-4
- Michael Piranio (Mandalay Bay): 6-4
- Tim Nortz (Northern Quest): 6-4
- Atif Chaudry (Penn Interactive): 5-5
- Kenny Martin (Caesars Sportsbook – Horseshoe Tunica): 5-5
- Mike Ayala (New York New York): 5-5
- Louie G Martin (Casablanca/virgin River): 4-6
- Brian MacGillivray (Barley’s Casino): 3-7
- Duane Colucci (Rampart Casino): 3-7
Looking Ahead to the NFL Championship Round
Many of our bookies are still in the running for $2,000 with three games left. Two games will decide the AFC and NFC Championships on Sunday. Contestant picks are due a half hour before the first kickoff (Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET). Here are the contest spreads for both games:
- AFC Champ (3 p.m. ET): Chiefs at Ravens (-3.5)
- NFC Champ (6:30 p.m. ET): Lions at 49ers (-7)
Baltimore is the favorite to win the Super Bowl heading into the Final Four, but they have a tighter game spread than the other matchup. The Ravens have undoubtedly played the best over the past month of the season, but the Chiefs continue to deliver in the postseason.
Kansas City had their first true playoff road game with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback. While continuing to be inconsistent on offense, they made the big plays necessary to advance and benefitted from Buffalo’s late field goal miss.
In the other matchup, quarterback Brock Purdy continues to have a dream start to his career with San Francisco. He’s hoping to avoid a bad situation in the championship game a year ago with an injury that kept the team from being competitive. Detroit is the Cinderella team among the four remaining, and we’ll see how they fare away from the incredible home crowd they had in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
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