NFL Playoff Odds: Steelers Favored Against Ravens

The odds for this week's divisional round games are out, and the Steelers are listed as a three-and-a-half point favorites against their first playoff opponents, the Baltimore Ravens. This makes some sense - the Steelers have home-field advantage, and they finished 1-1 against the Ravens this year despite not having Ben Roethlisberger in one of those games.

The Patriots are listed as nine-point favorites against the Jets. Again, it's hard to argue with that - the Pats should be heavily favored. Although the Jets did beat the Patriots early this season, the Patriots crushed them in a later matchup. New England has home-field advantage and is one of the best teams in the NFL. If the Pats lost, that would be amazing, but it will take - well, I wouldn't say a miracle, but a pretty strong dose of inspiration.

In the NFC, the top-seeded Falcons are just one-point favorites over the Packers, which is surprising. The Bears are nine-and-a-half point favorites against the Seahawks - it's telling that Vegas is predicting about the same margins of victory for the Patriots/Jets and Bears/Seahawks games. In one case, it's because one of the teams is so good; in another, it's because one of the teams is so bad.