Welcome to the AFC and NFC Championship Game edition of The Worksheet, a comprehensive fantasy football preview, by Rich Hribar.
What is The Worksheet from Rich Hribar?
The Worksheet is a comprehensive weekly fantasy football preview for each NFL game. Rich Hribar analyzes the matchup for every notable fantasy player for every game every week of the NFL season.
For those who are new to this article, just because the fantasy regular season has ended doesn’t mean that fantasy football stops. The fantasy playoffs offer a host of new opportunities for playoff leagues, props betting, and daily fantasy games.
With the Chiefs, Ravens, 49ers, and Lions all moving on, we are down to the final four teams left standing.
Some Conference Championship Round recent history.
Home teams have dominated the closing round of the conference playoffs.
Since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, home teams are 29-13 straight up this round.
Over the past 10 years, those home teams have had a robust 16-4 record.
Just twice (2012 and 2018) over that full span did both road teams win outright in the same season.
Against the spread, home teams have posted a 24-18 record.
That of course ties into favorites here since 36 of those 42 home teams were also favored.
Favorites have an equally strong 29-13 record straight up over that span but a tighter 22-20 record against the spread.
Last season was the seventh time over that 21-year expansion that both favorites covered.
Conference Championship games have also skewed towards going over the expected total since 2002, posting a 24-16-2 record towards the over during that span.
No. 1 seeds have fared well knocking on the door to the Super Bowl, and both of the No. 1 seeds in each conference are left standing this weekend.
Top seeds have a 22-7 record outright in the Championship Round over our sample, going 18-11 against the spread.
Going a step further, No. 1 seeds facing teams that were the No. 3 seed or lower over that span are a healthy 9-2.
Don't Miss Out on Our Historic Season
2023 has been Warren Sharp's most profitable season betting on the NFL in the last decade.
A $100 bettor is up $8,148 following Warren's recommendation this NFL season.
We have been even stronger late in the season, going 62-29 (68%) on elevated plays over the final two months.
And the fun is not over. Our weekly postseason packages are live, and we are offering a great deal.
Use code 75OFF to get 75% off our weekly postseason package
» Learn more about this offer!
This article will be updated throughout the week to reflect major news or injury implications.
I encourage you to use the game-by-game tables and data points here in conjunction with the player rankings that will be available each Thursday and enjoy the games.
Click the matchups below for the individual game previews.