The Worksheet: Wild Card Round Fantasy Football, All You Need To Know

Welcome to the Wild Card Round 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 matchups for every notable fantasy player for every game every week of the NFL season.

Wild Card Round Fantasy Football Matchups

For those new to this article, just because the fantasy regular season has ended doesn’t mean fantasy football stops.

The NFL playoffs offer many new opportunities for fantasy playoff leagues, props, betting, and daily fantasy games.

272 NFL games are down, and 13 remain.

Here are some quick Wild Card Round odds and trends…

Since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, home teams have a 59-43 edge overall.

Home teams were 5-1 in the opening round last season.

Against the spread, however, they have a 50-51-1 mark.

Favorites have a 63-39 record overall in the Wild Card Round over that span and a 45-56-1 mark against the spread.

Home favorites have a 49-29 record but are only 36-42 against the spread.

Of course, not every home team is the favorite to win.

This season, the Bills, Rams, and Texans are road favorites.

Road favorites are 14-10 heads up in the Wild Card Round since 2002, but they are only 1-5 over the past three seasons.

Those road favorites are only 9-14-1 against the spread.

Short home dogs have been good bets to pull off upsets in the opening round of the playoffs.

Home underdogs below a field goal are 6-3 heads up.

The Jaguars fit in that bucket this season.

This season, only the Rams (-10.5) are favorites by more than a touchdown.

Big favorites have been strong bets to move on in the Wild Card Round.

Favorites of double-digit points are 10-1 (8-3 ATS).

The 2010 Saints were the lone double-digit favorite to lose in the Wild Card Round since the expansion in the Beast Quake Game.

Small spreads are relevant if you are fishing to nail those upsets.

Underdogs of 3 or fewer points have accounted for 24 of the 39 wins from the underdogs in the opening round.

Last year, three underdogs won outright.

Two were at home, and all three were getting three or fewer points.

The Jaguars, Steelers, and Packers fit the mold this season.

Five years ago, the NFL expanded to seven playoff teams in each conference.

Over that span, home teams are 21-9 straight up and an even 18-12 against the spread.

Since the NFL expanded to seven playoff teams, the No. 7 seeds are 1-9 (3-7 ATS).

To be fair to both the Packers (their third time as the No. 7 seed) and the Chargers, both are shorter underdogs, something we have rarely seen since the league added a seventh playoff team.

Only once has a No. 7 seed been an underdog by less than a touchdown before this season, and that was by 5 points.

The Wild Card Round has also skewed heavily towards the under when it comes to game totals.

Since that 32-team expansion, the under is 59-43.

Last year, five of the six games went under the game total.

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 every Wednesday.

Enjoy the games!

Click the matchups below for the individual game previews.

Wild Card Round Fantasy Football Matchups