Eagles open as 7-point underdogs to Bucs in NFC playoffs

The Eagles opened as 7-point underdogs at FanDuel for their wild-card visit to Tampa Bay.

The Birds were 6-3 on the road this season, though none of the six teams they beat made it to the playoffs. Their three losses were to Dallas, Las Vegas, and the New York Giants. The Eagles were 5-4 against the spread away from Lincoln Financial Field.

Tampa Bay beat the Eagles in Philadelphia in Week 6, but did not cover the closing 7-point line in the 28-22 victory. The Buccaneers went 7-1 at home this season. Only Green Bay (8-0) was better. Tom Brady’s club was 6-2 in Tampa against the spread.

This will be the Eagles first meeting with Brady in the postseason since winning Super Bowl 52 as 4.5-point underdogs following the 2017 season.

In the other NFC first-round games, Dallas (-3) will host San Francisco and the Los Angeles Rams (-3) host division rival Arizona.

So here’s the proposition. You have a five-leg parlay that has four winners already in. The payout is $1.2 million, would you let it ride? Oh, and the sportsbook, in this case PointsBet, has offered a cashout of $624,565. Your original stake is $30,000. Would you take that?

Georgia on the money line (-145) to beat Alabama in Monday’s college football playoff championship game is the final leg.

Marco Piemonte, whose family owns car dealerships in the Chicago area, is in this very envious position. What’s he going to do?

“I couldn’t live with myself if I cashed out,” he told NBCSportsEdge. Good Lord. Talk about onions.

On the other end of the outcome is renowned sports bettor “Mattress Mack,” who has $1.2 million on Alabama’s money line (+125) with Caesars. He wins $1.5 million if the Tide win outright.

Unlike Piemonte, he has no cashout offer to hedge. So what does Mrs. Piemonte think of Marco letting it ride?

“Even my wife would throw me a shot,” Piemonte laughed. “She’d be like, ‘Wow, big shot didn’t have [the guts] to carry through the whole [parlay].’ "

After Georgia had been -3 for most of the week, the line dropped slightly to -2.5 on Friday. “I don’t know if we’ll see the spread go back up to -3,” said Adam Pullen, assistant director of trading at Caesars. BetRivers was one of the few spots at Georgia -3 on Sunday evening.

Alabama drilled Georgia in the SEC championship game only a month ago as 6.5-point underdogs. It was the first time in six years ‘Bama was an underdog. Now here they are as underdogs again.

Alabama coach Nick Saban is 4-0 against Georgia’s Kirby Smart, who won four national championships as the defensive coordinator at Alabama under Saban. Former Alabama safety Will Lowery told Al.com that Smart’s losing streak against his former boss is “definitely eating him alive.”

Alabama and Georgia met for the national championship following the 2017 season. Tua Tagovailoa replaced Jalen Hurts at halftime and threw the game-winning touchdown pass to fellow freshman DeVonta Smith. Alabama walked off with the win, but did not cover the final line of -3.5 because they did not have to try an extra point. Ouch.

Among the props, DraftKings’ over/under passing yards for each quarterback is 314.5 for Alabama’s Bryce Young, and 249.5 for Georgia’s Stetson Bennett.

The pick: Alabama money line. Staying away from Young, but digging over 64.5 rushing yards for Alabama running back Brian Robinson Jr.