Ed Welch

While the Wild Card round went to the dogs in the AFC, football bettors have to be happy with the matchups for the conference’s Divisional Round. Four incredible quarterbacks headline what should be an action-packed weekend of wagers.

Here’s a look at the opening odds, action and betting trends for the two AFC Divisional Round games:

Indianapolis Colts at Kansas City Chiefs (-6, 57)
There’s no team hotter than the Colts at this point. Indianapolis has posted five straight wins and has suffered only one defeat going back to November mid-October. Andrew Luck has put any doubts about his shoulder to rest, and the Colts are getting great two-way play from the offense and defense heading into this tough travel task to Arrowhead.

The Chiefs are the top seed in the conference and hold perhaps the biggest home-field edge in the postseason. Kansas City was 7-1 SU and 5-2-1 ATS inside Arrowhead this season, where cold and crowd noise will make life tough on the visiting Colts. The forecast for Saturday night is calling for sub-freezing temperatures in KC.

While Luck has been incredible, the Colts stop unit is the unsung hero of this postseason push. Indianapolis has allowed an average of just 14 points per game in their last eight contests, including stuffing Houston in a 21-7 Wild Card win in which the Texans found the end zone late. The Chiefs haven’t been able to get stops routinely, so the team forcing the most three-and-outs will likely cover this spread.

Los Angeles Chargers at New England Patriots (-4.5, 47.5)
The Chargers are a tough team to feel out for this Divisional Round game in New England. The Bolts avenged their Week 16 loss to Baltimore with a win over the Ravens in the Wild Card Round, but in all fairness, Los Angeles should have blown out Baltimore. Instead, they couldn’t capitalize on the Ravens multiple turnovers, had trouble cracking the red zone, and almost gave the game away down the stretch.

Los Angeles won’t get those mistakes from the Patriots. New England has had an extra week to study, prep and rest and has the psychological edge over the Chargers, having won and covered in four straight meetings with L.A./San Diego. New England floundered a bit at the end of the season, but those poor performances came on the road. This is a much different team in Gillette Stadium, where it went 8-0 SU on the season.

Brady and the offense get a lot of the love, with so many ways to hurt an opponent, but this defense has been quietly building a postseason-ready resume. New England has allowed an average of just under 15 points per game in their last six – producing a 5-1 Over/Under mark. With the Chargers playing a methodical pace, there is great value with the Under Sunday.