NFL Spread and O/U Picks: Hunter's Week 17 Best Bets

Dec 25, 2024

Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

It's getting down to crunch time for NFL playoffs, and, as of the time of writing this, there is a 3-way race at the top of the AFC with one of the Bills, Chiefs, or Ravens likely to be in the Superbowl. The rest of the conference will need a superstar QB to be competitive with those 3 anymore. The NFC now appears much more wide-open. By my rankings, the Eagles are best in class for the NFC, assuming the Jalen Hurts concussion doesn’t make him miss any more than a week. They still have the most talented defense and a good enough offense to keep pace with the others should they need to.

The Lions' major weakness lies in the defensive injuries that have started piling up across the board. They have the best offense in the entire NFL, but will the defense be able to come up with stops against the top teams in the NFL? The Bills showed that may be unlikely just two weeks ago. The Vikings and Packers have now moved into the same tier as the Lions, and all three teams are within a .5-point difference over an average team. Can Darnold keep up his level of play through the playoffs? Can the Packers' defense show up against anyone other than the bottom-feeder quarterbacks? The Buccaneers and Rams will make for fun playoff games, but both have too many holes across the roster to reliably be counted on to win a Superbowl in 2024.

Week 16 was a small week for me. Last-minute preparations for the holiday season and a long drive back home made for limited time at a computer for writing. Our week went 3-2 for +2.6 units. The Week 17 slate begins on Christmas Day this year, and hopefully, I can at least put something together to get everyone in a positive holiday spirit.