Henry Roldán
The 2023 NFL Playoffs continue this weekend with the AFC Divisional Round and an interesting matchup between the Jaguars vs Chiefs.
Jacksonville won its Wild Card clash with a historic 30-31 victory over the Chargers, while Kansas City was off the hook after being seeded first in the American Conference. It is worth remembering that this season these teams met in Week 10 with the Chiefs winning 17-27 .
Without further ado, JefeBet brings you the best preview of the Jacksonville Jaguars vs Kansas City Chiefs postseason clash.
Predictions and Betting Preview for the Jacksonville Jaguars vs Kansas City Chiefs AFC Divisional Round Game on January 21, 2023
- Where: GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium – Kansas City, Missouri.
- When: Saturday, January 21, 2023 – 4:30 PM E.T.
Odds provided by BetMGM.
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Betting on the Jacksonville Jaguars
- Season record: 10-8 (AFC South Champion – 4th seed AFC).
- BetMGM Spread: +9.0
- BetMGM Moneyline: (+333).
- BetMGM Over/Under: 51.5.
The Jaguars’ outstanding season is still going strong: they overcame a 27-0 deficit to the Chargers, pulling off the third-largest comeback in postseason history.
Jacksonville managed to overcome the four interceptions thrown by Trevor Lawrence in the first half of the game and will now face their toughest test of the year when they travel to Kansas City to face one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl: the Chiefs.
Doug Pederson’s leadership and expertise in these areas were evident in the Jaguars’ win, as the head coach was able to keep his team calm after five turnovers and helped them become the first to win a postseason game with a -5 margin in turnovers.
After the break, Lawrence and Jacksonville were a very different team, giving up only three points to a Los Angeles’ offense that had fully capitalized on mistakes made in the first half. Although the quarterback gained 273 passing yards, Justin Herbert was intercepted a total of three times, and just once did he reach the end zone.
That strong defensive performance came on the heels of Lawrence’s awakening; after his terrible first-half performance, he dropped four touchdown passes and got an all-important two-point conversion to give the Jaguars the lead with a field goal as the game time expired.
Naturally, they should be much more aggressive against the Chiefs than they were against the Chargers, who once again displayed the inconsistent play that accompanied them all season. Kansas City will have the league’s best offense, the same one that will test a Jaguars secondary that struggled against Herbert and was one of the least efficient in the league defending the pass.
As an example, consider the fact that the quarterback threw for 331 yards with four touchdown passes and one interception against Patrick Mahomes and company this season.
Betting on the Kansas City Chiefs
- Season record: 14-3 (AFC West Champion – AFC 1st seed).
- BetMGM Spread: -9.0
- BetMGM Moneyline: (-450).
- BetMGM Over/Under: 51.5.
The Bills and Bengals game was postponed, which allowed the Chiefs to win and start their NFL postseason 2023 campaign rested and playing in front of their home crowd.
With the top record in the American Conference, Kansas City was able to witness the AFC Wild Card games from home, including the matchup starred by their opponent, the struggling Jaguars.
The Chiefs already beat Jacksonville this season with a great performance by Patrick Mahomes, who in that game recorded one of his three games with at least four touchdown passes on the season and completed 74.29% of his passes, his third-best percentage of the year.
That’s why it’s no secret that the quarterback will once again be the main figure of these Chiefs, a team that has the best offense in the league and that will face a defense that suffered a lot defending against the pass.
Kansas City not only led the NFL in points scored (496), but they were the only team to surpass 7,000 total yards (7,032) and no offense had better numbers than them in average yards per play (6.4), first downs gained (408), passing yards (5,062) and passing TDs (41).
While it came to halting the ground attack, Andy Reid’s team did a good job. However, they will need to be on their toes when facing Trevor Lawrence, who will enter the game with a lot of confidence after his outstanding second half against the Chargers and who is aware that the Chiefs were the team that conceded the most touchdown passes on the year (33).
JefeBet Prediction
In the NFL postseason, anything is possible and the Jaguars proved it last weekend with their great comeback against the Chargers.
However, it has also become clear that mistakes can’t be made twice in these games, especially when facing a Chiefs team which finished with the best record in the conference and a 7-1 mark at home after losing only to the Bills..
Trevor Lawrence has enough talent to trouble Kansas City’s secondary, but will he have the chops to play one-on-one with Patrick Mahomes? The Chiefs’ QB is considered the best in the league and has already torn Jacksonville’s defense to shreds this year.
Nothing suggests that the circumstances won’t be different this time, therefore the Jaguars will have to be proactive and try to score as many touchdowns as they can to trouble Mahomes, who despite being the leading MVP candidate, has thrown 12 interceptions.
Prediction: Over (JAX 24 – KC 30).
