WhatIfSports NFL Playoff Predictions: Divisional Round

NFL Playoff Predictions

Playoff Odds (plus boxscores from every Divisional game)

By Paul Bessire, WhatIfSports.com

Jan. 5, 2009

Each Tuesday morning during the season, we will preview every NFL game of the upcoming week. For our playoff preview, we have simulated from the Divisional playoff round all the way through the playoffs 10,001 times, giving us odds for every team winning in each round. Those odds as well as boxscores for the four upcoming Divisional round games are below.

All of our NFL content, including our most recent power rankings and weekly fantasy projections, is located here. The inputs to the 10,001 simulations of each upcoming game are based on a rigorous analysis of each team that considers strength-of-schedule-adjusted team and player ratings and then makes modifications for injuries and depth at each position.

NFL Playoffs (Winning Percentages from 10,001 simulations)

Team	DIV Win%	CC Win%	SB Win%
Pittsburgh Steelers	64.9	32.0	17.7
Philadelphia Eagles	59.4	35.4	17.5
Tennessee Titans	52.8	30.3	17.0
Carolina Panthers	75.3	35.5	16.3
Baltimore Ravens	47.2	26.6	14.7
New York Giants	40.6	23.8	11.5
San Diego Chargers	35.1	11.2	4.2
Arizona Cardinals	24.7	5.3	1.1

Boxscores for Every NFL Divisional Game

Matchup	Home Win%	Avg Score
Arizona @ Carolina	75.3	21-31	Boxscore
San Diego @ Pittsburgh	64.9	17-23	Boxscore
Baltimore @ Tennessee	52.8	16-19	Boxscore
Philadelphia @ New York	40.6	20-19	Boxscore

Paul Bessire is the Senior Quantitative Analyst and Content Manager for WhatIfSports.com and a member of the Pro Football Writers of America. With any comments, questions or topic suggestions, Paul can be reached at [e-mail]. Thanks!