NFL Playoff Picture 2018: Odds and Scenarios for Sunday's Wild-Card Games

Unlike baseball, there is no such thing as a perfect game in football. However, NFL teams can still play unofficial perfect games every so often.

Those matchups are the ones wherein everything just seems to go right on offense, defense and special teams and the starters watch the end of the game from the bench with the result no longer in doubt.

We'll take a look at the best-case scenario for each of the four wild-card teams playing Sunday in addition to spreads and over/under totals, per OddsShark.

NFL Playoff Bracket

Wild Card Round

1:05 p.m. ET on CBS: No. 6 Buffalo Bills at No. 3 Jacksonville Jaguars (-8.5, 39.5 O/U)

4:40 p.m. ET on Fox: No. 5 Carolina Panthers at No. 4 New Orleans Saints (-7, 47.5 O/U)

Divisional Round

Saturday, January 13, at 4:35 p.m. ET on NBC: Atlanta Falcons at Philadelphia Eagles

Saturday, January 13, at 8:15 p.m. ET on CBS: Lowest-seeded AFC wild-card team remaining (Tennessee Titans or Buffalo) at New England Patriots

Sunday, January 14, at 1:05 p.m. ET on CBS: Highest-seeded AFC wild-card team remaining (Jacksonville or Tennessee) at Pittsburgh Steelers

Sunday, January 14, at 4:40 p.m. ET on Fox: Carolina Panthers or New Orleans Saints at Minnesota Vikings

Conference Championships

Sunday, January 21, at 3 p.m. ET: AFC Championship on CBS (lowest-seeded AFC team at highest-seeded AFC team)

Sunday, January 21, at 6:30 p.m. ET: NFC Championship on Fox (lowest-seeded NFC team at highest-seeded NFC team)

Super Bowl LII

Sunday, February 4, at 6:30 p.m. ET: AFC champion vs. NFC champion

Best-Case Scenario: Bills Win over Jaguars

Running back LeSean McCoy, who suffered a sprained ankle against the Miami Dolphins in Week 17, plays and is close to 100 percent. The latest from Ian Rapport of NFL Network is that he will likely be active, but it remains to be seen how well he can cut.

With McCoy in the backfield, the Buffalo Bills jump out to an early lead and force Jacksonville to pass. Buffalo's stout cornerbacks cause the Jacksonville Jaguars to then have their third straight game with three or more turnovers.

McCoy leads the way thanks to well over 100 yards from scrimmage, and quarterback Tyrod Taylor finds tight end Charles Clay for some key plays to move the sticks. Buffalo wins a low-scoring game and plays the New England Patriots.

Best-Case Scenario: Jaguars Win over Bills

McCoy's sprained ankle forces him to play in a limited capacity, forcing Marcus Murphy and Mike Tolbert into action. Although that duo fared well against the Miami Dolphins in Week 17 (80 rushing yards on 14 carries), they can't get anything going here.

Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette finds himself in good field position all day and runs downhill for the majority of the game, carrying the ball 30-plus times, rushing for over 100 yards and scoring on multiple occasions.

On defense, Sacksonville earns its nickname by getting in the face of Taylor, who is forced to pass often thanks to an early deficit. However, Taylor throws a few interceptions, leading to more Jags scores.

Jacksonville routs Buffalo and rest its starters at the end of the game in anticipation of a rematch with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the divisional round.

Best-Case Scenario: Panthers Win over Saints

The Carolina Panthers, who missed 12 tackles against the New Orleans Saints in a Week 13 loss, only miss a couple this time around and bottle up the run game. The pass rush, which accrued 50 sacks in the regular season (third in the NFL) gets to Saints quarterback Drew Brees and forces a couple turnovers.

On offense, rookie running back Christian McCaffrey, who caught nine passes for 101 yards in his first meeting with New Orleans and scored a touchdown the second time around, has a breakout game reminiscent of some of his performances at Stanford.

Quarterback Cam Newton, who was off the past two gameweeks, regains his midseason form and delivers laser throws to his pass-catchers, namely tight end Greg Olsen. The Panthers win by two scores and advance to play the Minnesota Vikings.

Best-Case Scenario: Saints Win over Panthers

The Saints nearly accomplished the best-case scenario in Week 3 against the Carolina Panthers.

In that contest, New Orleans essentially did whatever it wanted on offense; Brees went 22-for-29 with 220 yards and three touchdowns, and running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara had 128 yards on 23 touches. 

On defense, Newton took four sacks and threw three interceptions. New Orleans led by double digits for the entire second half and won 34-13.

How can the Saints get any better? First off, the game is in New Orleans in front of what should be a raucous crowd. If the Saints jump out to an early lead and get the crowd going, then they could use that momentum to help engineer a blowout.

Second, running back Alvin Kamara is more of a focal point in the offense (in Week 3, he was part of a three-person committee with Ingram and Adrian Peterson, who has since been traded to the Arizona Cardinals). Against the Panthers in Week 13, Kamara amassed 126 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns on just 14 touches.

Thanks to a monster Kamara performance, New Orleans wins by an even bigger margin and moves on to face the Vikings in Minnesota.