AFC Championship Game 2018: Updated Odds, Prop Bets for Jaguars vs. Patriots

The New England Patriots are expected to make a run at the Super Bowl nearly every year, but the Jacksonville Jaguars are virtual strangers to the AFC title game.

The Jaguars have had the opportunity to play for the conference championship twice, in 1996 and 1999. They failed on both of those occasions, and they have made the playoffs just three times since, including this season.

The Patriots have won two of the past three Super Bowls and are attempting to win their second title in a row and third in four years. Head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady are going for their sixth Super Bowl titles with the franchise.

If that is going to happen, they are going to have to hold off the upstart Jaguars in Sunday's title game. Jacksonville won the AFC South this year, and the Jaguars edged the Buffalo Bills 10-3 in the Wild Card Game.

They were expected to go down rather easily in the divisional round against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the Jags jumped out to a 28-7 lead and did enough in the latter portions of the game to hang on for a 45-42 victory at Heinz Field.

Despite the score of that game, Jacksonville is largely dependent on its defense, a unit that ranked second in yards allowed this season.

The Jaguars have an explosive pass rush, led by defensive ends Calais Campbell and Yannick Ngakoue. Those two combined for 26.5 sacks during the regular season, and if Jacksonville is going to find a way to beat the Patriots on the road, it is going to have to put significant pressure on Brady.

Bill Sikes/Associated Press

Brady may not be 100 percent, as he suffered a bruise to his right hand in practice Wednesday and did not participate in Thursday's session. He wore a glove on his passing hand during Friday's media session, and New England listed him as questionable.

The full extent of the injury is unclear, but oddsmakers have apparently been paying attention to it. The Patriots were nine-point favorites to start the gameweek, but the spread was down to 7.5 points around 48 hours before the game, according to OddsShark. The total for the game is listed at 45 points.

In addition to making a wager on the game's outcome or the total, bettors can also make prop bets on the AFC Championship Game.

Among the prop bets are markets on the first-half margin and the margin of victory. Bettors are offered odds if they can successfully wager on the point differential after 30 minutes.

For example, a bettor who believes the Patriots will win the game by 14 points could risk $100 to bet the final margin will end up between 13 and 18 points. If that bettor is correct, they would receive a plus-400 payoff. That translates to $500, meaning the bettor gets their $100 stake back in addition to a $400 profit.

A bettor who believes the Jaguars will win by 10 points can risk $100 for a plus-1200 payoff.

Bettors can also wager on whether there will be a defensive or special teams touchdown. Those who bet that either one of those options take place would receive a plus-200 payoff if they are correct. Betting against either one of those happening would require a bettor to risk $260 to win $100.

Bettors who believe that points will go on the board quickly could wager $100 that there will be a score in the first 5:30 of the game for a $145 payoff. Bettors would have to risk $175 to win $100 if they believe there will be no scoring in the first 5:30.