NFL Week 18 Look-Ahead Lines: Jags Big Favorites To Take AFC South

NFL Week 18 look-ahead lines are out. Taking center stage — at least for now — will be a showdown between the Titans and Jaguars for the AFC South crown. Other marquee matchups are mostly TBD, with Week 17 results influencing the importance of several spots.

Every week, usually on Friday, TheLines will post look-ahead lines from FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook. These look aheads give an early snapshot of the current market opinions of teams absent the week-to-week bias that can take hold following weekend results.

NFL Week 18 Look-Ahead Lines

Compare NFL Week 18 odds below and click to bet now.

Week 18 NFL Notable Games

Examining Week 18 look-ahead lines is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, times aren’t yet set as the NFL tries to figure out which games are going to matter. Second, because we don’t know for sure which games will matter, the lines are more fluid than usual. Potentially, some teams we don’t anticipate resting players may wind up doing so.

Perhaps because of that, FanDuel has opted against posting early markets for most of the games.

Titans At Jaguars

It all comes down to this for the AFC South. Weeks ago, it looked like the Jaguars would be trying to knot things up in the standings to advance with a season sweep. Instead, it’s likely to be the Titans trying to give themselves a chance via tiebreak. Tennessee opted to make a switch at QB for Week 17, inserting Joshua Dobbs, whom they plucked off the Lions practice squad. A strong showing could move the needle, but it seems a little unlikely, given how strong the Jags have looked for the past couple of months and how awfully Tennessee has played. Don’t be surprised to see the Jags push to -7 or even -7.5 if Dobbs looks poor. The team and the market have seen enough of Malik Willis as well.

Patriots At Bills

The Bills should almost certainly be going hard here, as the only scenario where they can relax is if they win a coin flip game on the road in Cincy while the Chiefs also lose as monster home favorites to the Broncos. Thus, this is one of the safer games to bet. Presumably, even if the Patriots drop one and are out of it after this week, they’ll be playing hard as well, lest they allow a division rival a walkover en route to the NFL playoffs. Don’t expect much movement here.

Chiefs At Raiders

Same deal here with the Chiefs, only the Raiders have an added wrinkle as they, too, make a change at QB. They made headlines with a surprising announcement that Jarrett Stidham will start at QB. Even if he massively flops this week, given the announcement that Derek Carr will be away from the team going forward, it seems likely someone else would step in rather than having Carr return. Thus, there’s a little more potential mobility with this line. It probably won’t shrink, so buying Chiefs early makes some sense, as we could see as high as -14 here.

Giants At Eagles

This game has decidedly different future movement potential from the last two. Unlike the Chiefs and Bills, it’s pretty likely the Eagles will have their top seed sewn up after this week, entering as large home favorites against the Saints. Thus, they could wind up resting most of their first team here. With the Giants still potentially fighting for a playoff spot — although they’re heavy favorites there — they might wind up closing as small favorites here.

Ravens At Bengals

Another division that could remain in play heading to the final week is the AFC North. Currently, the Bengals are up a game on the Ravens, but having already lost in Baltimore, they would lose a tiebreak if both teams wind up tied and the Ravens take this matchup as well. The line looks a bit heavy if Lamar Jackson is able to return, but that’s an open question at this point. Certainly, for Week 17, it’s looking like the team will try to get through another week with Tyler Huntley, given that Jackson hasn’t practiced. Taking a shot on the Ravens here could yield some CLV as this line would likely close near Bengals -3 if Jackson is able to go.

HOW TO USE NFL LOOK-AHEAD LINES

The look-ahead lines allow you a sneak peek at the projected lines for the following week’s games. This information from a leading online sportsbook will help provide lessons in understanding lines and projections before the current week’s games are played.

Many bettors tend to overreact to the previous week’s scores and results. The NFL Week 18 look-ahead lines provide a sense of stability from the oddsmaker. They sometimes offer a clear, unbiased snapshot of perceived team strength.

Bettors can also gain an edge or find value in the lines once the weekend results take hold. See if you can find any over- or under-reactions by the market.

Of course, always take note of key injuries, travel and scheduling situations, and NFL power rankings. Making adjustments is part of the process, along with accounting for teams’ strengths, weaknesses, against-the-spread angles and personnel matchups.