Net Yards per Play Report: Giants and Jaguars are Hot Heading into Wild Card Weekend

The NFL regular season is in the books, which means we have a ton of data to study ahead of the postseason.

Which teams are contenders and which will have early exits, that's exactly what we're trying to figure out this week. As a starting point, I'd suggest taking a look at net yards per play.

Net yards per play is the number you're left over with when you take the average amount of yards gained per play on offense, subtracted by the number of yards given up per play on defense. Obviously, it doesn't take into consideration things like turnovers and third down efficiency, but it's certainly a great way to start off your handicapping process.

Let's take a look at the latest net yards per play report as we head into the NFL postseason.

Jaguars and Giants are hot heading into postseason

If you're looking for a dark horse that might be able to make a deep playoff run, you're probably going to want to find a team that's entering the postseason playing the best football they've played all year.

Two teams who fit that criteria are the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants. Over their last three games, they rank fourth and fifth in net yards per play. That might be enough to convince you to lean their way in their opening round matchup.

The Jaguars will be hosting he Chargers, who are 27th in net yards per play this season and 20th in that stat over their last three games. Jacksonville is a one point underdog in that matchup.

The Giants will hit the road to face the Minnesota Vikings, who are 26th in net yards per play this season and 17th in net yards per play over their last three games. New York is a 3-point underdog in Minnesota, in a rematch from a game just a few weeks back where the Giants lost by three points.

Chiefs take top spot in net yards per play

The Kansas City Chiefs have taken the top spot in net yards per play this season. They're first in full-season net yards per play at +1.3, first in net yards per play over their last three games at +1.7, and first in net yards per play on the road at +1.6.

Before you place your Super Bowl bet on Kansas City, remember what I said about net yards per play not telling the full story? That's the case for the Chiefs, who enter the playoffs ranking 31st in red zone defense, allowing opponents to score a touchdown on 67.27% of red zone trips against them.

That has cost them at times this season, and if anything is going to cost them in the playoffs, it could be exactly that.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.