Dave Tuley, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Vegas handicappers rank the 12 NFL playoff teams

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LAS VEGAS -- After a wild Week 17, the Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks enter the playoffs tied for the top spot in the NFL Vegas Rankings.

The Cardinals entered Week 17 as the strongest team in the composite power ratings of ESPN Chalk's panel of NFL handicappers -- Sal Selvaggio of madduxsports.com, Erin Rynning and yours truly, Dave Tuley. But after the Cardinals lost 36-6 to the Seahawks as 6-point home favorites and were downgraded by the panel while the Seahawks were upgraded, they were both caught by the Panthers, who routed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38-10 as 10-point home favorites.

Our rankings are mostly in line with the Super Bowl 50 futures odds from the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, except the Westgate has the Patriots as the third co-favorite at 9-2 with the Panthers and Cardinals, while the Seahawks -- who have to play an extra game in the wild-card round -- are 5-1. Our panel downgraded the Patriots a full point after their 20-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins as 10-point road favorites.

Below are the full standings, along with our value plays for the wild-card round.

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