Mike Clay vs. Tyler Fulghum: NFL conference championship betting predictions - ESPN

Uh oh. Just when it seemed like Man and Machine were going to finally merge into a unified force hellbent on destroying not each other but the sportsbooks, we have a rough week in the divisional round. Man was 0-2, caught by the hook on Christian McCaffrey rushing attempts, while Machine at least salvaged a 1-1 record, earning its lone triumph by correctly predicting that Gus Edwards would receive less than 13.5 rushing opportunities.

Man is resilient, however, and a machine doesn't have the capacity to even understand the emotion of disappointment, so we will forge ahead into the championship round and battle each other once again in the player prop market. Hopefully, you the bettor, benefit the most from this faceoff.

Since you prevailed with the Edwards play last week, Machine, the board is yours. Fire away.

Mike: I appreciate you mentioning my hit (Edwards) and not my miss (Patrick Mahomes over 36.5 pass attempts) from last week, but here's the thing: I'm going to double down and run it back with Mahomes. Same line. Similar reasoning. Last week's loss was a bit of a bad beat, as the Chiefs ran 47 offensive snaps, which was a season low by six plays (they averaged 60.1 snaps per game in their prior 18 games).

Kansas City still called a pass-first offense after operating the league's game-script-adjusted pass-heaviest scheme during the regular season. Including last week's season-low 23, Mahomes is averaging 36.7 pass attempts per game this season. That number jumps to 40.0 per game in Kansas City's six losses (38-plus in five of those six), which is notable with the Chiefs 3.5-point road underdogs. Mahomes is averaging 40.1 attempts per game in four career games against Baltimore (37-plus in three of the four, all