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By Max Meyer

Welcome to the first Week 18 in NFL regular season history, with two games taking place on Saturday and the 14 remaining ones occurring on Sunday.

Like any final slate, there are teams with a lot to play for and others that could rest starters as they gear up for a playoff push. As a result, the line shifts this week are about as dramatic as you’ll see this entire campaign.

Two NFC East playoff teams will skirmish on Saturday night in Philadelphia. The Cowboys can clinch the No. 2 seed in the NFC with a road victory, while the Eagles will enter the postseason as either a No. 6 or No. 7 seed. Philadelphia head coach Nick Sirianni stated earlier in the week that he’s unsure about whether or not he’ll be resting the starters in this showdown.

The Cowboys opened as 1.5-point road favorites and are now up to -7 against the Eagles. Dallas is now one of five road favorites laying a touchdown or more in Week 18, along with the Colts (-15.5 at Jaguars), Titans (-10 at Texans), Chiefs (-10 at Broncos) and Washington (-7 at Giants). Cowboys at Eagles is also one of three Week 18 totals to move by multiple points, shooting up from 40 to 43.

“We have to treat Week 18 like the preseason in some respects,” said Adam Pullen, Assistant Director of Trading at Caesars Sportsbook. “We just have to keep up with the news, there just seems to be no reason for the Eagles to play their star players. But Sirianni seems to be a bit of a wild card, so we’ll see what he does. This line could go a little higher with all the uncertainty there, they just know the Eagles likely won’t be at full strength and the Cowboys will be. As well as [Jalen] Hurts has played, I don’t think [backup QB Gardner] Minshew is 5 points worse.”

While the Cowboys are fighting for the No. 2 seed in the NFC, the Packers already have the top seed and the first-round bye in the conference all locked up. The lookahead line for Packers at Lions in Week 18 was Green Bay -11, yet that line swung all the way to Lions -1.5 for the Sunday opener. Since then, it’s moved another 5.5 points, with the Packers laying points once again at -4. The total has jumped by 2.5 points too from 42 to 44.5.

“Even though the game means nothing to the Packers, maybe they will play the starters for a little since they’ll already have time off with the bye,” Pullen said. “Everybody’s different in how they handle having that big break and whether they want to sit their guys for two-plus weeks or if they want to give them a little action. It’ll mostly be the Jordan Love show, it’s just a question of how much. But the Packers are still the No. 1 seed and the Lions are one of the worst teams in the league, so it’s not a surprise that the Packers became favorites again.”

The spread with the craziest movement, though, is Bengals at Browns. The Browns opened as 3-point home favorites, then the Bengals first became favored on Tuesday morning and climbed all the way up to -3. Interestingly, the line did not move off Bengals -3 after Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters that quarterback Baker Mayfield would not play this Sunday. Now Cleveland is back to a 5.5-point favorite with Joe Burrow (rest) and Joe Mixon (COVID-19) both out for Cincinnati. The total has dropped considerably from its 44 opener, going all the way down to 38.

Another noticeable total change comes in a head-to-head where the spread has only shifted by half a point. The Bills can clinch their second consecutive AFC East crown with a win over the Jets at home, and they are -16.5 after first being listed at -17. The total has shifted a good amount, however, falling all the way to 42 from 45.5.

“There’s some weather issues there. It’s Buffalo in January, so it’s going to be very cold,” Pullen said. “Also if the Bills are up big early on, they may take their football off the pedal and rest some guys earlier than usual. But I think this total shift is mainly for the weather. People will bet the under when it’s freezing temperatures, but some of these teams are used to playing in these conditions.”

Check out Caesars Sportsbook’s biggest NFL Week 18 spread and total shifts so far below.