Falcons Giants Spread

Written by Jack Jones

The New York Giants host the Atlanta Falcons in NFC wild card action Sunday, January 8th. The Giants made the playoffs with a 9-7 record by beating the Dallas Cowboys in their season finale. The Falcons sealed their spot in the playoffs despite losing in Week 16, but earned the No. 5 seed after a victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 17. That win, coupled with a Detroit loss, allowed Atlanta to avoid having to play New Orleans in the opening round.

These two teams have a very strange history. The road team has actually won nine of the last 10 meetings in this series. The lone exception was a 34-31 overtime victory by the host Giants in their most recent meeting in 2009. Eli Manning threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns with one interception to lead New York to the win. Matt Ryan threw for 268 yards and two scores in defeat, though the Falcons were playing without injured Michael Turner.

Oddsmakers in Las Vegas have posted a spread of New York -3 over Atlanta and a total set of 47 points.

New York

The Giants have seen some similarities between this year’s team and the 2007 squad that went on to win the Super Bowl. New York won six of their first eight games to take a commanding lead in the NFC East. However, they would lost their next four which brought a lot of criticism to head coach Tom Coughlin and this team.

They had seen second-half collapses the previous two seasons, and it looked all two familiar. But the Giants would go 3-1 over their final four games, including two wins over Dallas to clinch the NFC East. They capped it off with a 31-14 victory on NBC’s Sunday Night Football in the NFL regular season finale. New York is clearly playing their best football heading into the postseason.

Eli Manning has almost single-handedly carried this team. Their stop unit has been soft all year due to injuries, ranking 26th in the league in total defense (376.3 yards/game). They have had no running game whatsoever, ranking dead last in the NFL in rushing (89.2 yards/game). Manning is completing 61.0 percent of his passes for 4,933 yards with 29 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

Helping Manning make his second Pro Bowl have been receivers Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks. Cruz finish third in the league with 1,536 receiving yards while also setting a franchise record in that category. Nicks chipped in 76 receptions for 1,192 yards with seven touchdowns as well. Jason Pierre-Paul has been their top playmakers on defense. His team-high 16.5 sacks has earned him a trip to the Pro Bowl.

Atlanta

The Falcons are looking to erase bad memories from a pair of early playoffs exits in their last two postseasons. They lost to Arizona in 2008 before falling to the eventual champion Green Bay Packers last season despite having home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with the No. 1 seed.

Atlanta will be taking a different approach this year after a 10-win campaign wasn’t enough to win them the division. Their blowout victory over Tampa Bay in the season-finale proved to be huge because Detroit lost to Green Bay. There’s no way the Falcons wanted to play No. 3 seed New Orleans after having already lost to the Saints twice this season.

Matt Ryan is having another solid year at quarterback. His 4,177 passing yards and 92.2 passer rating are career highs, and he also threw 29 touchdowns. A big reason for his success were receivers Roddy White and Julio Jones. The duo combined for 2,252 yards and 16 touchdowns. Tight end Tony Gonzalez has proven he can still get it done, catching 80 balls for 875 yards and seven scores.

Michael Turner remains a workhorse in the backfield. Turner finished third in the NFL in rushing with 1,340 yards and 11 scores this season. Now, he needs to get over his playoff woes. Turner has been held to 81 yards on 28 carries in their last two postseason games. The Falcons feature an underrated defense that ranked 12th in the league this year at 333.6 yards/game allowed.

Betting Trends

The Falcons are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 road games vs. a team with a winning home record, but just 1-4 ATS in their last 5 playoff games.

The Giants are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 playoff games, but only 1-6-1 ATS in their last 8 games as a home favorite of 3.0 points or less.

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