Wildcard Weekend Picks – Falcons vs Giants
The NFC fifth-seed Atlanta Falcons and the fourth-seed New York Giants clash in the Wildcard Round of this season’s NFL playoffs this upcoming Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.
Date/Time: Sunday, Jan. 8 1 p.m. (ET)
Venue: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ.
Broadcast: FOX
Falcons vs Giants by BetOnline.com
Point spread: Giants -3
Over/Under: 48
The kick-off for this showdown is set for 1 p.m. and it will be broadcast nationally on FOX.
Atlanta could not keep pace with the red-hot Saints in the NFC South, but its 10-6 record straight-up was good enough for a return trip to the postseason. The Falcons closed-out the season with three wins in their last four games both SU and against the spread and went 7-8-1 ATS overall. The total went 7-9 in their 16 games.
This team has flown under the radar most of the season with Matt Ryan quietly throwing for 4,177 yards and 29 touchdowns and Michael Turner quietly racking-up 1,340 yards on the ground. The Falcons finished the regular season with an offense that was ranked 10th in the NFL in total yards and seventh in scoring to go along with a defense that was ranked 12th in yards allowed.
The outcome of this game depends heavily on which New York team shows up on Sunday. If it is the one that opened the season 6-2 including a thrilling win on the road over New England, the Falcons are in trouble. If it is the one that proceeded to lose five of its next six games, it will be a one-and-done affair for the Giants.
The encouraging thing for New York are victories over the Jets and the Cowboys in its final two games to end the season 9-7 SU and 8-7-1 ATS. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The total also went 8-7-1 in its 16 games this year. Another encouraging sign is that Eli Manning looked more like himself in the win over Dallas after completing less than 58 percent of his passes in six of his previous eight games while throwing a total of 11 interceptions.
Atlanta is 1-3-1 ATS in its last five games following a SU win and 1-4 ATS in its last five playoff games. The total has stayed ‘under’ in seven of its last nine games following a SU win, but has gone ‘over’ in three of its last four playoff games.
New York is 4-1 ATS in its last five games overall and 5-1 ATS in its last six playoff games. The total has stayed ‘under’ in four of its last five home playoff games.
Head-to-head in this series, the road team is 8-0 ATS in the last eight meetings and the total has stayed ‘under’ in five of the last seven contests. The Falcons are a perfect 5-0 ATS in their last five road games against the Giants. This game will remain tight until the end, but stick with Atlanta’s defense to come up big when it needs to the most.
The Pick: Atlanta 31 New York 28
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