NFL Football
2013-01-13 - Atlanta Falcons at Seattle Seahawks
A Sports Betting Pick by Addicted
American Football : North America : NFL : NFC Divisional Playoff
Sunday, January 13th, 2013, 1:00PM (6:00PM GMT)
PREVIEW
Well done Seattle, for being the only road team to win in the Wildcard round. But the fact is they only managed to come back to win after RG3 busted his knee again, which pretty much ruined Washington's attack. Prior to that he had helped Washington rack up a 14-0 lead. Seattle may have beaten Washington, but they are in for a tough match when they enter the Georgia Dome to take on a very well rested Atlanta Falcons side.
Atlanta ended the regular season with wins in 5 of the last 7 games and finished 13-3 overall, their best finish since going 14-2 in 1998, when they reached the Super Bowl. Of course, QB Ryan gets most of the credit but you have to give props to his receivers, namely Roddy White, Julio Jones and veteran Tony Gonzalez. The team badly want to win this one, not just for themselves, but for Gonzalez, as this is probably his last chance at winning it.
Back to Ryan, who is almost unbeatable in the Dome. This season he threw for a team record 4,719 yards with 32 TD passes and a 69% completion rate. And that's not all. Ryan is consistently excellent, as he has won 56 regular season games in his first 5 seasons, a record for QBs playing their first 5 seasons. In 3 playoff games, Ryan has completed close to 70% of his passes too for almost 585 yards with 3 TDs and is the 1st QB to ever lead the Atlanta Falcons to 5 straight winning seasons.
The Falcons need to erase the memories of last year when they did nothing in the playoffs having worked so hard to get there. They have actually grabbed top seed in 2 of the last 3 seasons, and they have not lost to the Seattle Seahawks in their last 3 meetings, scoring an average of 36 points against that defence!
BETTING VERDICT
You'll see I've not talked about the Seattle Seahawks. They will not dictate this match, despite the strong defence and strong running game. They just do not know how to stop Ryan through the air here, even though they know it's coming.
I have no idea how this spread is not more than a FG, because these two teams are not equal. Take Atlanta to turn the Seahawks over and advance to the NFC Championship game.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Atlanta Falcons 24-17 Seattle Seahawks
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
Take Atlanta Falcons -2.5 @ 1.90 (Pinnacle)
