There are just four teams left standing in the NFL playoffs and they are only one game away from the Super Bowl. On Sunday the NFC and AFC champions will be crowned before they go on to meet at Super Bowl LI in Houston, Texas, on February 5. Both conference championship bouts promise to be enthralling contests and first up is the NFC Conference game, which sees the Green Bay Packers travel to the Atlanta Falcons.
Green Bay Packers
The big story of the divisional round was Green Bay’s stunning win on the road against NFC top seeds the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas had by far and away the best record in the NFC and were overwhelming favourites to win the conference. But they came up against a Green Bay side that had become the league’s form team, closing out the regular season with a six-game winning streak to finish 10-6 and qualify for the playoffs as fourth seeds at the top of their division, before thumping the heavily fancied New York Giants 38-13 in the Wildcard Round. Their clash with Dallas was epic, tied at 31-31 with 12 seconds to go when Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers threw a 36-yard pass to Jared Cook, who tapped both feet on the ground before falling out of bounds, leaving Mason Crosby to step up for a 51-yard field goal to seal a 34-31 win. Rodgers played out of his skin, leaving his teammates and the opposition in awe with that final pass. Green Bay will be a formidable opponent for the Falcons on Sunday.
Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta has had a more straightforward route to the conference final. They finished the regular season on 11-6 to end up as second seed and get a bye for the Wildcard Round. They faced a difficult divisional game against the Seahawks but benefited from home advantage – Seattle to Atlanta is a long old trip – and won it comfortably. The 36-20 highlighted the supreme talents of Falcons QB Matt Ryan, and it will be a fascinating clash between him and Rodgers.
Projections
Atlanta will have expected a trip to Dallas to take on the conference favourites, but instead they have home field advantage and host a banged up Green Bay team. It is, however, full of danger and surging with confidence after eight straight wins. It looks set to be a classic. During the regular season, Rodgers and Ryan were ranked one and two for the most touchdown passes, with 40 and 38 respectively, and they are arguably the two most in-form quarterbacks in the NFL at present. These teams met in week eight, when Rodgers and Ryan combined for seven touchdown passes and 534 yards, so it should be a thriller. On that day, the Falcons won 33-32, and it could prove equally close here.
Green Bay are much improved since then and did fantastically well to beat Dallas without Jordy Nelson. But the Falcons are also improving and have the league’s best offence. Both of them are poor defensively and superb in offence, so it should be a high scoring game and the 4/6 Sky Bet is offering on over 57.5 points looks good. If Nelson returns it will provide a great boost for the Packers, but even if he does not get over his injury (cracked ribs) Rodgers has proved that he can throw to anyone and he has the postseason experience to lead the Packers to a victory against the odds.
The Packers are real outsiders here, at 15/8 with Sky Bet and Paddy Power, while the Falcons are 1/2 with Stan James. In all likelihood, it will be a lot closer than that and the Packers could well spring a surprise. If they do lose, it should only be by a slender margin and that makes them look good to cover the spread, so the 5/6 Bet365 is offering on Green Bay +5.5 looks fantastic.
