The San Francisco 49ers host the New York Giants in Sunday’s NFC Championship game, and both teams will be brimming with confidence after causing upsets last weekend.
Betfred Match Odds: NY Giants 23/20, San Francisco 7/10 (Overtime Counts)
Morale will be high in the 49ers camp after an unbelievable win against the New Orleans Saints. Alex Smith finally proved the doubters wrong with an inspired last quarter performance that saw him bring his team back from the brink of defeat twice. On Sunday they face a new threat – a defence that is potentially as good as their own, and an offence that’s one of the best in the league.
My question is does Alex Smith have it in him to play that well for a full game? San Fran were given a soft lead, with Smith’s first touchdown pass coming from a defensive collision and the second when they were given the ball on the Saints 3 yard line. Other than that, in the first three quarters the San Francisco offence was pretty poor, that gave the Saints the chance to get back in to the game.
If Alex Smith can play as well as he did in the 4th quarter then they have a great chance to get to the Superbowl, but if the offence fails to click, I think it could be a long day for them. Vernon Davis was Smith’s main target last week, but he may not have it all his own way this week, with Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora all excellent pass rushers, the Giants could easily just double cover Davis and sit back in zone, knowing they’ll get pressure with a four man rush.
The 49ers also have some great pass rushers, Justin Smith in particular. He raised havoc against the Saints and it will be interesting to see how the Giants try to cope with him, double teaming him will leave them exposed in other places. I was also very impressed with some of the plays the San Francisco secondary made against New Orleans – Tarrell Brown, Dashon Goldson and Carlos Rogers all had a big game and they’ll need to be on form again against an impressive Giants offence.
Speaking of the Giants offence, is there currently a team in the NFL with a better trio of wide receivers than them? The names Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham will strike fear in to any defensive co-ordinator at the moment, throw Eli Manning, Jake Ballard, Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs in there and it’s almost unfair.
Manning has led the Giants to a four game winning streak, throwing for over 1100 yards, ten touchdowns and only two picks in those games, all the more impressive with when you consider his opponents (Jets, Cowboys, Falcons and Packers). He can thank his offensive line for that, Manning was one of the least sacked quarterback amongst starters, although that protection will definitely be tested by the aforementioned Justin Smith.
Taking hand offs from Manning will be the bruising tag-team of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs, Bradshaw is just as comfortable running between the tackles as he is getting to the edge, whilst Jacobs is hard to stop once he gets going. I imagine they may be used quite a bit to help Manning with the pass rush, either with pass blocking or getting out wide for screens and passes to the flat.
I’m going to take the Giants in this one, I think their pass rush will be too much for the Niners, add to that the fact they can double up on Vernon Davis and I think it eliminates their biggest threat. After the easy 17 points start the Saints gave them, San Francisco managed 9 points in 43 minutes of football and in that same time gave up 24 points, with no soft start, they’re heading out here.
Recommended Bets:
23/20 New York Giants (Money Line)
7/2 New York Giants Field Goal (First Scoring Play)
8/1 Ahmad Bradshaw (First Touchdown)
16/1 Jake Ballard (First Touchdown)
5/1 New York Giants to win by 7-12 (Winning Margin)
