The San Francisco 49ers play the Atlanta Falcons in this opening game of Championship Sunday. There are a couple of dominant storylines coming into this game. One is the incredibly amazing performance of Colin Kaepernick against the Packers last week.
Passing Cmp Att Yds TDs
C. Kaepernick 17 31 263 2
Rushing Car Yds Avg TDs
C. Kaepernick 16 181 11.3 2
That's over 440 yards and 4 TDs that he produced ... Wow!
The Packers were simply unable to stop him. It will be interesting to see how the Falcons go about defending this game.
Meanwhile, the other storyline is about the Falcons and quarterback Matt Ryan. While Ryan played far better than he did against the Giants last year, he still looked shaky at times and did throw two interceptions. A game that looked like the Falcons had in the bag almost got away from them in the end. And in fact, the betting line on today's game shifted in the immediate aftermath of their near-collapse. The top seeded home team Falcons went from being 1 point underdogs to 2.5 point UDs. The spread has further widened during the week and is now sitting at 4.5. The over / under is 48.5 or 49 depending on who you check.
Did Ryan and the Falcons truly shake the playoff blues or merely survive to lose to the 49ers? Either way they are a good team and have had a great season.
(May both teams finish the game injury-free.)