NFC Championship prop bets: Green Bay Packers vs. Atlanta Falcons odds roundup

The Falcons are six-point favorites and have the better team on paper, but Green Bay has the experience and confidence to pull off an upset. That’s an indisputable fact, even to a shirtless Cheesehead.

Aaron Rodgers (12) couldn’t be hotter.

Rufus Peabody: When I looked at the Massey-Peabody numbers on this game – we have Atlanta as only a 2.7-point favorite – I wondered whether there might be something wrong with the model.

Indeed, Atlanta might not require a demolition team for the Georgia Dome; the scorching play of Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan could set it up in flames.

Asked about the noise in Atlanta, Rodgers acknowledged it’s loud, and then noted that the noise might not actually be coming from the fans. Here is their take on the NFC Championship Game. The Falcons allowed 25.4 points per game to rank 27th, only a few spots below the Packers (24.2) at 21st.

So, let’s avoid that, and look at the Falcons at -5.5.

APC: Matt Ryan always struck me as a very good quarterback, but not a great one. The most underrated and under-appreciated team left. What can the late-game hero of the Packers’ 34-31 win over Dallas do for a postseason encore?

Running Back: Green Bay has none technically.

Running back Tevin Coleman gives the Falcons an “X factor” given that he did not play in both team’s previous matchup in Week 8. He missed the regular season contest between these two teams by the way.

“If it happens, we’ll see how it goes”.

The Falcons and Packers finished the regular season ranked 28th and 31st, respectively, in pass defense.

Both teams are relatively solid in terms of defensive takeaways.

We’ve all heard the adage: defense wins championships.

Of those alternatives, 40-37 appears to be the more likely target, in part because the Atlanta and Green Bay defenses don’t dominate the statistics like their offensive counterparts.

So this game should be another shootout like we saw in week eight. It would be a surprise if this game played much differently.

Mike McCarthy sometimes gets criticized for only getting to one Super Bowl with Rodgers behind center.

– Falcons RB Devonta Freeman had 1,079 rushing yards, his second consecutive 1,000-yard season. He has been a big safety valve for quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He had Jordy Nelson and lost him to cracked ribs. The Falcons just got by the Packers, 33-32, in their earlier meeting.

As for the Falcons, they knew the defense would have to go through some growing pains. Coleman is a dynamic receiving threat out of the backfield as well as an explosive runner when he carries the ball. Series history: The Packers lead the series 17-14. Jones, along with Mohamed Sanu and Taylor Gabriel (questionable) could light up the Pack for gobs of yards.

In Week 8, the Packers were without Clay Matthews, Randall Cobb, Damarious Randall, Quinten Rollins, Ty Montgomery, James Starks and Cook. That does concern me and does suggest these teams are pretty evenly matched.

That was Matt Ryan four years and two days ago, January 20, 2013, standing at a podium in this very same building. Atlanta is slightly hotter offensively, markedly healthier and, with Julio Jones and its lethal backfield, simply more risky.