Projected Line: San Francisco by 7 points
I have a lot of respect for what Baltimore achieved on this postseason. However, at the end of the day, San Francisco is a better team than them and they will be winning this game fairly comfortably. Joe Flacco has been excellent on this postseason, however he has been quite inconsistent on his completion percentage and his productivity is coming pretty much from big plays. This worked against Indianapolis, Denver and New England, but I really don't see it working against a 49ers defense that won't give them the opportunities that their previous postseason's opponents gave him. Sure Atlanta torched San Francisco with some big passing plays in the Conference Championship, however not only I believe Atlanta's overall passing game is much tougher to stop than Baltimore's, as the 49ers had two weeks to prepare today's game and I believe they won't screw up on their coverage like Baltimore's opponents have been doing on this postseason. In terms of the running game, Ray Rice hasn't been in great form lately and considering San Francisco's run defense and their quality in terms of linebackers, I don't see Rice having a big game today in terms of getting some big yardage carries or working effectively as a receiver.
On the other hand, Colin Kaepernick is a whole different opposing quarterback than Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning or Tom Brady was for Baltimore. He has great mobility, he has a coach that gives him a lot of variety on the team's playbook, he has great receivers, he has a great running game and a great offensive line also helping him. Basically, Kaepernick couldn't ask for a better offense to help him on this game. I know that Baltimore's defense has been amazing on this postseason, but they have been facing offenses that have pretty much nothing in common with San Francisco's offense. The 49ers are much more physical, they have an amazing running game, they have an offensive line that can outplay the Ravens's front seven, they have threats on both the Tight End and Wide Receiver positions, so as much as Baltimore may try to blitz on this game, Kaepernick's amazing mobility will get out of trouble and give him some excellent chances to run with the ball as well. San Francisco has so many options on their offense and such a brilliant coach in taking advantage of the defensive weaknesses of their opponents that as much as Baltimore's defense has another good game, they will be unable to prevent the 49ers to have a decent amount of big plays today.
In terms of special teams, I don't believe David Akers will be such a liability today, while San Francisco has some edge in terms of punting and returning. As much as Baltimore's postseason run has been great, a rested San Francisco team is just too good for them. The 49ers have a great defense to stop Baltimore's offense, while the Ravens's defense won't be able to stop San Francisco's incredible offensive playbook, full of solutions due to their great variety on offense. Baltimore will give a nice fight to San Francisco, but the 49ers are simply the better team and they won't have problems in outmuscling the Ravens if necessary. Therefore, I'll be taking San Francisco minus the points in this year's Superbowl.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 102 San Francisco 49ers (-3,5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Betonline
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