NFL: Wildcard Weekend

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Saturday January 7th (3) Houston - Cincinnati (6). Houston -3 and total at 39 (3) New Orleans - Detroit (6). NO -10.5 and total at 58.5 Sunday January 8th (4) NY Giants - (5) Atlanta. NYG -3 and total at 49. (4) Denver - (5) Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh -9 and total at 34.5

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Re: NFL: Wildcard Weekend Falcons @ 2.30 Sportsbet The Falcons are a much more balanced team and I think this will give them the edge this weekend. The Giants have trouble running the football and Eli is very eratic and just as liable to throw 3 picks as he is 3 scores. The Giants pass rush is decent but the secondary is average and the Falcons will run the ball a lot better than Dallas did last week. Lions @ 5.90 Sportsbet I believe the Lions are the big darkhorse of this year's playoffs and at these odds I think they represent a shade of value. Despite the power New Orleans have, particularly with Brees, the Lions are almost as strong with Stafford, Megatron and Pettigrew playing lights out. I see turnovers being key to this game and despite his record setting ways, Brees has thrown a few picks lately. He had 2 against Atlanta and should have been picked off a third time. Once more, the Lions defense makes bigger plays than the Saints D, and I think this could be crucial. The Lions D had 2 touchdowns in games against Dallas, Minnesota and Denver this year, whereas the Saints D only has a couple of TDs for the season. In a shootout game where turnovers will be key, I'll happily take the team at these odds. Steelers to win by 1-6pts @ 5.50 Bet365 Though the Steelers have a stronger team they have struggled on offense of late and I think this will be closer than a lot of people predict. Roethlisberger is still limited by his ankle injury and Mendenhall is now on IR. Redman isn't much of a step back in terms of what he offers on his carries, except for one key aspect - he fumbles more. Mendenhall had just one for the season, whereas Redman had two last game. Futhermore, the Broncos have made the playoffs on the back of their defense, and if that D plays like it did during that 6 game winning streak then this will be a low scoring game. Denver also have an advantage on special teams, with Prater and Colquit a much better kicking duo than Suisham and Kapinos. It still baffles me that the Steelers persist with Suisham, who is very unclutch and makes far too many key misses IMO. At the end of the day, I think the Steelers fierce D will contain Tebow quite easily, but the offense will still struggle. Add Denver's special team advantage and the home ground and I think Denver will be more competitive than the odds suggest, but as I believe the Steelers still win, I think this small margin win bet is the right play.