This is a tale of two teams that have played very uneven, inconsistent seasons; the Falcons started out losing three of their first five games, and have generally won two games then lost one pretty much the rest of the year.  The Giants on the other hand had a strong first half of the year, then lost four in a row to start the second half of the season and looked dead in the water; they ended up finishing strong by winning their last two games to take the NFC East division crown from the Cowboys and earn a first round home game.

The Giants appear to have one of the more dangerous teams in the playoffs, with a profile that actually resembles the Packers championship team of 2010.  The Giants have one of the best passing attacks in the league (finished 5^th), have no running game to speak of (ranked 32^nd), and play fairly mediocre defense although their front four is one of the stronger units in the league.  The Packers proved last year you can win without the best running attack around, and relied heavily on a passing offense that could score anytime, anywhere, and Eli Manning has proven he can do the same.

The Falcons on the other hand have been somewhat of an enigma; but with both Julio Jones and Roddy White healthy and in a grove with Matt Ryan, they finally are showing up as an offense with some long ball teeth.  Jones especially has excelled at the 40+ TD score, as its obvious when he’s in the game Ryan likes to go deep to twist that dagger in his opponents.  Unfortunately, the Falcons haven’t been all that consistent on either side of the ball, especially on the road where they were just 4-4 on the year.  The Falcons also haven’t been good against other playoff squads, going an unimpressive 1-4 against their fellow playoff teams.  All of this doesn’t bode too well for the Falcons going on the road to steal one from the Giants, who really have already had their first playoff game, winning in convincing fashion against an elimination game against the Cowboys last week.  The Giants should be able to feed off of that momentum to beat the Falcons, setting up a date with the Packers who the Giants have the weapons to hang with.

For fantasy purposes, this will probably be the second most favorable matchup next to the Saints­-Lions game.  Both sides have worthwhile fantasy plays, as Ryan, Jones, White, Tony Gonzalez, and Michael Turner are all worthwhile fantasy starters for the Falcons.  On the Giants side, Eli Manning, Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, and Ahmad Bradshaw are all worth playing as well.  In all, there are very few fantasy duds in this one; so if you can load up on players from this game and the Saints-Lions game, you’re doing pretty well.
 
Good Start:  QB Matt Ryan, WR Julio Jones, WR Roddy White, TE Tony Gonzalez, QB Eli Manning, WR Victor Cruz, WR Hakeem Nicks
Middle of the Road:  RB Michael Turner, RB Ahmad Bradshaw
Bad Start:  WR Harry Douglas, RB Brandon Jacobs, WR Mario Manningham

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