The San Francisco 49ers will be playing their last game at Candlestick Park on Monday night, and they can celebrate a wild-card spot in the NFC with a victory. As football bettors know, the Atlanta Falcons, who supply the opposition tonight, have fallen far short of their expectations going into the 2013 season. But they are trying to play with a little bit of pride as the season winds down. These teams will kick the game off at 8:40 PM Eastern time on ESPN.
San Francisco plays at Arizona next week, but they can avoid that being a winner-take-all matchup by defeating the Falcons, who they last faced in the NFC Championship Game a year ago. Atlanta might be able to take some satisfaction out of an upset victory.
However, in the latest odds for football betting as posted at BetAnySports USA Offshore Sportsbook, one can see that this is going to be a tall order:
Latest Football betting odds – BetAnySports USA Offshore Sportsbook
San Francisco 49ers -14
Atlanta Falcons +14
Over 46 points -110
Under 46 points -110
It would seem to NFL bettors that San Francisco can do an awful lot on offense against this Atlanta stop unit, which is not only allowed 4.6 yards per rushing attempt, but only intercepted nine passes on the season. It may be a while before Colin Kaepernick becomes a top-grade NFL passer, but he is most certainly making progress, as he has thrown for nine touchdowns and been intercepted only twice over the last five games. San Francisco has a complete set of receivers now, with Michael Crabtree joining and Anquan Boldin and Vernon Davis to give Kaepernick a very serviceable group to throw to.
This does not mean that the Niners will do things differently than they’ve done them all season long, though. Jim Harbaugh’s philosophy is to pound away at the opposition, and indeed, the Niners are a bit of an anomaly in the NFL, as they have run the ball 55% of the time this season. Contrast that with Atlanta, which has run only 32% of the time. Between Frank Gore (1017 yards) and relief man Kendall Hunter, San Francisco ought to be able to sustain some drives.
Atlanta has not been able to run effectively all season, and San Francisco is pretty good at snuffing out ground attacks, so one can expect that Matt Ryan will take more responsibility on his shoulders. And that is why it is perhaps worthwhile for BetAnySports USA Offshore Sportsbook patrons to take a look at the disparity between Ryan’s statistics at home and on the road.
When he’s in the friendly Georgia Dome, Ryan is a 73% passer, with only two interceptions in 281 attempts. As the visitor, Ryan is a shade under 60%, with the same amount as touchdowns (11) as he’s got it home, but a dozen interceptions in 282 roads. This obviously will make it more difficult for the Falcons to come out of the bay area with a straight up victory (they are +625 in the NFL odds to win outright). But football bettors have seen that the Falcons have put forth more effort lately, playing their last four games so closely that they have been decided by a total of nine points. Get your football betting “fix” this holiday season by opening an account at BetAnySports and getting the best the Web has to offer!